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What's the strangest clause you've seen in a tenancy/property agreement?

After reading a thread that mentions a freehold with the clause 'no playing piano in the garden', I wondered,

What's the strangest clause you've seen in a tenancy/property agreement?
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Comments

  • We had a clause in a tenancy agreement that said we couldn’t have a waterbed.  They hit the jackpot on this one because we did have one.   :D

    After a lot of hoo ha and to-ing  and fro-ing of letters we won the argument that it was an unfair clause.  
  • we are looking at one at the moment that doesn't allow fencing in the property
  • We had one where we had to do a professional clean upon moving out and provide receipts. Unfair clause, and I didn't want to do it, but in the end we ran out of time and ended up getting a cleaning company in.

    Another one (as students) that we had to maintain the lawn at our costs. What was strange was that the LL arranged and paid for a gardener to do regular lawn maintanance.
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,420 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 10 November 2021 pm30 6:02PM
    Most daft clauses are unenforceable & can be happily ignored. 

    e.g. Clause 1.  Front door must be repainted every January & July in blue, plus Red in April & October.

    So tenant doesn't.  What will landlord do? Try to evict for breach of contract (a discretionary ground, i.e. up to judge if he grants possession).  No judge in his right mind would grant possession for beach of such a clause. Landlord has no other option that he wouldn;t have if clause wasn;t there.  Waste of ink & paper. 

    Artful: Landlord since 2000
  • Brie
    Brie Posts: 13,504 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 10 November 2021 pm30 6:06PM
    Most daft clauses are unenforceable & can be happily ignored. 

    e.g. Clause 1.  Front door must be repainted every January & July in blue, plus Red in April & October.

    Artful: Landlord since 2000
    @theartfullodger
    was it your clause??  And what did you do when they painted it green and purple???
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  • MaryNB
    MaryNB Posts: 2,319 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    My friend owns a leasehold and the lease has a clause saying she's not allowed two pianos in her flat. I don't think she could physically get one piano in her flat, never mind two. 
  • not a clause but one rental we had sent letters about quarterly inspections, thretening with £125 admin charge if the inspection had to be mved in agressive semi-legal language.

    When we were moving out they turned up for a viewing once without giving us notice. I didn't let them in.
  • Skiddaw1
    Skiddaw1 Posts: 2,215 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    We weren't allowed to sell alcohol or run a dairy. There was also a 'lost covenant', which neither we, nor anyone else on the road, ever got to the bottom of (obviously, it was known as the Ark of the Lost Covenant :)).
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