Agreement check
Tenancy agreement checker: check yours online before you sign
Upload your tenancy agreement. We’ll check it free and tell you how many things to question. See each one, with a message to send the agent, for £4.99.
Start with the address of the home
Free check · £4.99 to see each point · Pay once · We never keep your file
- 1Enter the address of the home
- 2Upload your agreement. It’s free
- 3See how many things to question
- 4See each one, with a message to send, for £4.99
No agreement yet? Check the home free now, and upload the agreement when it arrives.
England only · Guidance checked September 2026
What files work?
- One PDF, up to 4 MB: the file the agent emailed you, or one from an e-signing site.
- Or photos of the pages, up to 30, as JPEG, PNG or WebP. Phone photos are fine. Include every page, in order.
- Not Word documents: save or print the agreement as a PDF first.
The check takes a minute or two. You can check up to 3 versions of the agreement for this report, for example a revised one after the agent replies.
What it doesn’t do
- It isn’t legal advice. It can make mistakes or miss a term, so check each point against the clause it names.
- It checks the areas listed below, not every clause. A term outside them isn’t graded.
- If pages are missing or hard to read, the findings say so. Anything it couldn’t find may still be there.
- It only checks the agreement for the home your report is for. One for a different address is turned down, and doesn’t use up a check.
- It covers private tenancies in England under today’s rules. Not lodgers, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
What happens to my file?
- We never keep your tenancy agreement: not the file, and not its text. We save only what we read from it, in our own words, so you never have to upload it twice.
- It is read by Anthropic’s Claude AI on our behalf, in the United States, then checked against rules we have written for tenancies in England. Under Anthropic’s commercial terms it isn’t used to train their models.
- Your report is a private link that isn’t listed anywhere. Anyone you share it with can open it. To have a report deleted, email privacy@rentercheck.co.uk.
Example from a made-up report
What an agreement check finds
Fees · Clause 8.4, page 5
It includes a compulsory cleaning charge of £180: professional cleaning of the home, including the carpets, at the end of the tenancy, arranged by the agent.
Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 a landlord or agent in England can only charge rent, capped deposits and a short list of permitted payments. Any other fee is banned and must be refunded.
Question ready to send to the agent:
“Clause 8.4 includes a compulsory cleaning charge of £180. This isn’t a permitted payment under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Please remove it.”
What the checker looks at
The terms of the agreement
- The type of tenancy, and terms from old templates such as fixed terms and section 21
- The rent, rent in advance and how the rent can go up
- The deposit, the holding deposit and deposit protection
- Fees the Tenant Fees Act doesn’t allow, such as compulsory cleaning
- Notice, pets and how many people can live there
- Other terms that cost money or limit how you live there
Compared with the property’s records
- The address, against the home your report is for
- The rent and deposit, against what you were quoted and the legal limits
- The landlord, against the registered owner on HM Land Registry and Companies House
- Licensing, against the council’s licensing schemes and register
Two more findings from the same example
From the example report: a made-up agreement for an example home, checked by the same rules as a real upload. Every finding that needs a question becomes one, ready to copy or send from your email.
Example · Potentially unlawful · Type of tenancy
It is written as an assured shorthold tenancy with a fixed term of 12 months and refers to section 21 notices. (clause 2.1, page 1)
Since 1 May 2026 most new private tenancies in England are periodic with no fixed term, section 21 “no fault” evictions have ended, and you can leave with two months’ notice. These terms have no effect, but an agreement on an old template may mislead you about your rights.
Question ready to send:
“The agreement is written as a fixed-term assured shorthold tenancy. Since 1 May 2026 new private tenancies in England are periodic, and section 21 no longer applies. Please send an agreement that reflects the Renters’ Rights Act.”
Example · Inconsistent information · Landlord’s address
It doesn’t give an address for the landlord or for serving notices.
A landlord must give you an address in England or Wales for notices.
Question ready to send:
“Please add an address in England or Wales where notices can be sent to the landlord.”
Check it before you sign
Free check · £4.99 to see each point · Pay once · We never keep your file
- 1Enter the address of the home
- 2Upload your agreement. It’s free
- 3See how many things to question
- 4See each one, with a message to send, for £4.99
No agreement yet? Check the home free now, and upload the agreement when it arrives.
England only · Guidance checked September 2026
RenterCheck gives information about tenancies in England, not legal advice. Automated reading can make mistakes, so check each point against the clause it names, and get housing or legal advice for anything important or disputed.
What to look for in a tenancy agreement before you sign
- The type of tenancy
- Most new private tenancies in England are now assured periodic tenancies with no fixed term. Since 1 May 2026 section 21 “no fault” evictions have ended and you can leave by giving two months’ notice. An agreement that sets a fixed term, refers to section 21 or asks for longer notice has probably been written on an old template.
- The rent, and rent in advance
- The rent in the agreement should match the rent you were offered: a landlord or agent can’t accept more than the advertised rent. No rent can be taken before you sign, and at most one month’s rent between signing and the tenancy starting.
- The deposit
- A tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks’ rent, or six weeks’ where the rent is £50,000 a year or more. It must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days, and you must be told which one.
- Fees and charges
- Apart from rent and capped deposits, a landlord or agent can only charge for a short list of things: a change you ask for (capped at £50 or reasonable costs), ending early at your request, late rent over 14 days, lost keys, and bills the agreement makes you responsible for. Administration, referencing, inventory, check-out, renewal and compulsory professional cleaning fees are banned.
- Rent increases
- Rent can only be increased once a year using a formal notice under section 13, and you can challenge an increase at the First-tier Tribunal. A clause that sets its own yearly increase no longer applies.
- Who the landlord is
- The agreement should name the landlord and give an address in England or Wales for notices. If the landlord isn’t the owner on HM Land Registry, ask the agent or landlord what gives them the right to let the home.
- Licensing
- Some rented homes need a licence from the council: shared homes with five or more people from more than one household everywhere, and in some areas smaller shared homes or most rented homes. Ask the agent or landlord whether the home needs one and for its number, and check the number of people the agreement allows is within the licence.
- Pets
- You can ask to keep a pet, and the landlord must not unreasonably refuse and must reply within 28 days. A blanket ban in the agreement is worth asking about.
- Repairs
- The landlord is responsible for the structure, the exterior, and the heating, hot water, gas, electrics and sanitation. A term that makes you pay for these, or for all repairs under a set amount, is worth questioning before you sign.
Sources: the Renters’ Rights Act overview for tenants, Tenant Fees Act guidance, tenancy deposit protection and rent increases, all on GOV.UK.
Questions renters ask
What does the tenancy agreement checker do?
It reads the agreement you’ve been asked to sign and compares it with what we find for that home: the address, rent, deposit and fees against the legal limits, the landlord against HM Land Registry, and licensing. It flags terms written on old templates, like fixed terms and section 21, and writes each point as a question to send the letting agent.
Is the tenancy agreement checker legal advice?
No. It points out terms worth questioning and explains why, from the law in England. Automated reading can make mistakes and may miss a term, so check each point against the clause it names, and get housing or legal advice for anything important or disputed.
What happens to my agreement when I upload it?
We never keep your tenancy agreement: not the file, and not its text. We save only what we read from it, in our own words, so you never have to upload it twice. It is read by Anthropic’s Claude AI on our behalf, then checked against rules we have written for tenancies in England. Names, contact and bank details of individuals are not recorded. Our privacy notice has the details.
Can I upload the agreement later?
Yes. Run the free check for the property now and scan the agreement from your report whenever the landlord or agent sends it. If you buy the agreement check or Complete RenterCheck first, the link to upload it is in your report and in the email we send you.
Can I check more than one agreement?
The agreement check, and Complete RenterCheck, each check the agreement for the home they cover, up to three times, so you can check a revised version after the agent replies.
What is the difference between the agreement check and Complete RenterCheck?
The agreement check (£4.99) reads the agreement against the law in England, the rent you were quoted and the home’s licensing, with a question for each point. Complete RenterCheck (£9.99) includes it, compares the agreement with the registered owner and any HMO licence as well, and adds the full property report. If you buy the agreement check first, Complete costs the difference.
What should I look for in a tenancy agreement?
Check that the rent and deposit match what you were offered, that the deposit is no more than five weeks’ rent and will be protected, that there are no banned fees, and that the landlord is named with an address for notices. Look out for a fixed term, section 21 or a built-in yearly rent rise: since 1 May 2026 these usually mean an old template. Check who is responsible for repairs, and whether the home needs a council licence.
Can a letting agent charge a cleaning fee in England?
Not as a compulsory charge. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, professional cleaning can’t be required as a fee. A landlord can make a deduction from your deposit at the end if the home is left dirtier than when you moved in, allowing for fair wear and tear.
How much deposit can a landlord ask for?
Five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks’ where it is £50,000 or more. A holding deposit is capped at one week’s rent.
Are fixed-term tenancies still allowed in England?
Not for most private tenancies starting from 1 May 2026, which are assured periodic tenancies with no fixed term. You can leave by giving two months’ notice, and a landlord needs a legal ground to end the tenancy.
My tenancy agreement mentions section 21. Is that a problem?
Section 21 “no fault” evictions ended on 1 May 2026. An agreement that still refers to them was probably written on an old template, so ask for one that reflects the Renters’ Rights Act before you sign.
Can my tenancy agreement say the rent goes up every year?
A rent review clause no longer decides increases. Rent can only rise once a year through a section 13 notice, which you can challenge at the First-tier Tribunal if the new rent is above the market rent.
How much rent in advance can a landlord ask for?
None before you sign the tenancy agreement, and at most one month’s rent between signing and the tenancy starting.
Check the home before you sign
The free property check covers the energy rating, flood zone, conservation area, crime nearby and past sales. Work out the legal deposit limits for your rent, or check whether a licensing scheme covers the home. Not sure who the landlord is? How to find the landlord of a property. Is the rent fair? The rent checker gives the area average, and our city guides cover rents and licensing in ten cities.
Check a property free