A landlord in Birmingham received an invoice for £480 after placing a new tenant in one of his flats. The figure sounded steep until he read the small print: references, a Right to Rent check, deposit registration and the tenancy agreement were all bundled together. He had expected to pay for a contract. Instead, he was looking at an entire setup service.
That distinction matters more than it first appears. Tenancy agreement drafting fees range from a relatively modest standalone charge to a much larger package covering the work required before a tenant moves in. Comparing the numbers without asking what sits behind them is a reliable way to make a bad decision.
There is also a sharper question landlords and agents need to face: is the drafting fee paying for genuine legal work, or is it simply a convenient label for routine administration?
What a tenancy agreement drafting fee covers
A proper tenancy agreement is not merely a document with names, rent and a move-in date typed into empty boxes. It sets out the parties’ obligations, restrictions on the property, payment arrangements, repair responsibilities, notice provisions and the consequences of a breach. Poor wording can create uncertainty precisely when the relationship has broken down.
A solicitor drafting an agreement may review the proposed tenancy, adapt clauses to the property and explain the landlord’s responsibilities. Some legal packages also include a written report on those duties. That extra explanation can be useful for a first-time landlord, particularly where the property has unusual features or the agreement needs provisions beyond a standard template.
The work becomes less distinct once an estate agent sells a “tenancy setup” service. In that setting, the contract may be only one part of a wider administrative process. Referencing, identity checks, Right to Rent checks, deposit registration and arranging signatures can all appear on the same invoice. The total may be reasonable, but it should not be mistaken for the price of drafting alone.
A landlord who wants to compare providers should ask for the component costs, not just the headline figure. Otherwise, a £480 package may look expensive beside a £120 agreement, even though the two services are doing entirely different jobs.
Typical prices in England
Published fee examples show how wide the gap can be. A solicitor may charge £450 plus VAT for legal drafting, with a report on the landlord’s obligations included. At the standard 20% VAT rate, that comes to £540 in total.
Another provider lists tenancy agreement fees from £120 including VAT from 1 May 2026. That is a much lower figure, but the phrase “from” leaves room for the final price to depend on the property, the type of tenancy or the amount of tailoring required. A low starting price is useful only if the landlord can discover what qualifies for it.
A new tenancy setup priced at £480 including VAT, equivalent to £400 plus VAT, may include the agreement alongside tenant references, Right to Rent checks and deposit registration. In that context, comparing £480 with a £120 drafting charge would be misleading. The first price covers a process; the second appears to cover a document.
The largest figure in the examples is a Tenant Find fee of £1,194 including VAT, or £995 plus VAT. Drafting and signing the tenancy agreement are included in that service, but so is the work involved in finding the tenant. It is not a useful benchmark for the contract itself.
These prices are not a national tariff. They are illustrations of the market’s untidy vocabulary. “Drafting,” “tenancy setup,” “tenant find” and “let-only service” can describe different bundles, even when the customer assumes they are interchangeable.
The legal change landlords cannot ignore
In England, from 1 May 2026, a tenant cannot be charged a fee simply for the landlord’s or agent’s work in preparing the tenancy agreement. The permitted payments are limited to those specifically allowed by law. A drafting charge cannot be slipped into the tenant’s bill under a vague heading such as administration, paperwork or contract preparation.
That change gives the cost a clearer home: the landlord’s side of the transaction. If the owner chooses to instruct a solicitor, the owner pays the solicitor. If an agent includes drafting in a larger landlord service, that cost should be reflected in the agreement between the agent and the landlord rather than passed to the tenant as a separate charge.
The practical effect is not that tenancy agreements become free. Someone still has to prepare them, check them and arrange signature. The difference is who carries that expense and whether the charge is transparent.
A landlord might reasonably argue that the tenant benefits from a professionally prepared agreement. That is true, but it does not make the tenant responsible for the fee. Tenants also benefit from safe housing, legally compliant deposits and accurate property information. Those benefits do not turn every landlord obligation into a bill for the person renting the home.
Standalone legal drafting or an agent’s package?
The right option depends on the property and the landlord’s appetite for risk, not on the lowest number printed in an advert.
A standard property with an ordinary assured tenancy may not require an elaborate bespoke document. A landlord who uses a reputable agent’s compliant template could choose a lower-cost setup service, provided the service clearly explains what is included and who checks the final agreement.
A more complicated arrangement deserves closer attention. Multiple tenants, pets, a company tenant, furnished accommodation, shared facilities or unusual restrictions can expose weaknesses in a generic template. So can a landlord who has never dealt with a deposit dispute or possession proceedings. In those cases, a solicitor’s fee may buy more than wording: it may buy a review of the decisions behind the wording.
That does not mean every solicitor’s invoice represents better value. A polished PDF can still contain unsuitable clauses. The useful questions are more specific. Will the adviser discuss the property? Is the agreement tailored or merely populated from a template? Does the fee include revisions? Is VAT included? Does the service cover only drafting, or also the landlord-duty report, signing process and later amendments?
One short email asking those questions can prevent a surprisingly expensive misunderstanding.
The trap of bundled fees
Bundled services are not automatically bad. Many landlords prefer one provider to handle referencing, checks, deposit registration and paperwork. The convenience can save time, especially for an owner who lives far from the property or manages several homes.
The problem starts when a bundle hides the value of each part. If the tenancy falls through after references are completed, what remains payable? If the landlord supplies a suitable agreement, does the agent reduce the fee? If the agreement needs changes after a tenant requests a pet or a guarantor, is that included or charged separately?
These details are more important than a small difference in the advertised price. A £120 agreement that attracts extra charges for every revision may cost more than a clearly defined £450 legal service. Conversely, a £480 setup package may be perfectly reasonable if it genuinely includes several tasks that the landlord would otherwise have to arrange independently.
VAT also distorts quick comparisons. A fee of £400 plus VAT is not the same as a fee of £400 including VAT. The difference is £80 at a 20% rate, enough to change the ranking of competing offers. Every quotation should state whether VAT is included and whether the figure is fixed.
What landlords should put in writing
Before accepting a quote, a landlord should ask for a description of the work in plain English. The document should say whether the price covers a new agreement, a renewal, amendments, guarantor clauses, signing arrangements and corrections. It should identify any separate charges for checks, deposit registration or compliance advice.
The landlord should also establish who is responsible for errors. If an agent prepares an agreement using its own template, is the service administrative or legal? If a solicitor drafts it, does the engagement include advice on the landlord’s duties, or only the text of the contract? No fee schedule can answer those questions by itself.
For tenants, the position is more straightforward after 1 May 2026: a charge for the mere preparation of the tenancy agreement should not appear as a permitted tenant payment in England. A tenant who sees one should ask what the charge is for and whether it has been wrongly described. The name on the invoice matters less than the substance of the payment.
That is where the debate becomes uncomfortable for the property industry. If drafting is a necessary cost of letting a home, why should it ever be presented as an optional tenant expense? And if the work is so minimal that it can be folded into a general administration charge without explanation, perhaps the charge was never really about legal drafting in the first place.
A well-drafted agreement still has value. The price should reveal what that value consists of, rather than hiding it behind a bundle, a vague label or a bill sent to the wrong person.