Add a tenancy and joint tenants

A tenancy belongs to one property and has one or more named tenants. Its start date and rent drive every deadline that follows.

Who this is for: letting agencies and landlords.

Add tenant: their role, name, email and phone. A notice must go to every joint tenant.

What you are deciding

Who to name on the tenancy, and in what role.

Your options

• Named tenant. Named on notices and able to reply to them in their portal. Add each joint tenant as a named tenant.
• Permitted occupier. Lives there but is not a tenant. Sees the tenancy but cannot reply to a notice.
• Guarantor. Recorded with the tenancy and kept informed. Not named as a tenant.

How to do it

1. Open the property and select its tenancy tab.
2. Select Add a tenancy and enter the first tenant's name, email address and phone number.
3. Enter the rent, how often it is paid, and the date the tenancy started.
4. Save. The tenant is invited to their free portal.
5. To add a joint tenant, a permitted occupier or a guarantor, select Add tenant on the tenancy and choose their role.

A worked example

Sam and Emma rent 8 Orchard Close, Bury, together from Saturday 1 August 2026 at £1,100.00 a month. The agent adds the tenancy with Sam as the first tenant, then adds Emma as a joint tenant. Both are invited. A rent increase notice served later names both, and either can reply from their own portal. Their start date gives Saturday 31 July 2027 as the earliest date a new rent could start, 52 weeks on.

What Abide.Rent does for you

• Invites each person you add, so each has their own sign-in.
• Works out the earliest date for a rent increase from the start date.
• Stops a second current tenancy being added to a property that already has one.

If something goes wrong

• “Occupier role must be named tenant, occupier or guarantor.”
  What to do: Choose a role for each person.
• “The start date of the next tenancy must be after today.”
  What to do: A next tenancy starts in the future. For a tenancy that has already started, edit the current one.
• “That person is not on this tenancy.”
  What to do: Add them to the tenancy first, then record what you were recording.
• A joint tenant does not get the notice
  What to do: Every joint tenant must be on the tenancy with an email, or the notice must be served on them another way and recorded.

Common mistakes

• Recording only one of two joint tenants. A notice then names one person where the tenancy has two.
• Using the date the tenant was found instead of the date the tenancy began.
• Adding a new tenancy before ending the old one.

What to do next

• See your properties
• Record a deposit
• Invite a landlord, a tenant or a colleague
• Rent in advance