Pre-tenancy resources

Once you have decided you will enter into a tenancy you may receive a deposit. Often the holding deposit will be used as part payment of this tenancy deposit.

This deposit needs to be protected within 30 days of receipt of any of the deposit money by either you or your agent. It is important that you ensure you are complying by choosing a scheme and following the rules around deposit protection.

Before you can sign a tenancy in England, you are legally required to check the right to rent status of any potential occupiers aged 18 or over to establish they have a right to rent in the UK. If you do not do this, you may face civil and criminal penalties if the Home Office discovers an occupier has no right to rent in the UK.

Is your agent performing the right to rent check for you? Download our right to rent responsibility transfer form.

Until recently it was standard practice for landlords and agents to charge fees covering the cost of referencing and credit checking tenants. Since the introduction of Tenant Fees Act most fees charged to tenants are now prohibited under the tenant fee ban, including those for referencing and credit checks.

You can continue to take a holding deposit prior to the tenancy being granted but there a number of rules and requirements around its use and the amount that you may take. A holding deposit continues to be an excellent way of ensuring the prospective tenant is committed to taking on the tenancy.

Taken a holding deposit? Download our holding deposit form

From 1 October 2014 letting and managing agents are required to be a member of a redress scheme. The purpose of these schemes is to deal with complaints made by tenants or landlords about agents. Essentially these are Ombudsman Schemes.

This means that both landlords and tenants the right to independent redress if their agent cannot resolve a complaint to their satisfaction.

• The Property Ombudsman
• Property Redress Scheme

The Competition and Marketing Authority has produced guidance for lettings professionals on how to market your property to tenants. If you are an agent it also provides guidance on how to market services you provide to landlords

Read the complete CMA guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consumer-protection-law-for-lettings-professionals

In November 2023, National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) published updated guidance on the meaning of material information. This covers the information that Trading Standards think should be included in most adverts.

As part of complying with the General Data Protection Regulation you are expected to provide a privacy notice explaining how you use the personal information you hold about any individual in the course of your business. This will include any prospective tenants or guarantors once you are in contact with them.

Have you checked what personal information you hold? Download our audit template

Need a privacy notice? Use our privacy notice template

Before your tenancy starts you will need to ensure the property is safe for the tenants to live in. Many of these obligations also require you to provide your tenant with proof that you have performed a check.

This guide provides you with a short summary of your legal obligations around property conditions that you will have to meet before the tenant occupies the property.

Once you have found a prospective tenant you will need to ensure they are likely to pay the rent on time and not cause damage to your property. The best way of doing this is by checking their credit and renting history. In order to do this you will need the tenant's consent for credit/referencing checks and the relevant information required. The NRLA tenancy application form is ideal for ensuring you collect both.

Need a credit check? Get one here

Need to speak to a referee? Use one of our reference documents.

By vetting potential tenants at the application stage, you can ensure you find the suitable tenants you want rather than those with a prior history of arrears or poor behaviour.

In order to do this properly, prior to granting a tenancy you should collect as much information as possible about the prospective tenant. To help you collect the information you need, the NRLA provides a Tenancy Application Form available to our members.

A guarantor is someone who agrees to pay the rent or damages relating to a tenancy if the tenant is unable to pay. Normally they will be a family member or close personal friend of the tenant and also a homeowner in the UK.

To ensure the guarantor is legally bound to guarantee the terms of the tenancy, the NRLA provides two separate deeds of guarantee -

• The Unlimited Deed of Guarantee making the guarantor liable for all of the rent and all of the damages
• The Limited Deed of Guarantee making them liable for part of the rent and all of the damages