The gov.uk guidance on preparing ASTs seems to cover all the necessary clauses, along with reminders to ensure all legally required actions are addressed. If I already have a template, understand the required actions, know the gov platform for storing holding deposits and have the time to handle it myself, shall I just do it myself or pay OpenRent for their AST services? I’m planning to create 4 ASTs, so doing it myself could help me save costs. Could you advise on what key considerations I should keep in mind?
Has anyone used a single OpenRent’s established template as a base to reuse for future tenants without relying on OpenRent’s AST support again?
Only you can make this decision. My decision might differ to yours, who’s might differ to others. We are all individual and one arrangement doesn’t suit everyone.
In my experience OR is quick & simple to use. Certainly worth the money, although it has got more expensive recently.
I recommend you watch some of the webinar recordings about the Renters Rights Bill, especially the ones with the housing lawyer David Smith. David is described as one of only a handful of people in the country who knows enough about housing law to draft new tenancy agreements. The point being that unless you are a legal expert, clauses you might draft could have unintended consequences or be rendered completely ineffective.
There are plenty of other decent model contracts out there. Why risk attempting to draft a new one.
They also have a model AST. Why wouldn’t you use that? I have done and modify it slightly to fit my situation, but I don’t mess with stuff I don’t understand or know well.
And, as David rightly points out, the RRB is going to render what I currently have pretty much obsolete for new tenancies going forward so…
Definitely use one of the templates out there whether the .gov.uk or another - unless you are a specialist property lawyer
Main advantage of using OR’ AST (with or without custom clauses) is that it is kept up to date with the law and it allows you to use OR services to eg collect rent (Rent Now) or I think their rent guarantee insurance. If your main use of OR is advertising and you prefer the extra detail of the .gov.uk template then use that!
nrla membership is 125pa and provides an AST (also kept up to date) and lots of guidance for landlords, so may be worth considering.