The Letting Centre

Witnessing tenancy agreements

Question: 368
The standard form Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement that our agency uses has a space at the end of the document for a witness to sign next to the signatures of both the landlord and the tenant. At present I use another member of staff to witness these signatures. Is it a legal requirement that these agreements are witnessed and is it appropriate to use another member of my staff to do so?
Answer:
A witness is a person who observes the signing of a legal document in case it is subsequently necessary to verify the authenticity of the signature. Under English conveyancing law, it is not compulsory to use a witness when signing a tenancy agreement, unless the agreement is executed as a deed, for example where the term is over three years. However, letting agreements often make provision for a witness to sign the agreement since this is a reasonable safeguard against the situation where a person denies ever signing or being shown the agreement in the first place. A witness could be a colleague or some other third party who is present during the signing of the tenancy agreement.
References:	Pages:	Hyperlinks:
Letting Handbook	Chapter 9	letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html

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