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When choosing the right supplier:

Work out what your requirements are

It is important to be clear about what your requirements are. Requirements need to include exactly what the work is that you need doing, how long you have to complete the work and an idea of the budget available. This will help you narrow your choice of supplier.

Identify some suppliers that can meet your needs

Most suppliers have a website so start your search online. You can also try looking in your local newspaper, yellow pages, and in trade magazines. The following websites can help you find local tradespeople: www.checkatrade.com and www.tradecheck.co.uk – links can be found in the Additional Resources section at the end of this subject.

You can also search Companies House website to find out their registered address, an indication of their history, and information such as whether they are up to date with their accounts. The link and how to do this are also in the Additional Resources section.

Research the product or service that you require

Once you have identified some suppliers that meet your needs, make a note of them including details on their product and their charges. Search on the internet to see if you can find any reviews of their services. You could ask on special interest forums to see if anyone has used the supplier or product you are interested in. Speak to the suppliers directly if you need any more details on the services they offer – make sure you factor in any extras such as delivery charges.

Factors to take into account when making your decision

Do they have the right expertise?

Has the company been trading for at least 12 months? Do they have experience dealing with landlords and rented property? Are they qualified to carry out the work? Do they have adequate insurance?

Can they provide references?

Can you speak to someone else who has used the company’s services? Most reputable suppliers should be able to provide references on request.

Quality and Price

Make sure you look closely to compare what you get for your money. The cheapest might not give you good value as the quality could be poor and conversely the most expensive might not necessarily mean it is the best.

It is also worth asking whether they are VAT registered or not as there could be a 20% difference on price for the same job, at current VAT rates.

Terms and Conditions

Read the terms and conditions and any contracts carefully. Look out for hidden charges or unfair terms and make sure you understand everything before signing on the dotted line.

Communication

Is the company clear in its communications to you? Do they deal with your questions promptly? How do they deal with people? The right supplier won’t ever need to use the hard sell. If you feel you are under pressure to buy then they may not be the right supplier for you.

Trust your instincts

Ultimately, if you feel that something is not quite right, walk away.

There are regulations to ensure that contracts between a consumer and a business are ‘fair’ – the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. It had been confirmed that they apply to tenancy agreements and the Office of Fair Trading, who administer and enforce the provisions, have issued guidance on their effect on tenancy agreements.

The regulations do not cover the core terms of a contract (eg the rent and property details) except in so far as they require that the contract must be in plain English.

Also, absolute prohibition on assignment and subletting will be considered unfair and void – see the section on Subletting / Assigning Tenancies.

Wales

There is no requirement to produce bilingual agreements in Wales although it may be desirable where the parties agree. If the agreement is written in Welsh, all subsequent notices must also be in the same language, unless all parties agree otherwise.

These types of tenancies are governed by the statutory code set up in the Housing Act 1988, which was amended slightly by the Housing Act 1996. The vast majority of tenancies today will be assured or, more usually, assured short-hold tenancies. Both assured and assured short-hold tenant landlords can charge a market rent for the property.

Assured short-hold tenancies are now the ‘default’ type of tenancy, so if you are renting out a property and it does not fall into one of the exceptions discussed below, it will automatically be an assured short-hold tenancy, without you having to do anything (although letting a property without a written agreement is most unwise).

An assured short-hold tenancy can be for any term (the rule requiring them to be for a minimum term of 6 months was abolished by the Housing Act 1996), although in fact the vast majority of tenancies are for terms of six months.

The main benefit of assured short-hold tenancies is that the landlord can recover possession of the property, as of right, so long as any fixed term has expired and the proper form of notice has been served. This notice must be properly drafted and give the tenant notice of not less than two months. These notices are known as section 21 notices as the landlords’ right to recover possession and the notice procedure is set out in section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

It is possible for tenants to challenge the rent during the first six months of the (initial) tenancy by referring it to the Rent Assessment Committee for review, but in fact they very rarely do this.

Assured tenancies give tenants long-term security of tenure, and tenants are entitled to stay there until either they agree to go, or an order for possession is obtained against them. Possession under the ‘no fault’ section 21 procedure is not available for assured tenancies, and you will only be able to evict if one of the statutory ‘grounds’ for possession, as set out in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988, apply. See the Ending a Tenancy Module for more details.

Before 24 February 1997 assured tenancies were the ‘default’ type of tenancy, and many of the assured tenancies in existence today were created by mistake, through landlords not following the proper procedure required at that time, to create an assured short-hold tenancy.

Links to model AST agreements can be found in the Additional Resources section below

The vast majority of landlords will wish to create an assured short-hold tenancy. If the property is subject to a mortgage, most mortgage companies will also insist that all tenancies are assured short-holds. The only circumstances where you may want to consider letting a property under an assured tenancy are if you are certain that you will not want to recover possession and you wish the tenant to have security of tenure (for example a family member or former employee).

However you should be very careful before doing this, as you will be depriving yourself of the right to recover possession, perhaps during your lifetime (bearing in mind that assured tenancies can be passed on to spouses), and ideally should take legal advice first.

In the unlikely event that you will wish to create an assured tenancy, you do this by giving notice to the tenant, saying that the tenancy is an assured rather than an assured short-hold tenancy. There is no prescribed format for this. It is best done as part of the tenancy agreement, but can also be a separate form of notice, served either before or after the tenancy has been entered into.

There are an increasing number of computer programs allowing for documents to be signed electronically and can be a good way to get tenancy agreements signed if all the parties are unable to be in the same place before the start of the tenancy. In order to satisfy a judge that there is a valid signature you will need to produce an audit trail, so before relying on such a system it is a good idea to understand how it works and what is available to print off should you require it in court.

There are an increasing number of computer programs allowing for documents to be signed electronically and can be a good way to get tenancy agreements signed if all the parties are unable to be in the same place before the start of the tenancy. In order to satisfy a judge that there is a valid signature you will need to produce an audit trail, so before relying on such a system it is a good idea to understand how it works and what is available to print off should you require it in court.

The online signing platforms will generally not allow for witnesses due to the problem of getting it witnessed. They work by logging email addresses and IP addresses and if the witness signed the same computer there would be no evidence of how genuine the signature was.

In all circumstances it is best to make sure all parties understand and accept that electronic signatures will be creating a legally binding contract so that there are no problems or misunderstandings later.

In some circumstances the statutory codes set up by the Housing Act 1988 will not apply and the tenancy instead will be governed by either another statute or the underlying ‘common law’. These are as follows:

i. a tenancy which began, or which was agreed, before 15 January 1989 (this will normally be governed by the provisions of the Rent Act 1977)

ii. an agricultural tenancy: this will normally be governed by the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976, assuming that the tenant is a qualifying agricultural worker

iii. a tenancy for which the rent is more than £100,000 a year

iv. a tenancy which is rent free or for which the rent is £250 or less a year (£1,000 or less in Greater London)

v. a letting to a company

vi. a tenancy granted to a student by an educational body such as a university or college

vii. a holiday let

viii. a letting by a resident landlord (i.e. where the landlord lets self-contained accommodation in the building where he lives and where accommodation is shared, this is a licence/lodger situation not a tenancy).

In the circumstances set out in points iii-viii the tenancy will be governed by the common law. Note that the chief significance of a property not being an assured short-hold tenancy is that the procedures for recovery of possession are different.

The following tenancies cannot be assured shorthold tenancies:

• Where you have an existing tenant who holds an assured tenancy, you cannot convert an existing assured tenancy into an assured short-hold tenancy, for example by giving a new form of tenancy agreement. This applies whether or not the fixed term in their tenancy agreement has expired
• An assured tenancy which the tenant has succeeded to on the death of the previous regulated (pre1989) tenant under the ‘succession’ rules
• an assured tenancy following a secure tenancy as a result of the transfer of the tenancy from a public sector landlord to a private landlord
• an assured tenancy arising automatically when a long leasehold tenancy expires.

An assured or assured short-hold tenancy may be a fixed term tenancy, which lasts for a fixed number of weeks, months or years. The length of the fixed term will be set out in the tenancy agreement. Most tenancies have a fixed term of either six months or a year, but the fixed term can be of any length. After a fixed term has expired you can either allow it to run on (see Section on Periodic Tenancy below) or give a new fixed term agreement.

An assured or assured short-hold tenancy may also be a periodic tenancy that runs indefinitely from one rent period to the next. This can happen either with agreement from the start of the tenancy, (a Contractual Periodic), or after the fixed term of the tenancy expires, if no other agreement is made and the tenant remains, (a Statutory Periodic).

In this case the ‘period’ will run from the date after the fixed term has ended and will be based on how rent is paid. So if rent is paid weekly, it will become a weekly periodic tenancy. If the rent is paid monthly it becomes a monthly periodic tenancy. In this case, if the fixed term ends on the 14 September, the period will then run from the 15th of the month to the 14th of the following month.

It is perfectly acceptable for tenancies to run on in this way and many tenancies have operated for years as periodic tenancies. It is not the case either that tenants become ‘squatters’ if they stay on, or that they will acquire additional rights if they stay as a periodic tenant for a long time.