Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements (AST) are simple legal contracts between landlords and tenants in England and Wales which grant the tenant the right to live in the property owned by the landlord for a period of time in exchange for rent. Despite their simplicity, if you are not familiar with contracts or the law surrounding tenancies and leases, it can be quite a lot to get your head around. Legislate can assist you and you don’t have to spend hours trying to find a free tenancy agreement online which is suited to you.
This article will discuss how to create a Legislate AST Agreement and the benefits of creating, and managing, your tenancy agreements on Legislate.
How do you create a private residential tenancy agreement on Legislate?
Once you are logged-in to the Legislate app:
- Select the type of rental agreement you would like to create from our suite of lawyer-approved contracts (in this case, Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement);
- Set the terms of the tenancy by answering some simple questions. Legislate will generate a robust AST Agreement based on your own terms which provides flexibility for you, your property and your tenant;
- Add parties from your side of the contract, whether that be yourself, your company or, the landlord, if you are a letting agent working on behalf of the private landlord;
- Invite parties from the other side, including the tenants, guarantors and witnesses;
- Review the contract, agree and sign!
All within one easy-to-use platform.
Legislate's AST allows you to set key terms of the tenancy such as:
- Is the tenancy a fixed term or rolling tenancy?
- Is the type of tenancy agreement a sole occupancy or HMO or bedsit?
- When is the tenancy start date? What is the tenancy deposit and in which deposit scheme will it be protected?
- Does the tenant have access to common parts?
- Who is responsible for paying council tax and utilities?
- What is each side's notice period and what are the tenant's obligations at the end of the tenancy
You can also manage your tenancies within Legislate through our patented technology which provides unique automated insights into your contracts such as rent payments and the amount of rent being generated by your properties.
Curious about automated data extraction from documents?
Why should you use Legislate for your tenancy agreement templates?
That online template you used for your last tenancy agreement may have worked perfectly. But what happens when your new tenant wants different clauses, or, the law has changed? You will need to find another suitable tenancy agreement. Or, you can use Legislate and have the flexibility of setting the terms as you wish for each of your properties or tenancies and not have to worry about meeting the legal requirements for your residential tenancy agreement as Legislate's contracts are always up-to-date.
It is no secret that legal fees can be expensive, and probably one of the key reasons leading to the use of online templates. Legislate bridges this gap and automatically tailors for you up-to-date contracts which are lawyer-approved.
How often do you or your tenants find the contracts and legal documents that you find online hard to read and full of legalese? This is one of the other benefits that Legislate can bring you. Our contracts are clear, written in plain English and well-presented, meaning both you and your tenants understand all rights, responsibilities and obligations.
If you are interested in learning more about Legislate, our AST Agreements or any of our other contracts such as lodger agreements, book a demo, sign up or download one of our contract guides.
The opinions on this page are for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice on which you should rely.