What to check before you sign a tenancy

Most of what matters about a tenancy is settled before anybody signs anything, and almost none of it is on the lease. These are the questions worth asking while you still have the option of walking away.

Is it a tenancy at all?

What is the rent, and when was it last set?

Ask when the rent was last set for the property and what it was. For an existing tenancy this decides when the next review can happen. For a new tenancy it decides whether the landlord was even allowed to set the figure they are asking, because market rent can only be set in specific cases.

Where the last tenancy ended because the landlord needed the property for themselves or a family member, or planned to change its use, the rent cannot be reset to market rent for two years. That is worth knowing if a property has just come back on the market at a noticeably higher figure.

Is the tenancy registered?

Landlords have to register a tenancy with the Residential Tenancies Board. A registered tenancy has a number, and that number is what puts your tenancy into the Rent Register that everybody else's comparable rents come from. Ask for it.

The energy rating

A Building Energy Rating has to be available to you before you agree to rent. Beyond the heating bill, the band matters for a reason people miss: it is one of the things used to judge whether another property is comparable to yours for rent setting purposes.

The deposit

• Get a receipt, and get the amount and the date in writing.
• Take dated photographs of every room before you move anything in.
• Read the inventory rather than signing it. If there is no inventory, write one and send it to the landlord the day you move in.

Deposit disputes are among the most common things the Board deals with, and they are almost always decided on evidence from the start of the tenancy rather than the end of it. An hour with a camera on day one is the whole of the preparation.