My landlord (in the UK) says i dont have to have a written agreement, is this correct?

Question

My tenancy is an oral agreement and I wanted a written tenancy and my landlord is saying legally it is not necessary. He showed a website that also states it is not essential to have a written tenancy

Answer 1

Jurisdiction: england-and-wales

Your landlord probably is obliged to provide you with at least some written terms if you request it, but other than that there is no requirement to have a written tenancy agreement encompassing all of the agreed terms.

Assured shorthold tenancies

I'm assuming that you have an assured shorthold tenancy under section 19A of the Housing Act 1988 (the "HA 1988"). This is the type of tenancy which most residential tenants have. To be an assured shorthold tenancy:

• You must occupy the property as your only or principal home (section 1(1) HA 1988)
• You do not pay a very low rent (£1000 a year or less in London, £250 a year or less anywhere else) or a very high rent (£100,000 a year or more), your landlord is not a university, your landlord does not live in the building with you, it is not a holiday let, and none of the other paragraphs in Schedule 1 HA 1988 apply.

Statement of basic terms

Section 20A HA 1988 provides that:

(1) Subject to subsection (3) below, a tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy to which section 19A above applies may, by notice in writing, require the landlord under that tenancy to provide him with a written statement of any term of the tenancy which (a) falls within subsection (2) below, and (b) is not evidenced in writing.

(2) The following terms of a tenancy fall within this subsection, namely—

(a) the date on which the tenancy began or, if it is a statutory periodic tenancy or a tenancy to which section 39(7) below applies, the date on which the tenancy came into being,

(b) the rent payable under the tenancy and the dates on which that rent is payable,

(c) any term providing for a review of the rent payable under the tenancy, and

(d) in the case of a fixed term tenancy, the length of the fixed term.

A failure by the landlord to do so is a criminal offence pursuant to section 20A(4) but the landlord does not have to respond more than once in relation to a term which has not changed in the meantime (section 20A(4)).

Landlord's address

Under section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, the landlord is also obliged to give you a notice containing an address in England and Wales at which notices can be served on him by you. A failure to do so means that no rent is due until such time as the landlord complies (but he can then request all outstanding rent retrospectively) (section 48(2)).

You can also request the landlord's address from the person you pay the rent to and they must provide that information in writing within 21 days or commit an offence pursuant to section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

Note these are two slightly different things. The first is an address in England and Wales to which notices can be served, but doesn't necessarily need to be the landlord's address. The second is the landlord's actual address (which might not be in England and Wales). Usually these will be the same address.

Consequences to the landlord

Not having a written agreement is generally worse for the landlord than for the tenant. This is because it is typically the landlord who would draft the tenancy agreement and a well drafted one will have lots of terms favouring the landlord and relatively few favouring the tenant. Without such terms, the landlord and tenant generally only retain their statutory rights and obligations (which apply with or without a written agreement) unless it can be proven that something else was agreed verbally.

Answer 2

As your link quotes s.54(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925, I assume the jurisdiction is england-and-wales. In that case, your landlord is correct. Citizens Advice offer this:

The tenancy agreement is a contract between you and your landlord. It may be written or verbal.

...

Most tenants do not have a right in law to a written tenancy agreement. However, social housing landlords such as local authorities and housing associations will normally give you a written tenancy agreement.

Answer 3

The fact that you are in the flat and the landlord doesn't throw you out, and the other fact that you give the landlord money every month and he doesn't return it, proves that you have an implicit contract. If we were best friends and you assumed that we stay best friends forever, it would be fine with that implicit contract.

But you and the landlord are not best friends. Either the landlord is too clueless to set up a contract (here https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en/sem/tenancy-agreement is a site apparently offering contracts that you can use for free), or he is trying to rip you off by making claims later what is supposedly in your contract.

You are both much safer with a written contract.

And you are both much safer with a recorded verbal contract than with a verbal contract where nobody has any evidence what's in the contract. Again, for both sides.