Asured Shorthold Tenancy Aggreement
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An assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST) is a contract that is put in place between a landlord and their tenant for the letting of a residential property. The agreement sets out the rights and responsibilities of both the landlord and the tenant. With an assured shorthold tenancy the landlord and tenant both have rights. These rights are spelled out in the terms and conditions of the signed lease. There are forms available regarding this type of tenancy if you do not wish to draft your own agreement. The agreements can be amended by either party before they are signed, but both parties must agree to the changes.
Assured shorthold tenancy is the most popular style of agreement. It states that the tenant has a legal right to occupy the property for a fixed period of time. This period of time may be six months or twelve months. The time can vary as needed by the tenant and landlord. The tenant is granted permission to take control of the property at the start date of the tenancy agreement. At the end of the tenancy agreement the landlord has the right to possess the rental.
Since April 2007 it has been necessary for such an agreement to take account of certain legal requirements.
The compliant clauses of Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) have been so outlined to fit easily into an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) agreement. The TDSs came into effect on 6 April 2007. Deposit schemes exist alongside tenancy agreements to ensure the safety of the deposit for the renter. A landlord must supply additional information regarding the deposit section of the tenancy agreement.
All residential lettings and tenancies which are regarded as ASTs under the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988) are the ones; chiefly covered under AST. The following categories of tenancy do not qualify under the AST:
The tenant property is a part of building rather than a separate property & is being shared with landlord (resident landlord). This particular case will be generally observed in houses which are commuted into flats.
The landlord will not be considered as a resident landlord when landlord has a flat in the same purpose built block as of the tenant.
A tenancy created on or after 28 February 1997 will be regarded as AST as per guidelines of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996). The only revoked issue in this case will be of landlord the serving a notice to the tenant stating that tenancy cannot be referred as an AST. The tenancy is most likely to be an assured tenancy once the notice is served.
Following essentials of AST are required in the HA 1988 act in order that the agreement qualifies as an AST:
Tenancy agreements should only be signed by both parties if all aspects of the policy are agreed to. If there is something in the policy you as the landlord do not agree with or the tenant does not agree with, the changes should be made. If a compromise cannot be reached, any of the three types of agreements should not be signed.
On this website we have a lot of information relating to assured shorthold tenancy agreements that we hope you will find useful. As our website grows we will expand the resources that we provide.