When you move into a property and start paying the rent, it usually becomes a periodic rental agreement. According to Louw Liebenberg, CEO of PayProp, who says it is essential for the smooth running of any tenant-lessor relationship that the lease is properly established and that it is legally correct. If it is the tenants, remember that they are also bound by the legal document that you both signed and that they are legally obliged to comply with the conditions that you have agreed. This would mean that if you do not pay the agreed rent or if you do not maintain the property to the standard you required in the agreement, they would be violating the legal guidelines and you would have the right to issue them the corresponding eviction notice. Under previous distance selling rules, if a tenant had never met their landlord (which could sometimes be the case when renting real estate through a broker), they could take a cooling-off period. Liebenberg says that every month hundreds of signed leases pass in front of his office and he is shocked by the language, format, conditions and structure of many of them. “You take a binding contract with your tenant/lessor/agent, so these agreements need to be carefully reviewed before signing.” As soon as the lease expires, there is no obligation to sign a new lease and you cannot be asked to leave simply because you do not sign a new lease. If your lease lasts longer than six months, it can only be terminated on one of the grounds set out in the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 and 2015. If a lease is offered to you, read it carefully and ask for a second notice before signing. A rental agreement is legally binding and, as a rule, for a fixed period of one year. Once you have signed a lease agreement, there is no “cooling-off period” and it is important to know that, normally, neither the landlord nor you can terminate during the lease unless you only need to sign a lease if you can answer “yes” to the following statements: If you do not have a legitimate reason to terminate your lease agreement, Another possibility is to sublet the apartment to someone else.

In this agreement you will find another tenant who lives in the apartment for the rest of your rental. The person you sublet will either pay you the rent you pay to the landlord or pay you directly to the landlord. Check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet. If not, ask the landlord if it is possible to change the lease and allow you to sublet the apartment due to your extenuating circumstances. If this is the case, the tenant has a “cooling-off period” of five days. You should, however, ask yourself why you want to terminate the lease. Does this have anything to do with the tenants or have your circumstances changed and you no longer want to rent the property? Hurriedly sign penance with peace of mind, is something that potential tenants should consider when signing rental agreements….