Parties and property: who is bound, and to exactly what

The parties clause is the first thing in a tenancy agreement and the first thing filled in, which is exactly why it is read the least. It names three things: who is letting, who is taking, and what is being let. Each of those carries more than it appears to.

The landlord is whoever is entitled to let

Our clause does not just name a landlord. It describes them as the party entitled to let the Premises. That wording is a reminder rather than decoration: the person who signs as landlord should be the person, or the people, with the right to grant the tenancy.

Most of the time that is simply the owner. The cases worth slowing down for are the ones where it is not simple: a property with more than one owner, an owner abroad acting through someone else, or a property held by a company. Settle who is entitled to let before the agreement is drafted, and name them. For an HDB flat, HDB sets its own conditions on renting a flat out, and those come before anything the agreement says, so check HDB’s current rules first.

The tenant is who signs, not everyone who lives there

The agreement binds the tenant it names. A partner, a flatmate or family members living in the flat do not become parties by living there. Who else may occupy the premises, and on what terms, belongs in the use-of-premises clause, and that is the place to say it.

Where two people are taking a flat together, name both and have both sign. An agreement signed by one of them leaves the other’s position to be argued about later, which is the opposite of what an agreement is for.

The premises include the inventory

The clause lets the premises together with the fixtures, fittings and household effects listed in the inventory. So the inventory is not a casual attachment. It is part of the definition of what is being let.

That is where most arguments about a deposit begin. A sofa, an oven or a set of blinds that is not on the list is hard to argue about at the end, because nobody can show it was there at the beginning. An agreement with an empty or missing inventory lets the premises with their contents undefined.

Three things worth checking before signing

• The agreement date is not the start date. This clause records the day the agreement is made. The day the tenancy begins is set by the term clause, and the two are often different.
• Everyone entitled to let is accounted for. If there is more than one owner, settle who signs before the draft, not at the table.
• The inventory exists, and both sides have seen it. Photographs taken on the day turn a future argument into a comparison.

The rent itself, and what happens when it is late, is the next clause worth reading.

This explains what the clause does. It is not legal advice, and whether any particular term binds in a particular dispute is a question for a lawyer rather than for a blog post.