I am struggling to get an answer as to when or whether OpenRent will introduce a template for a periodic contract that complies with the Renters Rights Bill - I have emailed OpenRent, but the only response has been that the existing ASTs automatically become an Assured Periodic Tenancy. However, the existing ASTs have a number of clauses that are sub-optimal under the new regulations (not least of which is that the notice period is one month, rather than the two month standard of an APT). Does anyone know whether OpenRent is going to change its standard contract template?
If they are not, is there a way in which I can use my own contract but keep all other aspects of the OpenRent platform going (like rent collection etc.).
why not just put in a custom clause that says ‘clauses x, y, z’ are deleted, null and void and will not be enforced.’ for any clauses you don’t want from the standard OR template. If there are no clauses specifying the notice period when an AST becomes period then under RRA the notice period defaults to 2 months. Simples.
But rather unnecessary- whole point of the transition arrangements is to avoid having to do new TAs for every tenancy.
Also OR allow free ‘Renewals’ of tenancy agreements under rent now, so as soon as they have a template available that is legal under RRA with no offending clauses, you will be able to just ‘renew’ using that.
@mod_harry or @Dan4 in OR’s legal team may be able to confirm when a new RRA compliant template will be available, I’d expect on or soon after 1 may.
@mod_harry Dear Harry the moderator - please can you pass a message on to the relevant team. I have been trying to get this topic of APT templates vs the current AST answered by the OR customer services team as well as on this forum.
However, it appears that the OR customer services team may be giving out incorrect information based on a template answer that is simply wrong. I have had two OR customer service agents writing to say that:
“….whilst the provisions in the Renters’ Right Act come into force on 1 May 2026 they will not retrospectively alter existing fixed term tenancy agreements. It is the date the contract is signed not the start date of the tenancy that is relevant….”
This is wrong and very misleading for a new landlord or anyone renewing. There are some pretty fundamental changes that will occur on 1st May that will alter existing fixed term tenancy agreements - This is quite a serious issue, so I would politely request that your CS team should get their response templates fixed to provide the correct guidance on what will happen if you sign an AST now. I have written to OR’s customer services team to flag this, but as this is directly relevant to this topic, I am flagging it here as well - Harry, you might also be more likely to get this message to the right people as well.
Once Renters reform comes in there will be requirement to notify existing tenants of the changes. The provisions in the existing tenancy agreements that are not Inline with the new legislation will be automatically cancelled.
The form of the notification you will need to provide to tenants will be issued by government at some point.
There is therefore no point adapting existing tenancy agreements
it’s literally not wrong. The actual agreements themselves will not alter. They’ll read exactly the same as before. However, the law in regard to them will change.
Legislation always trumps contract. Thats why the Government are issuing a statement of terms that all landlords must give to their tenants. Its to show what bits of the old legislation/tenancy agreement are no longer in force and have been replaced.
Yes, @david240 you are right - the conclusion I’ve reached is that I will use the custom clauses section to make some of the irrelevant AST clauses null and void and add in a few clauses from the NRLA model APT contract that cover the gaps in OpenRent’s AST. I find it disappointing that OR are not ahead of the game on this and are encouraging landlords to use wording that is not up to date with what we know is going to happen - there are a few simple changes they could make to at least make the ASTs a bit more fit for purpose when they automatically convert to APTs.
