Legal tenancy

Universal Operating Standard

• Jurisdiction: Apply England & Wales law only. If the material turns on Scotland, Northern Ireland, another UK jurisdiction, or foreign law, flag it as out of scope and recommend specialist local advice.
• Disclaimer: User-facing outputs must start with the canonical AI-generated legal analysis disclaimer from legal/SKILL.md unless a parent orchestrator will add it.
• Platform neutrality: Do not assume Claude-only, OpenAI-only, Codex-only, or vendor-specific tools. Use the host agent's available equivalents for reading files, fetching URLs, launching subagents, saving files, and calling MCP/tools. If a capability is unavailable, state the limitation and continue with the best available evidence.
• Legal currency: For post-2024 reforms, distinguish enacted law, commenced provisions, transitional provisions, and prospective/not-yet-in-force provisions. Verify status with legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, regulator guidance, or the available legislation/case-law tools when the host provides them. Do not state that a reform is currently binding unless commencement is known.
• Evidence discipline: Quote or identify the source clause for every material issue. Cite statute sections, regulations, cases, and regulator guidance only when known; never fabricate authorities or commencement dates.
• Output quality: Separate (1) what the document says, (2) why it matters legally or commercially, (3) risk level, and (4) exact recommended wording or next action.

Live Commencement Checks

Before treating any post-2024 reform as binding, run live commencement checks by default when the host provides legislation tools. Preferred order: lookup_statute, lookup_section, check_in_force, and check_amendments from the legislation MCP; then legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, or regulator guidance. If live tools are unavailable, include a clearly labelled limitation and classify findings as current, transitional, or prospective.

/legal tenancy — Tenancy Agreement Review

Jurisdiction

England & Wales only.

Disclaimer

AI-Generated Legal Analysis — This output is produced by AI and does not constitute legal advice. It is for informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified solicitor for advice specific to your circumstances. England & Wales law only.

Purpose

Review residential tenancy agreements, ASTs, lodger agreements, and HMO licences against current legislation including Housing Act 1988/2004, Tenant Fees Act 2019, and Renters' Rights Act 2025 reforms. Treat the RRA 2025 as a commencement-sensitive framework: identify whether each issue is already in force, transitional, or prospective for the tenancy date.

Input

Accept exactly one of:

1. File path — Read the file with the Read tool
2. Pasted text — Use directly
3. URL — Fetch with WebFetch

Phase 0: Escalation Check (run before any other phase)

Before doing anything else, scan the input for these escalation triggers:

1. Active litigation or pre-action correspondence (LBA, Part 36 offer, court order, claim form).
2. Regulator action or enquiry (FCA, ICO, HMRC, SRA, CMA, Ofcom, Ofsted, HSE, etc.).
3. Personal data breach affecting > 100 data subjects, special-category data, or children's data.
4. Criminal liability exposure (corporate manslaughter, ECCTA failure-to-prevent fraud, MLR breaches, sanctions breaches, bribery).
5. Imminent limitation period (< 30 days to expiry).
6. Director personal liability indicators (wrongful trading, misfeasance, disqualification proceedings).
7. Whistleblowing disclosure or PIDA-protected report.

If ANY trigger is present, prepend the following banner verbatim ABOVE the standard disclaimer in your final output, listing the specific trigger(s) detected and quoting the source clause or sentence:

⚠️ ESCALATE — INSTRUCT A SOLICITOR NOW

This document contains signals that require urgent qualified advice. AI analysis is not sufficient. Indicators detected: [list specific triggers].

If no trigger is present, do not emit the banner. Do not add a "no triggers detected" note. Continue with the analysis below.

Analysis Framework

Phase 1: Document Classification

• Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST)
• Assured Tenancy
• Assured Periodic Tenancy (new default under RRA 2025 once commenced)
• Lodger agreement
• Licence to occupy
• HMO tenancy
• Commercial lease (redirect to /legal property)
• Other (describe)

Phase 2: Legislative Compliance

Renters' Rights Act 2025 GOV.UK's implementation roadmap states the first major phase takes effect on 1 May 2026. For each item below, verify commencement and transitional rules before treating it as currently binding:

• Section 21 abolition — flag no-fault eviction clauses and label them current, transitional, or prospective
• Assured Periodic Tenancy conversion — fixed-term AST reform once commenced
• Rent increase limits — Section 13 notice pathway, annual limits, and market-rate challenge rules once commenced
• Pet rights — landlord cannot unreasonably refuse pets once relevant provisions commence; note pet damage insurance where applicable
• Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law extension to private rented sector when commenced by regulations
• New possession grounds (Grounds 1-8 reform, Ground 1A for sale, Ground 6A for repeated arrears)
• Landlord redress scheme membership and Private Rented Sector Database registration when commenced
• Blanket bidding ban and rental discrimination protections when commenced

Housing Act 1988 (as amended)

• Remaining valid possession grounds
• Notice periods (Section 8 / Ground-specific)
• Succession rights

Tenant Fees Act 2019

• Prohibited payments check (only permitted: rent, tenancy deposit capped at 5 weeks, holding deposit capped at 1 week, default fees for lost keys/late rent)
• Fees transparency

Deposit Protection

• Deposit registered within 30 days
• Prescribed information served
• Correct scheme (DPS, MyDeposits, TDS)
• Cap at 5 weeks' rent

Fitness & Safety

• Gas Safety Certificate (annual)
• EICR (every 5 years)
• EPC (minimum E rating, moving to C)
• Smoke and CO alarms (every floor)
• Legionella risk assessment
• Right to Rent checks (Immigration Act 2014)
• How to Rent guide served

Phase 3: Scored Output

For each area provide:

• Compliance status: Pass / Fail / Warning
• Specific clause reference
• Risk level: High / Medium / Low
• Required action with deadline

Output Format

## Tenancy Agreement Review

### Agreement Type: [classification]
### Parties: [landlord] and [tenant(s)]

### Overall Compliance Score: [0-100] — Grade: [A-F]

### Renters' Rights Act 2025 Compliance
| Requirement | Status | Risk | Notes |
|-------------|--------|------|-------|
| s.21 abolition | ... | ... | ... |
| Periodic tenancy | ... | ... | ... |
| Rent increase rules | ... | ... | ... |
| Pet provisions | ... | ... | ... |
| Decent Homes Standard | ... | ... | ... |
| PRS Database | ... | ... | ... |

### Deposit & Fees Compliance
[Deposit protection status, fee audit]

### Safety Compliance Checklist
[Gas, electrical, EPC, alarms, legionella]

### Clause-by-Clause Analysis
[Each material clause with risk score]

### Landlord Action Plan
[Prioritised remediation steps]

### Tenant Rights Summary
[Plain English summary of tenant protections]

File Naming

Save output as: TENANCY-REVIEW-[address]-[YYYY-MM-DD].md