Please note: If you are creating a tenancy under Scottish law, a short Assured Tenancy Agreement is available

Order the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement

As the lead professional association for the Private Rented Sector, ARLA, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, has finalised a new model tenancy agreement, which it hopes will benefit the whole lettings market.

This follows the interpretation and guidance on the impact of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, UTCCR, issued by the Office of Fair Trading in May 2001.

Since then, ARLA has worked extensively with the OFT and submitted new draft clauses so as to produce a model Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement, with standard pre-printed clauses, that is believed to fall within the requirements of the unfair terms regulations.

These regulations treat landlords and their letting agents as suppliers and their tenants as consumers. Although there are a number of terms that can be tested against the regulations for fairness, there are four tests that are most likely to be measured against standard tenancy agreements for fairness.

These tests are: Is the clause written in plain, intelligible English? Is it misleading or have the potential to mislead the tenant over legal rights? Does it impose disproportionate or unfair financial penalties on the tenant? Does it create a significant imbalance in rights and obligations, to the detriment of the tenant?

These regulations are enforced by the OFT and by local authority trading standards departments.

“ARLA has discussed in great detail the content and style of standard clauses, built up over years of experience in the realities of landlord and tenant relationships,” said Adrian Turner, Chief Executive of ARLA. “These new regulations mean that anyone involved in producing tenancy agreements will have to forget any historic prejudices and take an entirely fresh approach. We believe this new ARLA model Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement does precisely that.”

However, ARLA stresses that the OFT cannot approve anyone’s tenancy agreements or particular clauses. Ultimately only the courts can decide.

Said Adrian Turner, “We are grateful to the OFT for their useful comments on the clauses we have submitted to them over the past 15 months, in our attempts to produce a model Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement that is believed to fall within the requirements of the unfair terms regulations.

ARLA believes that the impact of the new regulations are so important to the health of the Private Rented Sector that the Association is not keeping the model agreement solely for the benefit of its own member firms. The new ARLA model Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement will be available from ARLA from the middle of September.

For further details, letting agents who are not members of ARLA, solicitors, landlords and anyone else involved in the drafting of Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements should call the ARLA Hotline on 0845 345 5752 or visit www.arla.co.uk and download the order form.

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