A tenancy agreement is a ______ between the tenant and the landlord. Tenants should keep a ______ of the tenancy agreement.

Presenter: Good afternoon, everyone. I’m here to give you a talk on
tenancy agreements and other legalities. If you rent a fiat or a house, or bed-sit,
you will have a ’tenancy agreement’ or ’lease’. This is a written legal                    Q11
agreement between you, the tenant, and the property owner, the landlord.
Tenancy agreements should normally contain information about the amount
of rent, the length of the tenancy and what rights you and your landlord
will have under the law. In most cases, you will have an ’assured short-hold
tenancy’ which means that your landlord cannot ask you to leave without
a good reason during the first six months. Although these rights offer you      Q12
some protection, it is still your responsibility to check the tenancy agreement
thoroughly and make sure you agree with the terms. Do not sign the tenancy
agreement if you do not know what all of it means. If you do not fully
understand your fights, show your tenancy agreement to an adviser in the
accommodation office or student welfare office at your university or college
and ask for help. You can also get help from a housing advice centre, law
centre or Citizens Advice Bureau. When you do sign the tenancy agreement,
make sure you get a copy to keep for yourself, in case you need to check any      Q13
details later on. The landlord may also ask you to sign an inventory: a list of
all the items in the property—pieces of furniture, kitchen items, etc. If so,        Q14
make sure you get a copy of this as well. Check that it is correct and that any
existing damage to these items is included before signing it. If your landlord
does not provide an inventory, you should make one yourself and send a
copy to the landlord.
  Let’s take a look at payments. Before you move into private
accommodation, you will probably be asked to pay a deposit equivalent
to one month’s rent. Make sure you get a receipt for any deposit or fees        Q15
you have paid. When you leave the accommodation, if you have paid all              Q16/17
your bills and caused no damage to the property, your full deposit will be
paid back to you. If you are renting through an accommodation agency,
you may also be asked to pay fees for preparing tenancy agreements and
administration. You should also keep a written record of all the rent payments
that you make, as you make them. If you have a dispute with your landlord,
or you get behind with your rent, you should get advice as soon as possible.
Remember that if you live in the same building as your landlord, or you have
a room in a student or youth hostel, or university/college accommodation,
then this will affect how secure your tenancy will be. If you do not share
any living space with the landlord or a member of their family, apart from
means of access like an entrance hall or a staircase, or are a student living in
halls of residence, or any other type of accommodation where an educational
institution is the landlord, you will have basic protection from eviction.
Your landlord will have to end your tenancy first, either by waiting for the          Q18/19/20
end of the fixed term you agreed for the tenancy or by giving you at least          Q18/19/20
four weeks’ written notice in writing to quit or through getting a court order,        Q18/19/20
before you have to leave. If you share living space—for example, a kitchen,
living room or bathroom—with your landlord or are in a student or youth
hostel, you will be what is termed an ’excluded tenant’, which means that
you are outside the protection of the UK law which regulates tenancies and
will not have security of tenure. All the landlord has to do to evict you is to
give you notice, although they must give you a reasonable amount of time in
which to leave.
  If you have problems with accommodation, contact the accommodation
office or students’ union at your university or college. If you need specialist
or legal help, contact a law centre in your local Citizens Advice Bureau who
will be able to tell you your rights as a tenant and the rights of your landlord.