This information applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
The tenancy agreement is a contract between you and your landlord. It may be written or oral.The tenancy agreement gives certain rights to both you and your landlord, for example, your right to occupy the accommodation and the your landlord’s right to receive rent for letting the accommodation.
You and your landlord may have made arrangements about the tenancy, and these will be part of the tenancy agreement as long as they do not conflict with law. Both you and your landlord have rights and responsibilities given by law. The tenancy agreement can give both you and your landlord more than your statutory rights, but cannot give you less than your statutory rights. If a term in the tenancy agreement gives either you or your landlord less than your statutory rights, that term cannot be enforced.
A tenancy agreement can be made up of:-
In England and Wales, most tenants do not have a right in law to a written tenancy agreement. However, public sector landlords such as local authorities and housing associations should give you a written tenancy agreement. If you are visually impaired, the tenancy agreement must be written in a format you can use, for example, in large print or Braille.
In Scotland, in most cases, your landlord must provide a written tenancy agreement. In particular, your landlord must provide a written tenancy agreement if you are a public sector accommodation tenant, or if you are an assured or short assured tenant of a private landlord.
In Northern Ireland, tenants of local authorities and most housing associations must have written tenancy agreements.
Some solicitors and estate agents supply samples of written tenancy agreements. The local authority housing advice section, if there is one, may also be able to supply sample tenancy agreements.
If you have a written agreement, it should indicate the type of tenancy you have.
The tenancy agreement should be signed by both you and your landlord. Each tenant, if there are joint tenants, should receive a copy of the agreement.
Your landlord is obliged by law to give you their name and address, regardless of whether or not you have a written tenancy agreement.
It is good practice for a written tenancy agreement to include the following details:-
The agreement may also contain details of your landlord’s obligations to repair the property, although it is rare for agreements to go into details. Your landlord’s obligations to repair depend on the type of tenancy.
For more information on your landlord’s obligations to repair in England and Wales, see Common problems with tenancies, in Scotland, see Problems with tenancies.
If you are experiencing problems with repairs you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on 
nearest CAB.
A tenancy agreement exists even if there is only an oral agreement between you and your landlord. For example, you and your landlord may have agreed at the start of the tenancy how much the rent would be and when it is payable, whether it includes fuel and bills such as water rates or whether your landlord can decide who else can live in the accommodation.Oral agreements can be difficult to enforce because there is often no proof of what has been agreed, or a particular problem may have arisen which the agreement did not cover.If you are thinking of disputing or are trying to enforce an oral agreement with your tenant or landlord you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
There are obligations you and your landlord have which may not be set down in the agreement but which are given by law and are implied into all tenancy agreements. These terms form part of the contract, even though they have not been specifically agreed between your landlord and you.
Some of the most common implied terms are:-
Rights given by law will vary according to the type of tenancy. In Northern Ireland, all tenants of private sector accommodation have basic rights regardless of the type of tenancy. These are the right to a rent book, the right to claim housing benefit, freedom from harassment and proper notice to quit the tenancy.
For information on the rights and obligations of public sector tenants and landlords, see Public sector tenancies. In Scotland, see Public sector tenancies.
For information on the rights and obligations of private sector tenants and landlords, see Private sector tenancies. In Scotland, see Private sector tenancies.
By law, as a tenant, you must be given the following information:-
For more information about finding out who your landlord is, see Common problems with tenancies. In Scotland, see Problems with tenancies.
For information about assured shorthold tenancies in England and Wales, see Private sector tenancies. In Scotland, see Private sector tenancies.
If you are experiencing problems in obtaining documents and/or information from your landlord, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
The rights laid down by law always override those which are stated in a written or oral agreement. An agreement which suggests that you or your landlord have less rights than those given by common law or statute is a sham tenancy agreement.
What an agreement states and what the tenancy actually is may be different. For example, your landlord may claim that an assured tenancy is in fact an assured shorthold tenancy (short assured tenancy in Scotland), or that the agreement is not a tenancy agreement but a ‘licence to occupy’.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland, you may also have signed an agreement stating that the property was granted under a licence to occupy. This is not enough to make the agreement a licence.
If you are in any of these situations you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
A tenancy agreement can normally only be changed if both you and your landlord agree.If you both agree, the change should be recorded in writing, either by drawing up a new written document setting out the terms of the tenancy or by amending the existing written tenancy agreement.
An oral agreement can also be varied. Usually the variation will be oral too. In the case of a dispute, evidence of the variation can be provided if there were witnesses to the new agreement or simply by both parties acting on the variation, for example, by paying and accepting a new rent.
If you’re disabled, your landlord must take reasonable steps to change the tenancy agreement if a term of the agreement makes it impossible or difficult for you to live in the property because of your disability. Landlords who don't take reasonable steps to change the agreement are discriminating against you as a disabled person and they are breaking the law. What's reasonable will depend on the circumstances but, for example, your landlord must agree to change a term of the agreement so that you can make disability-related improvements to the property or so that you can have an assistance dog.
For more information about what to do if the landlord discriminates against you because you’re disabled, see Disability discrimination.
Your, or your landlord’s, right to end a tenancy agreement and your right to stay and be protected from eviction will depend on the type of tenancy you have.
For information on the different types of tenancies and on your rights to stay in public sector housing, see Public sector tenancies. In Scotland, see Public sector tenancies.
For information on the different types of tenancies and your right to stay in private sector housing, see Private sector tenancies. In Scotland, see Private sector tenancies.
The tenancy agreement is a form of consumer contract and as such it must be in plain language which is clear and easy to understand. It must not contain any terms which could be ‘unfair’. This means, for example, that the tenancy agreement must not put either you or your landlord in a disadvantageous position, enable one party to change terms unilaterally without a valid reason or irrevocably bind you to terms with which you have had no time to become familiar. An unfair term is not valid in law and cannot be enforced.
If you think your tenancy agreement may contain unfair terms you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Your landlord must not discriminate against you because of your race, sex, disability, sexuality or religion. This means that they are probably breaking the law if they:
The rules about discrimination because of sex, disability, sexuality or religion, generally don't apply if your landlord lives in the same property as you. However, your landlord still mustn't discriminate against you because of your race.
I've found this flat that I would really like to rent because it's near where I work. I'm profoundly deaf and have a hearing dog but the landlord says he doesn't allow pets. Does this mean I can't take the flat?
If you're disabled, you can ask a landlord to make changes to their policies which would allow you to live in a property. This would include changing a term in the tenancy agreement which bans pets, so that you can have an assistance dog. By law, your landlord must agree to this unless he has a very good reason for not doing so, for example, on health and safety grounds. If he doesn't agree, this is discrimination against disabled people, and he could be breaking the law. Try explaining this to the landlord. If he still refuses to change his policy, you should get advice.
If you think your tenancy agreement discriminates against you because of your race, sex, disability, sexuality or religion, you should get advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
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