Standard Rental Agreements and T&C's

[greenbarn]

This has been born of another thread. As my post is specific to the UK, I thought I'd lift some of the stuff I posted there into this thread.

First, it's apparent that the laws associated with holiday lets are country dependent, and hence the T&C's which we use.

I hit on a template agreement and T&C's provided by Lawpack "the UK's DIY legal publisher". They actually have different versions - one for England and Wales, and one for Scotland.

In the name of research I decided to blow a tenner and download the version for England and Wales. I am now here to save everyone else a tenner - not, I hasten to add, by posting chunks of the copyright material, but by telling you not to bother downloading your own.

It covers none of the areas that often cause us concern, such as cancellations, responsibility for ongoing provision of services (eg the central heating packing up) etc etc and is best described as lightweight, with obvious origins in a tenancy agreement with the odd change here and there that were probably done with a crayon.

I imagine that what it does contain is solid, and it has been approved by PainSmith who are UK solicitors practising exclusively in tenant law. PainSmith have an interesting blog here .

No doubt PainSmith and others could produce a far more extensive set of T&C's if approached directly, and no doubt at some cost. Of course, if that cost were to be met by a group, it would be far more attractive. I eagerly await the day when VisitBritain produce a standard agreement which doesn't come with the "this does not constitute legal advice, you should consult a solicitor" caveat, as with their current offering. Chocolate teapot, anyone? EASCO, the English Association of Self Catering Operators, also promised something a while back, but have been rather quiet since.