How to create a tenancy

A tenancy is the right to occupy or use someone else's property (like a house or land) for a set period, under an agreement (tenancy agreement) in exchange for rent, granting the tenant rights and responsibilities, and the landlord specific rights, forming a legal contract defining rules for both parties, and can be fixed-term or periodic (month-to-month). In summary, it’s a rule book for how the tenancy works, it explains what happens, how it should work, it defines what is and isn't allowed and each party’s responsibilities.

You must first create your property. If you're unsure of how to do this, please follow our previous article here.

To create a tenancy with your chosen tenant:

1. Go to the "Enquiries" tab within your chosen property

2. Find the tenant you would like to create a tenancy with and click "Create a tenancy"

3. You will be taken to the "Tenancy details" page. You can now fill in the remaining tenancy details and add any other tenants. This will allow us to build your tenancy the way you want it, for example, you can set the rent payment date to be the 1st of each month, but start the tenancy on the 20th, we will calculate rend due for the interim period between the 20th and the 1st, and you can choose to add it to next month's rental amount.

4. At the bottom of the page you will see a pre-drafted email which will be sent to your tenant to explain the details of the tenancy and how much the holding deposit, deposit and rent in advance will be as well as the details of where to pay this money (this will be the bank details you have filled in during the account setup stage). Please check this information over carefully.

5. Once you have filled in all the information, click proceed to send this email and move onto the next section.

6. Check your bank account to see if the tenant has paid their holding deposit, if not you can click "send follow up email" or if they have click "yes".

7. To reference your tenants, click "Start references", Canopy will make contact with your chosen tenant and complete all the checks in the background, then send through updates to Let My Way so you can keep track of the progress.

8. Serve your prescribed documents (Gas certificates, EICRs, how-to-rent guides, etc) by uploading them and setting the expiry date, then click save. Once all have been uploaded, click "send all documents"

9. Add any clauses to your tenancy agreement by typing the clause into the text box and clicking the "+" button above the right-hand corner of the text box. Once you're ready to review the tenancy agreement, click the "preview agreement" button.

10. Click "Continue to signitures" to proceed.

11. Choose to either digitally sign (an email will be sent to your tenants to e-sign the tenancy agreement) or manual signing (this will provide you with a PDF to download and print).

    1. If digitally signing, click "send signing emails to tenants"; this will send an e-signable version to the tenants. Once the tenants have signed the tenancy agreement, the "Proceed to outstanding balance" button will be available.

    2. If manually signing, click "Preview and download agreement".

12. To request the outstanding balance (deposit and rent in advance) click "send payment info", again, this will bring up a drafted email to send to the tenants. Check this over and press "send email".

13. Once you have received the outstanding balance, please click "yes", or if not, click "Send Follow-up" to send a follow-up email.

14. Lodge the deposit. Once you have received the tenants' deposit, it must be lodged with your chosen Deposit Scheme (the one which you had chosen earlier and is listed in the tenancy agreement) and prescribed information supplied to the tenant within 30 days.