Private residential tenancy model agreement: easy read notes

1. Tenant

If there is more than one person named on the Agreement as the Tenant the tenancy will be a joint tenancy. This means that each person is responsible on their own individually - as well as equally along with all of the others - for all of the payments and other things the tenant is required to do under the tenancy. For example, if any of the tenants in a joint tenancy fell into rent arrears, the landlord could ask one of the other named tenants to pay the money owed.

That person must pay the landlord the full sum that is owed and then try to get the other people who are also joint tenants to repay them their share.

The addresses the tenant(s) provides will usually be their current addresses and not the property that is being rented and that they are going to move into under the Agreement.

The Agreement could include details of tenant email addresses and telephone numbers.

• If the Landlord and Tenant agree that formal written notices will be given by email instead of by letter (see Note 4 – Communication), then email addresses must be provided. If the Agreement does not allow notices to be given by email then it is not essential for email addresses to be given.
• The Agreement does not say that any formal notice or other communication can be done by telephone, so it is not essential for telephone numbers to be given. But it might be useful to have telephone numbers available in an emergency or to speed up communications between the landlord and tenant.