Renting your first home is a big step and understanding the process and what documents you are being asked to sign can get overwhelming. We always aim to be transparent and clear with our tenants and this starts with the Occupational Agreement. This is the document you sign to rent the property. It is a legal contract between the contract-holder (the tenant) and the landlord. The purpose of this document is to lay out what is expected of each party during the course of the tenancy. In simple terms, as the contract holder (tenant) you are signing to say that you will look after the house and pay your rent on time and the landlord is committing to keeping the property safe, secure and well maintained.
All of the Occupational Agreements for our properties are joint tenancies, which is very common in the UK. This means that the Occupational Agreement is one contract between all of the tenants as one party and the landlord as the other party. The reality of this means that each contract-holder (tenant) is equally responsible for everyone paying their share of the rent on time and for the condition of the whole house. Therefore, the contract-holders are jointly paying portions of rent for the complete house. This means that tenants are all equally responsible for the communal areas, garden and all the bedrooms rather than their individual bedrooms and only a portion of the communal areas. It is important to understand this concept of all being equally responsible to avoid confusion particularly in terms of rent arrears and the return of the deposit. For example, even if one tenant is in rent arrears and everyone else has paid their portion of the rent and their particular guarantor does not step in to pay, then all the joint tenants are responsible for those arrears. In terms of the deposit, this is treated as a whole, regardless of the room damage above “fair wear and tear” occurs. Any money required to fix damage caused by tenants at the
end of their tenancy will come out of the overall deposit and not be charged to a specific individual.
Should an individual contract-holder in a joint agreement want to leave a property before the end of the tenancy they will need to pay an Early Leaving Fee and find a replacement tenant. The replacement tenant will have to replace their current agreement, therefore if the tenant to be replaced was able to provide a UK Homeowner guarantor, they will need to do so as well. The original Occupational Agreement period will remain active until the new one is signed. This means, the Contract Holders on the original agreement will remain liable for all rent until the new agreement is signed, even if they have vacated the property. Should all contract holders wish to leave their tenancy and do not have
replacements, we would remarket the property on their behalf, but they would incur a
larger Early Leaving Fee.
If you have any questions in relation to the Occupational Agreement, please do not
hesitate to contact our team who will be happy to answer your questions or provide advice as to where to find further information.
