Hi
We have a tenant who’s been with us and we’ve been using paper contract and go meet up with him and has it signed in person. Now it’s time to sign a new contract for a year, is there a e-sign service at all so we don;t have to travel far to meet him in person?
We’ve used RentNow i.e. from advertising to finding a tenant to contract signing, and now we’d want to only use the contract signing service. Is it available at all?
thx for any input.
z
Yes, it’s called rentnow, and it’s promoted on openrent’s website. But why are you signing new contract every year, let it roll over and go periodic!
but to use RentNow, the tenant will have to pay a new holding deposit and you’ll have to re-secure the security deposit via open rent
Under RRA this will be last time you can issue a new contract, as from May they will all be periodic anyway
If it’s an AST it will change from periodic to a rolling contract automatically, why do you need a new contract at all?
From 1 may 26 the RRA will come into force and tenants will be able to give 2 months notice- there will be no such thing as 12 month contracts. You might want to find out more about RRA
If you do want to set up a new AST you’ll need to end current one properly by giving notice, return deposit and set up a new one serving epc, ‘how to rent’, getting deposit again etc all over again. If you want to do that without OR charging you for creating the new AST you can do yourself using docusign
Good luck
thx karl
rentnow includes advertising process doesn’t it?
The reason is for a new contract there could be rent adjustment and we also would like to have openRent contract which is more thourough.
wow seems it’s more troublesome than we thought. Then can we use openrent contract template with an amendment saying this is an adjustment/update to a rolling contract? But of course we would have to travel to meet the tenant to have it signed. (
@eee dont understand why you think you can only do electronic signing with OR AST as a new AST and not anything else
3. if you are going to use OR’s rentnow that includes creating a new AST (and getting a deposit ) which can be signed electronically you also upload the epc etc and OR serves those to the tenant (by emailing or making available).
Good luck
yes, so you’d;
advertise
pause advert
add tenants details manually
invite them to rent now
they pay 1 week holding deposit
you accept this & proceed to issue OR contract electronically
they sign and pay balance of 1st months rent, and security deposit, less holding deposit already paid.
Obviously, you also have to deal with refunding any deposit already held, re-do an inventory, re-serve How to rent guide, epc, gas safe etc.
I’ve done this in the past to ‘update’ a tenancy. Its possible, but that’s not what OR is for, so you have to work around a bit.
thx for your great info 
. Now we have a new question:
as the current contract does not say “rolling”, can we make an ademendment saying the contract is to be rolled for another year (with rent increase as agreed)? i.e. kind of like what you suggested in point 5. To make it less prone to ambiguity, to rephrase what I jsut said - while the contract (expiring soon) does not say it is a rolling contract, can we make it “rolling” by adding an ademendment?
We’re no longer concerned about the travelling ie eSign or do it face-to-face. We are now more concerned if the above handling is legally acceptable. 
thx for the explanation. we realised we’d better drop this idea of going through Openrent as it’s way too much while we don’t have enough time for the notice etc.
We are thinking of going for Point 5 by David240.
not sure you can do that. Basically to have a new 12 month commitment (which won’t count for anything after 1 may 2026 anyway due to renters rights act), you’d need to end current tenancy and start a new one.
the contract doesn’t need to say rolling it becomes one automatically-See below
A tenancy agreement is initially fixed-term, but it will become periodic once the fixed term ends, unless a new agreement is signed
. This means the tenancy will continue to roll over, typically on a month-to-month basis, without a set end date. The original terms of the fixed-term contract will still apply, except that either party can now end the tenancy with the appropriate notice period.
What happens at the end of a fixed-term tenancy
Automatic conversion: If you and your landlord do not sign a new contract, the tenancy automatically becomes periodic.
No need to move: You are entitled to stay in the property on the new periodic tenancy unless you choose to leave or the landlord legally regains possession.
Rolling contract: The tenancy continues indefinitely, usually based on the rent payment cycle (e.g., weekly or monthly).
Terms remain the same: Most of the original terms, such as the rent amount, will still apply.
To do a rent increase you agree it and/or serve the relevant form
Google ‘private renting rent increase’
“If the tenancy agreement lays down a procedure for increasing rent, your landlord must stick to this. Otherwise, your landlord can:
renew your tenancy agreement at the end of the fixed term, but with an increased rent
agree a rent increase with you and produce a written record of the agreement that you both sign
use a ‘Landlord’s notice proposing a new rent’ form, which increases the rent after the fixed term has ended
Your landlord must give you a minimum of one month’s notice (if you pay rent weekly or monthly). If you have a yearly tenancy, they must give you 6 months’ notice.”
And Google ‘How to increase rent with Form 4 Notice (Section 13)’
Even if it doesn’t say rolling, it will still roll in to a statutory periodic tenancy once it expires. No paperwork is required to make that happen. All you need to do is agree a change in rent with the tenants, which you can do in writing or by an exchange of emails.
As others have said, you need do nothing. The tenancy will become statutory periodic on the same terms automatically. You can then adjust the rent either formally through a s13 notice or informally through an email to the tenant.
thx again for the great info.
But that ‘auto-rolling’ thing will only come into effect from 1 may 2026, is that correct? So how do we cover the period from now till that time? our concern is from now to 1/5/2026. Our current contract doesn’t say rolling, what should we do as landlord for this period? During this period I suppose the contrat still has to say rolling?
So, I suppose the best way forward is to make an admendment, saying the contrat is going to roll on with rent increase? (the rent adjustment was already agreed on a while ago on WhatsApp chat so in that sense the notice was given.)
I suppose after 1/5/2026 we’d best start a new contract with the tenant anyway to bring the clauses up-to-date. But as there’s not much time left before the end of the current contract, so its not a good time to do it now, i.e. the trouble of deposit handling etc.
=== update ====
After submitting the above reply I saw you two also replied at the same time.
I see. So, by making admendment saying the contrat is to roll on seems enough. That’s a relief ..
No, the statutory periodic tenancy will arise immediately as the fixed term expires. The tenancy, like all tenancies, will change to an assured periodic tenancy on 1 May.
eee, I feel I must warn you that tenancy law is one of the most complex of any business and your lack of knowledge of the legal requirements is likely to lead to some stiff fines and penalties. The Renters Rights Act in particular has fines of up to £7,000 for simple administration errors. I would advise that if you want to continue to self-manage, you should do some training and spend time reading about the rules.
A tenancy agreement is initially fixed-term, but it will become periodic once the fixed term ends, unless a new agreement is signed
So it becomes ‘rolling’ (monthly notice if rent paid monthly) automatically. That’s what ‘periodic’ means. No amendment needed.
Agree with @David122 you’ll likely benefit (as do we all) from some training or reading around the rules especially what is changing under RRA (fortunately lots of advice becoming available about this)
Best
Ps it is possible your tenancy agreement would not become periodic (‘rolling’) at end of the fixed period but only if you have a specific clause in it which says that and says something else will happen at end of the fixed period. See below. Check your tenancy agreement. If it does have a clause like that you’d need to remove it.
How a tenancy would not become periodic (as of November 2025)
A new fixed-term contract is signed: If both the landlord and tenant agree and sign a new contract for another fixed term, the tenancy will continue under the terms of that new agreement, not become periodic.
A contractual periodic tenancy clause exists: The original agreement might contain a clause that specifies what happens after the fixed term. This is called a contractual periodic tenancy, and it’s different from a statutory periodic tenancy which is the default when no other agreement is made
thx a lot for all the info. we are gonna look into this further. Seriously appreciate all the help for you guys - thanks again！
A contractual periodic tenancy is actually rolling periodic from the start, usually with a longer initial term eg 6 or 12 months.
@David122 I stand corrected about what these things are called…the substantive point is the same..if there’s a clause in @eee ‘s current contract about what happens at the end of the fixed initial term, it might not automatically become a rolling contract and @eee needs to check their contract
Thanks
An ‘ai’ response I suspect