What to check for in your tenancy agreement
Looking after the property
Your landlord must do most repairs on your home. Your agreement is wrong if it says you have to do all the repairs.
There are smaller jobs you usually have to do. These could be things like:
gardening
changing light bulbs or smoke alarm batteries
Make sure you do these things if they are not mentioned in your agreement.
Example: Gardening
Viv rented a house with a garden. The grass and hedges were tidy when they moved in.
They lived there for 4 years. When they moved out, the garden was overgrown.
The landlord took £50 out of Viv's deposit to pay a gardener to cut the grass and hedges.
Cleaning
Check your contract for unfair terms about cleaning.
Some tenancy agreements say you must get the property cleaned by a professional when you leave. This is not right.
You only have to leave the property as clean as it was when you moved in.
Example: Fair and unfair terms about cleaning
“The tenant must clean the property to a professional standard before moving out.”
This term is only fair if the property was cleaned to a professional standard before you moved in. You might have to clean it very well but you do not have to pay a cleaner.
“The tenant must pay for professional cleaning at the end of the tenancy.”
This is not a fair term and your landlord cannot make you do it.
Last updated: 18 September 2023
