Rights and Obligations under a Residential Tenancy Agreement

All residential tenancy agreements must comply with statutory law. This is law that has been passed in parliament and is therefore legally binding and enforceable regardless of what is stated in the residential tenancy agreement. With all residential tenancy agreements there are rights by law for both landlord and tenant; even though these may not have been discussed between both parties, they apply to all tenancy agreements.

Rights and Obligations under a Residential Tenancy Agreement

All types of tenancies include the following rights and obligations.

Rights and obligations as a tenant

Tenants' rights include:

freedom to live in the property undisturbed

the right to live in a property in a good state of repair - your landlord should make repairs and maintain the property

the right to access information about your tenancy at any time

protection from unfair eviction

If you fail to pay rent or breach other terms of your tenancy agreement you can lose your legal rights as a tenant.

As a landlord, you also have rights. You can:

repossess the property when the tenancy ends

take back the property if it gets damaged

access the property by giving 24 hours' notice

take legal action to evict your tenant in some instances - like non-payment of rent

You may have other rights and responsibilities specifically included in your tenancy agreements.

Ending a Residential Tenancy AgreementsIf you are seeking possession because your tenant has not paid the rent or has broken one of the other terms of the tenancy agreement, different rules apply, depending on which type of tenancy your tenant has. For example, if the tenancy is an assured tenancy, you will need to use one of the reasons or 'grounds' for possession in the Housing Act 1988.

If you use one of the grounds from the Housing Act 1988, either two or four weeks' notice may be required. Some grounds are mandatory – this means the court has no choice but to make a possession order if it is satisfied that the ground exists.

Examples of mandatory grounds include:

more than eight weeks' rent arrears (unpaid rent)

repossession by mortgage lender (eg the property you own and rent out is being repossessed)

Other grounds are 'discretionary' – this means the court will look at the reasons and decide if a possession order is fair.

Examples of discretionary grounds include if the tenant:

often pays rent late or does not pay rent

breaks the terms of the tenancy agreement

is a nuisance to neighbours

uses the property for illegal purposes (for example, dealing drugs)

For more details, see Section 8 Notice to quite.