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How To Write A Tenancy Agreement in South Africa

Are you a landlord or tenant? You need to understand every detail contained in a lease agreement before appending your signature to it. A tenancy agreement is a very important document that both the landlord and tenant should sign. Knowing the right information to include in your tenancy agreement could be a difficult task.

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In this article, we’ll be showing you how to write a tenancy agreement in South Africa. That’s not all, we’ll also show you a sample of tenancy agreement in South Africa. You’ll also get to learn the right information to include when writing a tenancy agreement in South Africa.

In fact, before you start writing, you need to understand the importance of this document and why you should write it.

Page Contents

What Is A Tenancy/Lease Agreement?

A tenancy agreement is a contractual arrangement between a tenant and a landlord or landlady. The contract stipulates the roles of each party concerning a residential or commercial property leased or rented out.

The agreement should identify the parties, the terms of rental, the properties and the amount provided for the rent. The owner is often referred to as the lessor and the renter as the lessee.

Before penning down your signature to a tenancy agreement, you need to go through it and understand the content. Once you have signed the document, it means you’ll abide by the rules and responsibilities stipulated in the documents.

South African laws do not recognise ignorance. As such, any erring party is liable to face legal sanctions. The possibility of facing a legal action explains why you should take your time to go through a rental agreement. Not only that, make sure you understand what is written therein before signing.

What You Should Include in a Tenancy Agreement

For your tenancy agreement to be binding, you need to include:

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  • The names of all people involved
  • The rental price and how it’s paid
  • Information on how and when the rent will be reviewed
  • The deposit amount and how it will be protected
  • When the deposit can be fully or partly withheld, for example, to repair damage caused by tenants
  • The property address
  • The start and end date of the tenancy
  • Any tenant or landlord obligations
  • Which bills your tenants are responsible for
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It can also include information on:

  • Whether the tenancy can be ended early and how this can be done
  • Who’s responsible for minor repairs (other than those that the landlord is legally responsible for)
  • Whether the property can be let to someone else (sublet) or have lodgers

The terms of the tenancy agreement must be fair and comply with the law.

How to Write a Tenancy Agreement in South Africa

The bottom line is to write a perfect tenancy agreement using the acceptable tenancy agreement format. There are some agreement templates one can use as guidelines. You could search for “tenancy agreement in South Africa PDF“. This will help you understand the full details of South Africa rent control tenancy agreement.

Sample of Tenancy Agreement in South Africa

Below is a sample of tenancy agreement in South Africa.

TENANCY AGREEMENT

This is to ascertain that I ……………….. being the landlord of ………. property receive ………………amount in South Africa rand being the sum of money for both the rent and the security deposit from ………………. being the tenant for renting out a house number ……………………………(you can give the physical address details of the property in question) on this day of …….the month of ……. Year ……… with effect from …………

This agreement is binding for two years beginning …………. and ending …………. upon which the tenancy agreement may be renewed or terminated and new regulations apply.

The rent per month for the property has been agreed as ………………. (state the figure in both words and figures if need be) and should be payable on or before …………. Day of the month. Failure to pay by this day will attract an additional charge of ….. % of the rent. However, failing to pay 30 days thereafter will lead to forceful eviction.

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This agreement is subject to renewal after the expiration of the tenancy agreement period from which it ceases to be enforceable. Rent may then be reviewed upwards or downward by the landlord. The tenant and the landlord can then determine if the tenant-landlord relationship should continue by signing a new tenancy agreement.

TENANCY REGULATION

It is hereby agreed as follows:

That the house will be painted and ready for occupancy on ……….. and the keys will officially be handed over to the tenant. The keys should be returned to the landlord when the tenant vacates the premises.

That monthly rent of ………..  Rand is payable to the landlord on or before …….. every month and should be paid ….(state the mode of payment, bank account, money transfer service and leave the details to use).

That rent is subject to payment even in advance to avoid inconveniences.

That the rent for the house ………… (give a description) may be adjusted upwards after the duration of tenancy has expired.

That the house cannot be rented out to another person or sub-rented without written consent from the landlord.

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That the property should always be in a good state as it was during the time of tenancy agreement issuance and should hand back the property free of damage or destruction just as it was when issued.

That the property should only be used as a residency alone and should maintain peace for neighbours.

That no additions, fixtures or alteration should be done on the property without the consent of the landlord.

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That tenants are to maintain peace and harmony within the premises both with the landlord and other tenants and should help the landlord to achieve this.

That tenant should be persons of high integrity; bad behaviour such as stealing, insulting, quarrelling is discouraged.

That either party can give three months’ notice of their intention to renew or terminate the agreement in this tenancy agreement termination clause to avoid either party being inconvenienced.

The security deposit is refundable in full if the tenant did not tamper with the landlord’s property.

That dated ………………………this agreement is binding for two years.

(In case there are utility bills that are shared, states the ratio and how payment should be made. This is particularly regarding to utility bills, water and electricity.)

Date: …………………………..…

Name of the landlord/ landlady: ……………………… Name of the tenant:…………………………………

Tel no: …………..…………………….. Tel no: ……………………….………..

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Signature: ……………………………. Signature: …………………..…………

Witness: …………………………….. Witness: …………………………….…

Signature: …………………………… Signature: …………………….……….

Conclusion

Writing a tenancy agreement is very crucial for both the landlord and the tenant. This will aid in settling any future dispute if any. However, in writing a tenancy agreement in South Africa, you need to include all the necessary information as stated above. It should also be written in a language that both parties can easily understand. This is to eliminate any form of distrust or conflict in the nearest future.