Which Tenancy Agreement?

About Welsh Occupation Contracts

There are a few things you should know about the Welsh legislation as it applies to occupation contracts (aka tenancy agreements).

They are mandatory.

If you do not provide a written ‘occupation contract’ within 14 days of the start of the contract, your tenants can claim a financial penalty.

Landlord Law members can read about this in the FAQ here.

There are prescribed terms.

These must go in Welsh occupation contracts.  Although some can be amended:

• Fundamental terms – some of these can be amended if it is in the contract holder’s interest.  Others can’t.
• Supplementary terms – these can be amended if the contract holder agrees (ie if they sign the contract).
• Additional terms are terms which are added by you.  They are permitted so long as they are not ‘unfair’ under the Unfair Terms rules

Landlord Law members will find a FAQ about the different term types here.
There is an article about unfair terms here.

There is also an introduction which needs to go into the contract, along with ‘key matters’ – which include things like the property address, the rent and the parties.

If your contract does not include all the required content, your tenant can apply to the Court and you may be fined.

You must NOT use the government ‘model contracts’ unamended

The Welsh government has provided ‘model contracts’ which they state can be used as they stand.  However it would be a grave mistake for landlords to do this.  For example:

• They do not provide for rent to be payable in advance (so it will be payable in arrears)
• There are no deposit clauses (so you would not be able to claim any deductions if you take a deposit – and you will be in breach of the law!)
• It does not include the required clauses to allow you to use the abandonment procedure and the procedure to end a joint contract holders contract if they move out
• There is no pet prohibition clause
• The terms allow contract holders to bring in ‘permitted occupations’ without your consent
• The terms permit contract holders to change the locks
• It does not contain any data protection clauses

These are all things which most landlords consider important.  So you will need a contract which has been specifically adapted to take these (and other) things into account.

The Landlord Law Occupation Contracts

These have been carefully drafted to include all the terms to protect your position.  We have three:

• One for a joint and several agreement, and
• One for a room in a shared house (if you decide to use a fixed term agreement for this), and
• One is for a periodic tenancy

Landlord Law members will find them on the Occupation Forms page.

Other forms

We now have many of our other tenancy forms which have been adapted for Wales.  For example:

• The guarantee form
• Our pets form (if you decide to allow your contract holder to keep a pet)
• The Data Protection form
• The New Occupation Contract Receipts Form
• The deposit prescribed information form

Members will find all of these linked from the Wales Documents and Forms page.

Or if you are not a Landlord Law member, click here to join.