Can I sign a tenancy agreement online?

The short answer

Yes. An ordinary tenancy agreement in England can be signed electronically, and nobody has to print anything or meet to do it. The usual way is a link for each tenant: they read the agreement on their phone or laptop, type or draw their name, confirm it is their signature, and everyone gets the signed copy. What makes it worth relying on later is the record kept with it, showing who signed, when, from where, and that the document they signed is the one you sent.

The exception is a deed. A guarantor’s deed of guarantee, for example, still has to be signed in front of a witness.

When it comes up

Usually at the end of a let-up. The reference is back, the tenant is moving from another city, and the agreement has to be signed before you take the first month’s rent. Since 1 May 2026 that order matters: GOV.UK’s “Assured periodic tenancies: a guide for landlords” says you must not accept, ask for or encourage rent before you both sign the tenancy agreement, and that between signing and the start of the tenancy the most you can usually ask for is one month’s rent, or 28 days’ rent where rent is not monthly (read 20 October 2026). A tenant who can sign from their phone the same evening moves everything forward by days.

How to sign a tenancy agreement online, step by step

Use an agreement written for the current law. New assured tenancies in England have been periodic since 1 May 2026, so an old fixed-term AST template is the wrong document
Fill it from the tenancy as agreed. Every tenant’s name, the rent, the rent day, the deposit and the start date, matching what you told them
Send each signer their own link. Every tenant named on the agreement signs, at their own email address. Joint tenants sign one copy, not separate ones
Keep the signed copy with its record. Both sides get the signed PDF. Keep it with the tenancy, with the dates it was sent and signed
Then send the rest of the move-in paperwork. The deposit prescribed information, the certificates and the other documents a new tenant must receive are separate from the agreement

The options compared

Print, sign and post or scan. Costs paper and stamps. Slow with joint tenants in different places, and a scanned page shows little about who actually signed it
A general e-signature service. Docusign’s UK pricing page lists its Personal plan at £96 billed yearly, with 5 envelopes a month (read 20 October 2026; the page does not say whether VAT is included). You still need an agreement to upload, and the tenancy, the rent and the deposit live somewhere else
A letting agent. The agent prepares and sends the agreement as part of a tenancy set-up fee, priced per tenancy
LetCompliance. The agreement is built from the tenancy and sent for signature on the 3-day trial and every plan from Single at £7.99 a month, with no charge per agreement or per signature

How it works in LetCompliance

Open Documents, then Tenancy agreement, and choose the tenancy. The builder reads the dates and drafts a periodic assured tenancy for a tenancy from 1 May 2026, with the tenants, rent, rent day, deposit and start date taken from your records. Finalise it, then send it.

Each tenant gets their own link by email, with no account or app to create, and joint tenants all sign the same copy
Any other landlord on the property with an email address signs too. Save your own signature once in Settings and it fills the landlord’s box
A tenant can sign, add a comment that is printed on the signed copy, or decline and say why
The link stays open for 30 days. With three days or fewer left, a tenant who has not signed gets one reminder, and you are emailed if the link runs out
When the last person signs, the signed PDF goes to everyone and is filed in your documents, and the tenant can download it from their portal

The audit certificate attached to the signed copy lists every signer, how and when they signed, each step from the email to the signature with the IP address and device, and a fingerprint (a hash) of the document as it was sent, so a file changed afterwards would not match.

An agreement drafted elsewhere can be signed the same way: upload the PDF to the property and send it for signature. It must not be password-protected.

Building an agreement is on every plan. The free plan and the trial build one new agreement a calendar month, and paid plans build as many as they need. Sending for signature needs the trial or a paid plan, from £7.99 a month.

The law

An electronic signature is evidence. Section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 makes an electronic signature admissible in legal proceedings on whether a communication is authentic and has its integrity (legislation.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026)
It can execute a document. The Law Commission’s 2019 report, Electronic execution of documents, concluded that an electronic signature can execute a document where the person signing intends to authenticate it and any formalities the document needs are met (lawcom.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026)
An ordinary tenancy needs no deed. Section 54(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 lets a lease be made without writing or a deed when it takes effect straight away, runs for no more than three years and is at the best rent reasonably obtainable without a premium, which is why an ordinary tenancy agreement needs no witness (legislation.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026)
A deed needs a witness in the room. Section 1(3) of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 requires an individual to sign a deed in the presence of a witness who attests the signature (legislation.gov.uk, read 20 October 2026). The Law Commission’s report adds that the witness must be physically present even when both sign electronically
The key terms come first. GOV.UK’s “Assured periodic tenancies: a guide for landlords” says the written information about the key terms of a tenancy must be given before you sign a tenancy agreement or agree a tenancy, either inside the agreement or separately, and that you could be fined up to £7,000 if you do not (read 20 October 2026)

None of this is a promise about how a court will treat a particular signature, and nothing here is legal advice on your own tenancy.

Common mistakes

Sending a fixed-term AST template for a tenancy that starts after 1 May 2026
Getting one joint tenant to sign and assuming the others will follow
Taking the first month’s rent before the agreement is signed
Having a guarantor sign a deed online with no witness
Treating the signed agreement as the whole move-in pack, when the deposit prescribed information and the certificates still have to be given

Is there a free way to sign a tenancy agreement online?

Free e-signature tools exist, usually with a small monthly allowance of documents. In LetCompliance the free plan builds one agreement a month but cannot send it for signing; the 3-day trial can, with no card to enter.

Does a tenancy agreement need to be witnessed?

Not an ordinary one, for the reason in the law section. A deed does, and the deed most landlords meet is the guarantor’s deed of guarantee.

Can a guarantor sign online too?

Not in LetCompliance. The guarantee is emailed to the guarantor as a PDF to sign, with a witness where it is a deed, and you upload the signed copy. That keeps the witness rule intact.

What if a tenant says they never signed?

The audit certificate shows each step: the email, the opening of the document, and the signature with its time, IP address and device, together with the fingerprint of the document as sent. How a court weighs that is for the court.

What LetCompliance does not do here

Sending for signature is not on the free plan
It does not e-sign deeds, the guarantor’s deed included
It does not check the signer’s identity at the moment of signing: the link goes to the email address you hold for them
The agreement covers most of the written information about the key terms, not all of it, so read it through and give the tenant anything missing before they sign
It is written for tenancies in England, not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland