North West Property Owners Association/b>

Welcome to our members area where members can download documents and view minutes of our meetings.

NWPOA members receive free guidance and advice on all aspects of setting up a tenancy and using these documents. If you are not yet a member, please call our helpline or email us using the contact form for details of how to become a member, or join online.

Please select your documents from the list below. The two Tenancy Agreement forms are free to anyone but you will need your membership username and password for any other document.

1. Application for tenancy form:

Use this form as a way of collecting information about a prospective tenant. We recommend that landlords should use this information to do a credit reference check. A basic reference check will confirm the tenant's previous address and whether there is any adverse credit against their name.

2. Tenancy Agreement:

Any arrangement where someone is living in a property that you own will probably constitute a tenancy. This arrangement will provide a tenant with certain rights and will also bind you as a landlord to undertake a variety of legal obligations. A written tenancy agreement confirms the obligations which the landlord and tenant must fulfil.

We recommend that this Assured Shorthold tenancy agreement should be given for no more than 6 months. There is no need to renew an assured shorthold tenancy, because the tenancy will continue under the same terms, as a periodic tenancy and it will run from rent period to rent period. So, if rent is paid monthly then the periodic tenancy will be a perpetual monthly one which will be ended by notice from the landlord to the tenant (or vice versa).

If you allow someone to live in a property which you own, be aware that it is often the most informal arrangements which cause the most problems. Verbal agreements are not recommended because if they go wrong, it becomes extremely difficult to take court action. Verbal agreements can be difficult to enforce because there is often no proof of what has been agreed, or a particular problem may have arisen which the agreement did not cover.

If a landlord takes a deposit, they will be required to include details of which scheme is being used to protect the deposit, in a written tenancy agreement.

3. Tenancy Agreement with Deposit:

Use this tenancy agreement if you take a deposit from a tenant. A landlord is legally required to provide a tenancy agreement which includes details of which scheme is being used to hold the deposit.

4. Section 8 Notice and Grounds:

If the tenancy runs into problems, landlords have to go through a legal process in order to get possession of their property.

The first step is to issue a notice to the tenant. The notice gives the tenant a period of time within which they must leave your property - for rent arrears, this is 2 weeks.

Under Section 8, a landlord must give a reason why they want possession of their property. These are listed as 17 grounds, which include rent arrears.

If the tenant does not leave the property, once the notice has expired, then the landlord can go to court to seek a possession order.

5. Section 21 1b Notice:

Under Section 21, a landlord does not need to specify a reason for wanting possession of their property, but once again there is a legal process which the landlord must go through. This begins with the issue of a notice.

The Section 21 procedure requires a landlord to give the tenant 2 months notice that they wish to repossess the property. The tenant is allowed a minimum of 6 months tenure of the property, so the notice cannot expire earlier than this. This notice is used if the tenancy is within its fixed term.

If the tenant does not leave upon the expiry of the notice, the landlord can apply to the courts for a possession order.

6. Section 21 4a Notice:

This notice is also used for possession under the Section 21 procedure and again, 2 months notice is required to be given to the tenant. However, if the tenancy is past the fixed term, then this notice should be used.

Back to top