I’m new to Openrent and using Rent Now but can’t see how to set up the contract and upload other docs like EPC. Where do I start?
Try this
https://help.openrent.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/115001490292-What-are-the-steps-involved-in-Rent-Now
Create listing
After viewings and your own checks choose best potential tenant
Get them to put down holding deposit
Do further referencing using OR or others
Create tenancy agreement
Get signed electronically
Good luck
Hi David. Thanks for this. So you can only set up the paperwork once you have found a tenant? I had an email from OpenRent that suggested I could make a start on setting up the contract in advance but if that’s not the case then your response is perfect. Thanks
Setting up the contract is easy peezy & most of it is automated from the tenant find & referencing process, so nothing you can do until you have a tenant.
Well you can start by looking at their sample contract and thinking if there’s anything youll want to add as ‘custom clauses’ (for example anything you want to add more detail on or relating to communal areas)
There are other draft APTs (previously ASTs) you can look at. Eg
For example under RRA default notice is 2 months (to end on last day of a rental period) and nothing is specified in OR contract, but you could have less (more would be illegal).
Or you could specify when 1st month rent must be paid by (ie a date soon after signing contract) otherwise the tenant only has to pay by when they move in/1st due date, based on OR contract.
You might want to specify inspections will happen at least quarterly, if thats what your insurance requires.
Etc
But actually creating the contract needs to have tenant details and as others have said is quick if you are simply using the standard OR agreement
Good luck
OP APT says “The Tenant may end the tenancy by giving not less than two months’ written notice to the Landlord. The notice must end on a Rent Payment Day or the day before a Rent Payment Day.”
OP APT says “The Initial Payment of Rent is payable upon signing this Agreement and must be paid in cleared funds no later than the Commencement Date.”
OP APT says…
9.41. To permit the Landlord, and any superior landlord, or the Landlord’s employees/agents at all reasonable times
after giving the Tenant at least 24 hours’ notice (except in an emergency):
to enter the Premises to inspect the same and the Landlord’s furniture and effects therein (if any);
to carry out any works of maintenance or repair to the Premises or elsewhere which the Landlord may consider necessary;
to take gas, electricity or water readings;
to carry out the Landlord’s obligations under this agreement;
to inspect the Premises for the purpose of preparing an EPC and recommendation report for the Premises or the building of which it forms part and the Tenant shall cooperate with the Landlord so far as is reasonably necessary to enable an EPC and Recommendation Report to be obtained;
to enter the Premises where required for the Landlord to comply with legal or regulatory obligations relating to the Premises.
to enter the Premises for any purpose mentioned in this Agreement or connected with the Landlord’s interest in the Premises;
to enter and view the Premises with any prospective future Tenants or purchasers during the last 60 days of the tenancy.
The Tenant shall be liable for all reasonable losses resulting as a consequence of the Tenant’s failure to allow access to the Premises
Hence, I really would recommend not adding custom clauses unless you know what you are doing. You risk complicating things with unnecessary and maybe conflicting terms.
Yes well Openrent do also (for obvious reasons) recommend no custom clauses be added. Nevertheless they provide the facility. And if the LL wants to specify something they can do so and can get legal advice on the drafting
In other tenancy agreements (such as the previous .gov uk AST or the NRLA template) there is much more detail. It’s perfectly reasonable to look at other templates and consider whether anything extra is desirable for the OR one (and get legal help to draft if needed)
Personally I want the 1st month’s rent paid before the tenants move in as a sign of good faith before keys are handed over. I don’t want to be playing chicken on move in day waiting for them to pay before i hand over the keys. That’s the position the Openrent standard template puts LLs in, unfortunately. If they are committed to moving in they need to pay the 1st months rent beforehand and that shouldnt be an issue. Having it in the signed contract makes it clear to everybody.
Similarly for tenants who want to have pets, specific clauses agreeing to and specifying these (eg how many cats etc) is a perfectly reasonable addition.
Here are some examples (I’m not proposing these specific wordings but they illustrate why a LL might want custom clauses to cover more than the standard OR template)
Pets (Pet Addendum)
"The Landlord grants permission for the Tenant to keep [Breed/Name of Pet] at the Property. The Tenant will provide professional deep cleaning of the carpets and property at the end of the tenancy to mitigate any allergen residue or pet-related odors
. Property Maintenance and Gardens
“The Tenant is responsible for the routine maintenance and upkeep of the rear garden to a reasonable standard. This includes regular mowing of the lawn and weeding of the flowerbeds, but excludes structural tree surgery or major landscaping.”
(OR makes little ref to garden maintenance)
.
Smoking
“Smoking, vaping, or the use of e-cigarettes is strictly prohibited anywhere inside the internal premises of the property. The Tenant will be responsible for damage and professionally de-odorize and re-decorate the property if evidence of smoking is found.”
(OR standard contract only forbids smoking not vaping or e cigarettes)
Best
Thank you David and Karl. That’s really clear and very helpful.
1 Like
Surely that is illegal under the tenant Fees Act?
yes it does. 9.14
Doubt you could do that either. The term if anything should refer to rectifying or compensating for damage caused, rather than just evidence an activity had occurred. You cant just charge a tenant a fee because they did something in your property, unless doing so caused some damage which you can evidence.
& OR contract covers compensating the Landlord for damage caused already, so whats the point of this additional clause?
The point of my post which was that LL should not add custom clauses like those suggested in either of your posts without legal advice, as they can often contradict others, and I suspect these could cause more issues than it solves.
I’m not saying you should never use Custom Clauses, but disagree with most of your suggestions of reasons why LL might want to add their own clauses.
They simply specify the level /sort of cleaning the tenant is responsible for if they have pets and more precise detail on garden maintenance. Neither are fees. The example of smoking also is basically saying tenant is not to smoke and responsible for consequences, just like any other damage. This is all basically expanding on what current agreement says ie tenant causes damage then they are responsible. These help when claiming from deposit as clearly sets out tenant responsibilities and for setting out expectations.
Anyway i said i wasnt proposing those specifically only as examples- that a LL might reasonably want extra clauses on pets, cleaning and garden maintenance. But might want legal advice on exact drafting. Do you think thats unreasonable?
Dont think we are disagreeing unless you really think specifying costs of damage caused by pets or from smoking is the tenants responsibily is somehow wrong and different from other costs of damage?
Best
contradicts…
and…
Why suggest examples? You cant suggest examples, which someone then claims are not allowed, only to says well I was not suggesting them anyway.
I provided examples saying i didnt propose these specific wordings saying these were the sorts of things.
But have amended them (which wasnt really needed if you understood that ).to make clearer its about tenant being responsible for damage and fixing. And making even clearer that i am not proposing the specific wordings
Best
Ps another area where the OR template lacks detail is what happens when a tenant leaves possessions behind. The nrla agreement for example covers this in quite a lot of detail.
Not saying necessarily use the nrla text but it doesn’t harm to actually look at different templates and think about these things instead of just ‘sign and forget’.
Some things might be better in a pack of ‘house rules’ but some parts of the OR agreement are pretty woolly and imprecise or things are missing entirely.