Hello All. There’s 3x big problems with the Rent Now standard AST that I can see. And I understand clauses cannot be edited… but supplementary clauses can be added. I don’t know how that works when a custom supplementary clause would contradict a standard clause.
EG:
Tenant notive period is 1 month. That is unnacceptable… especially as the RRA which comes in May-ish stipulates 2 months… I want to say 2x months now.
No rent review clause (I can add this custom but it should be in there annually CPI).
No prevention of damp / mould / excess humidity under ‘tenants obligations’. Again I can add that in but it shold be standard especially following awaabs law (which will affect PRS eventually).
Both glaring ommissions in my opinion. What’s everyone else doing about it?
Erm the standard OR ast already says 2 months notice
Mutual Break Clause 12.6. … “two months notice”
(Google ‘open rent sample ast uk’)
One month (clause 12.2) only applies at the end of an initial term - 6 months from now when it will have been overtaken by RRA - so is redundant, don’t worry about it. And is correct for current legislation but will need updating for 1 may 26 onwards - but then so will the whole tenancy agreement as there won’t be initial/fixed terms at all. You are right the current sample OR AST doesn’t reflect the future legislation but you can explain that to a tenant or add a custom clause to amend 12.2.
You can add a rent review clause as a custom clause (there are examples in the gov uk ast example) but it’s unnecessary and constraining to the landlord - and under RRA from 1 may 2026 you have to take account of /justify in relation to market rents so you can’t just use something like CPI and assume it will be ok. Suppose cpi goes up 10% but rents in your area by 2% then 10% can be challenged. You will also only be able to raise once per year.
OR’s AST has clause 9.25 “to take all reasonable precautions to prevent condensation and damp by keeping the Premises adequately ventilated and heated” but I have used custom clauses to provide more detailed instructions as it is a bit vaguer than I’d like.
If you write a custom clause saying eg
The words ‘one month’ in clause 12.2 above are replaced by ‘two months’
And draw this to attention of tenant when signing, it should be fine as there is no lack of clarity on what is intended. You can check with legal experts tho or use standard clauses from the gov uk ast or the nrla one
OR AST complies with all laws in place ‘at the moment’, and the notice period will change in accordance with RRA at that time.
You ask above for an AST that is compliant with the future RRA, but then ask for a rent review clause, which would be illegal & invalidated by the RRA!
“A little bit of knowledge is dangerous”. Seriously, just leave it be, and don’t dig yourself bigger holes.
This is a good example of why its inadvisable for people who are not legally trained to amend legal documents.
The 2 months notice clause may be unenforceable, which is why, I think, IR include it within the break clause instead.
A rent review clause is almost never in the landlords interest as it removes the flexibility of a s13 notice and its easy to get the wording wrong and for the notice to backfire.
A clause about removing excess moisture is likely to be unenforceable as it can’t be easily measured or proven. Stick to things that are, such as not drying clothes over radiators.
@David122 tbh almost every clause about taking care of a property (cleaning etc) is unenforceable because LLs can’t put cameras in a place or inspect daily when it’s not a hotel and only have evidence from when they inspect or what neighbours tell us. Most clauses are about agreeing responsibilities and expectations not about defining everything in intricate detail in a way that is enforceable in a court- I don’t care how a tenant avoids being anti social to the neighbours and don’t need to define every possible anti social behaviour in an AST.
But the vagueness of 9.25 is exactly why I use more specific custom clauses (such as not turning off bathroom extractor fans) because this is an area I think tenants are often unaware what to do (Hence so many stories here of damp/mould caused by tenant lifestyle issues)
Actually there are cheap hygrometers which will keep a record of relative humidity levels for 1-2 years which can be put in a property so it is pretty easy to measure if you choose to, and worth doing if tenants are causing damp /mould issues through condensation by not ventilating or not using dehumidifiers etc. There are also bathroom extractor fans designed for social housing which keep a record for a year of when they are on (again shows if a tenant has switched them off).
@dan4 as part of OR’s legal team can hopefully comment on whether OR’s break clause 12.6 is enforceable or not but you’ve not given a reason why it shouldn’t be and if it had been found to be unenforceable I’d hope OR would have amended it!
There are ways of drafting many contract clauses that are usually successful at court, but they usually have to be SMART and unambiguous.
To clarify my second point, I meant that a regular notice clause of 2 months is not always enenforceable in a contract that has no break clause as it seeks to circumvent the tenants common law rights. I havent seen the OR agreement, but what does it say about serving notice during the rolling periodic phase of the tenancy?
Notice to end the tenancy at or after the end of the Initial Term
12.2. If either party wishes to end the tenancy on or a�er the final day of the Ini�al Term, they may give no�ce in wri�ng to the other as follows:
The Landlord must give no�ce of no less than two months, such no�ce to expire any �me on or a�er the final day of the Ini�al Term. A no�ce served by the Landlord under sec�on 21 of the Housing Act 1988 shall be sufficient no�ce under this clause.
The Tenant must give no�ce of no less than one month, such no�ce to expire the day before a Rent Payment Day or on the final day of the Ini�al Term.
12.3. If neither party serves a valid no�ce to terminate the tenancy at the end of the Ini�al Term, the par�es agree that at the end of the Ini�al Term the tenancy will con�nue as a contractual periodic tenancy on a monthly basis. The
par�es agree that clause 12.3 acts irregardless of whether mul�ple months rent was paid in advance or not.
And 12.6 says
Mutual Break Clause
12.6. The Ini�al Term of this tenancy agreement may be terminated by either party giving the other at least two months’ no�ce in wri�ng, such no�ce not to expire un�l at least 6 months a�er the start of the Term. A no�ce served by the Landlord under sec�on 21 of the Housing Act 1988 shall be sufficient no�ce under this clause.
The Tenant is obliged to pay rent up to and including the termina�on date, so if the tenancy is terminated on a date which is not the last day of a rental period, the rent due for any incomplete rental periods will be appor�oned accordingly.
i can stick a hygrometer in there? One that logs over time?
Regarding rent review, surely it’s always in the landlord’s best interest to set the expectations of the tenant that there will be a rent review every year and there’s no point arguing about it?
The Standard OR says 2 months notice ONLY during the initial period. After it switches to contractual periodic it stipulates 1 month from tenant side. I appreciate RRA will be active by then but I want to set tenant expectations… they’re not all RRA experts I’m thinking. (I’ve downloaded it from OR directly).
I apprecaite your point about any tenancy starting now will be superceded in 5 months time, by the RRA. That’s a good point.
Rent review. But the absence of any mention of it does not set tenant expectations the way I want. Rent reviews are essential for my project to succeed and I prefer the tenants know from the very start that they can expect one annually. When the RRA comes in it will be the same… I’ll just have to use section13 which is fine because I might as well do that anyway,
Damp. I agree it’s too vague,.. I understand the argument about keeping it simple for legal purposes but the upcoming landlord obligations are very concerning. So I prefer to have the tenants obligations in detail in black and white so that’ they’ve agreed to them. Whether or not my own written clause will stand up in court, at least my expectations of the tenant are explicit before we start.
Thanks for the suggestion about using the custom clause to adjust standard clauses. I suppose that’s my only option.
I have the NRLA clauses. Will use that as example.
Yes, so as I thought, its the break clause that allows the 2 months rather than the termination clause. In a contractual periodic tenancy it is theoretically possible to require the tenant to give 2 months notice, but I have heard of judges not upholding this.
There are some rent review clauses in the gov uk example ast too.
There’s def some benefit to tenants and LL in having some agreed expectations from the start. Not sure contract alway best - Some things are best discussed and agreed face to face. What I did with my tenant when meeting him at the property before he moved in (he wanted to measure up for his furniture) was talk to him face to face to tell him I planned to review the rent annually and also agreed when 1st inspection would be and reminding him to contact me as soon as poss if there’s any problem (to prevent things getting worse unnecessarily). I also made a point about ventilating by opening the windows to avoid damp and showing him the hygrometers (I bought a pack of 3 from Amazon about 25 quid - one for the bedroom one for the living room one for the kitchen - bathroom has an extractor fan running continuously and boosts when light is on or from a humidistat) explaining so long as relative humidity is kept below 60%-65% and temperature above 14c there should be no way for mould to grow or for there to be any damp issues - most tenants just don’t know this. When away during Xmas I also told tenant to set thermostat temperature to stay at 14c or above to stop pipes freezing. I followed up with an email confirming.
(There are hygrometers which track humidity over time and record it I haven’t needed to use as yet but they aren’t expensive and would be useful if you thought a tenant wasnt using a dehumidifier supplied etc- you can find on Amazon )
I know some people here have mentioned having manuals for their properties to go along with copies of the epc etc. Seems a good idea.
A few years ago, during the Liz Truss government, interest rates suddenly shot up to over 6% and some landlords with rent review clauses in their contracts were reporting on the forums that they were stuck with 3% rent increases which no longer covered their costs. Increasing rent through emails or s13 notices allows increases tailored to sudden changes in circumstances.
As has been said though, this will all change in May and rent review clauses will no longer be valid.
The break clause included in the OpenRent AST allows the landlord to end the tenancy by giving at least 2 months notice to end on or after 6 months. Landlords can serve notice by using the OpenRent Section 21 notice serving tool. If the fixed term of the tenancy has ended and the tenancy has continued as a periodic tenancy then landlords cans serve notice using the Section 21 tool giving at least 2 months notice irrespective of the break clause.
I have a verbal face to face discussion with the tenant, letting them know of the rent increase and then issue section 13 in the correct time constraints. . No need for anything different.