Assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST): furnished flat

About this assured shorthold tenancy agreement

Most houses and flats are let using an assured shorthold tenancy agreement (commonly referred to as an AST) such as this one.

This document has been written by a barrister, who specialises in residential tenancy law. It is a long form version of a tenancy agreement, drawn to give the landlord maximum control over the terms of the tenancy. At just short of 2,000 words in plain English, this agreement will reduce the grounds for complaints and misunderstandings with your tenants because your legal position will be fully covered.

The law in this tenancy agreement

There are many assured shorthold tenancy agreements on the Internet, varying in price and quality. Most are short form, around 500 words (a quarter of the size of this one), and cover only the basic terms to create a tenancy. As a landlord, you will know that the purpose of an agreement is to protect you against whatever might go wrong. The more comprehensive a tenancy agreement is, the more it defines rights (in this agreement, favouring you as a landlord) and leaves less room for subjective interpretation by your tenant or a judge.

This assured shorthold tenancy agreement complies with the Housing Act 1988, the Housing Act 1996 and the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme introduced in April 2007.

This document was updated on 2 April 2013 to reflect the availability of new insurance based tenant deposit protection schemes.

When to use this assured shorthold tenancy agreement

This agreement should be used by a landlord wishing to rent one or more properties under the following circumstances. It is ideal for buy-to-let, and can be reused for multiple properties. 

• Rent between £1,000 and £100,000 per year
• Short tenancy period: 6 months to a maximum of 6 years
• One or more tenants jointly responsible for paying the whole rent
• The tenant(s) is a private individual and not a company
• The whole property will be let to one or more tenants under a single agreement
• The property will be used for residential purposes only (not business or agriculture)
• Only the tenants will live in the flat (the landlord will live elsewhere)

The tenancy agreement holds the tenants jointly and severally liable for the tenancy (all tenants are jointly responsible for payment of rent and not individual shares).

Tenancy agreement features and contents 

• Basic provisions common to all assured shorthold tenancy agreements
• Guarantor: essential if tenant is not in full employment
• Agent: should the landlord wish to appoint someone to act on his behalf
• Rent: by default paid monthly in advance, but the terms can be changed
• Deposit by tenant
• Deposit Protection Details (provisions in line with the Deposit Protection Regulations)
• Landlord's access: to view or show prospective lenders or buyers
• Landlord's choice of 30 tenant's “promises” setting out what tenant can and cannot do
• An inventory (provided in the document, with explanatory notes on how to use)
• Includes sensible, practical provisions
• Fair to both parties but drawn primarily to protect the interest of the landlord.  It is for a tenant to challenge those paragraphs which may not suit his circumstances 

Other versions of this assured shorthold tenancy agreement

We have four versions of this assured shorthold tenancy agreement. This one covers a furnished or part-furnished flat. Options also include agreements for unfurnished properties and for houses:

Assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST): unfurnished flat

Assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST): furnished house, (Also suitable for part-furnished houses)

Assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST): unfurnished house

As well as providing this as a Word format template that you complete yourself, we offer a web based drafting service that will create an assured shorthold tenancy agreement for you without you needing to consider the legal aspects of letting.  The final document that the service produces uses the same legal wording as this one (this agreement has been drafted using the same master document that the web based service uses) and, just like this agreement, you have the flexibility to edit it in Word later. The difference is in the time it takes to produce your agreement. Using the service, you could have your final agreement in your hands in 15 minutes. The price is very comparable. For more information, visit residential tenancy agreement drafting service.