Last month's agreement with this month's tenant
The property manager opens last month's agreement for a similar flat, changes the names, address, rent and dates, and sends it for signing. The tenant spots that the deposit figure is from the other flat. Another agreement goes out with a pets clause the landlord never agreed. A guarantor agreement names the wrong tenant.
Most errors are caught. Some are not, and they surface at the worst possible time.
Why agreements carry errors
Tenancy agreements combine fixed wording that your adviser has approved with variable details: parties, property, rent, payment dates, deposit, permitted occupiers, and optional clauses such as pets, gardens, parking or furnished inventories. When the variable details are typed or pasted by hand, errors creep in, and optional clauses from a previous tenancy are easily left in or left out.
Law and guidance also change, and your templates need to change with them. A process based on copying old agreements carries old wording forward.
| Part of the agreement | Common error |
|---|---|
| Tenant and guarantor names | Misspelt, or one missing |
| Rent, deposit and dates | Figures from a previous agreement |
| Optional clauses | Left in or missing |
| Template version | Old wording copied forward |
| Signatures | One tenant or guarantor never signs |
What the errors cost
An agreement that does not match what was agreed causes disputes, and some errors can matter a great deal when a tenancy ends or goes wrong, as your adviser can explain. Correcting and re-sending costs time and makes the agency look careless at the moment the tenant is forming their impression. Unsigned agreements from one of several tenants are a quiet risk that only shows later.
Template control is its own problem. When the approved wording changes, every copy of an old agreement saved on a desktop is a way for outdated clauses to keep going out. Few offices can say with confidence which version each current tenancy was signed on, and that question becomes important when the rules change.
How we build agreement generation
- Templates: your adviser-approved templates are set up with fields and optional clauses, and each template has a version so you know which one every agreement used.
- Data from the record: parties, property, rent, deposit and dates come from the tenancy record in your lettings software, not from typing.
- Clause rules: optional clauses are included by rule from what was agreed, such as a pets clause only if the landlord consented, with any exceptions flagged for a person.
- Pre-send check: the generated agreement is compared with the record, and any mismatch or missing detail blocks sending until it is resolved.
- E-signing: every tenant and guarantor signs electronically in the order your process requires, with reminders, and the lettings manager sees who has not yet signed.
- Filing: the signed agreement and its audit trail are stored against the tenancy.
We do not write or change the legal wording. That comes from your adviser, and template updates are theirs to approve.
Agreements that match the record
Agreements are produced in moments from the record, with the right clauses and current wording. Errors from copy and paste disappear because nothing is copied. Every party signs, or the gap is visible. When templates change, every new agreement uses the new version from that day.
Are your agreements built by copy and paste?
- Agreements are made by editing a previous one.
- Tenants have spotted wrong names or figures in their agreement.
- Optional clauses are added or removed by hand.
- You are not sure every tenancy used your current template.
- Some agreements are missing a signature from one party.