Tenancy agreement builder
Fill in the terms and get a tenancy agreement drafted from the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022, ready to print and sign.
This is a template, not legal advice. It is drafted from the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022 and it will tell you when a term you type breaches the Act, but it cannot know your situation. Have an advocate read it before either of you signs.
Nothing you have entered so far conflicts with the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022.
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TENANCY AGREEMENT
THIS TENANCY AGREEMENT is made on __________________ between the parties described below, and is governed by the laws of Uganda, in particular the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022.
1. The premises
(a) The Landlord lets to the Tenant, and the Tenant takes, the premises described as __________________, situated at __________________, __________________ District, Uganda ("the Premises").
(b) The Premises are let for residential occupation by the Tenant and the Tenant's household. They are not to be used for any unlawful purpose.
2. Term of the tenancy
The tenancy is a monthly tenancy, running from month to month, beginning on __________________, and continues until it is ended by either party giving notice under clause 10 of this agreement.
3. Rent
Sections 22 and 25.
(a) The rent is UGX __________________ per month, payable in advance on ______________.
(b) Rent is payable by ______________.
(c) Rent is payable in Uganda Shillings. Neither party may require payment in another currency without the written agreement of the other.
(d) The Landlord gives the Tenant a written receipt for every payment of rent, stating the amount paid and the period it covers, and keeps a record of every receipt issued.
4. Rent increases
Sections 26 and 27.
(a) The rent may be increased by not more than 10% in any twelve month period.
(b) Any increase requires at least 60 days' written notice to the Tenant, and in no case less than 60 days.
(c) The rent may not be increased more than once in any 12 months.
5. Security deposit
Section 30.
(a) The Tenant pays a security deposit of UGX __________________, which the Landlord holds to secure the performance of the Tenant's obligations under this agreement.
(b) The deposit does not exceed one month's rent, or one twelfth of the annual rent, whichever is the lesser. The Landlord gives the Tenant a written receipt for it.
(c) The deposit may be withheld, in whole or in part, only for: rent that is unpaid at the end of the tenancy, unpaid utility charges the Tenant is liable for, and the cost of making good damage to the Premises caused by the Tenant.
(d) The deposit is not withheld for normal wear and tear arising from the ordinary, non-negligent use of the Premises.
(e) The balance of the deposit is returned to the Tenant at the end of the tenancy, with a written statement of anything withheld and why.
(f) If the Premises are sold, the deposit transfers to the new landlord.
6. The Landlord's obligations
Sections 9, 19 and 20.
(a) The Landlord keeps the Premises in good repair, having regard to their age, character and expected life, and keeps them fit for human habitation at the start of the tenancy and throughout it.
(b) The Landlord takes all reasonable steps to ensure the Tenant's quiet enjoyment of the Premises.
(c) The Landlord gives the Tenant a signed copy of this agreement.
(d) The Landlord does not refuse to rent, or treat the Tenant differently, on the ground of sex, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, social or economic standing, political opinion or disability.
7. The Tenant's obligations
(a) The Tenant pays the rent when it falls due.
(b) The Tenant keeps the Premises clean and in the condition they were received in, fair wear and tear excepted.
(c) The Tenant does not damage the Premises or the common areas, and makes good any damage the Tenant or the Tenant's visitors cause.
(d) The Tenant does not make structural alterations to the Premises without the Landlord's written consent.
(e) The Tenant tells the Landlord promptly of any repair the Premises need.
(f) The Tenant permits the Landlord to enter on the notice set out in this agreement.
8. Repairs
Section 9.
(a) Repairs to the Premises are the Landlord's responsibility. This agreement does not transfer that responsibility to the Tenant, and any term purporting to do so has no effect.
(b) Where a repair is urgent, the Tenant may carry it out without giving prior notice.
(c) Where a repair is not urgent, the Tenant may carry it out only after taking reasonable steps to get the Landlord to do it and giving the Landlord 14 days' written notice of the need for the repair and its cost.
(d) In either case the Tenant gives the Landlord written notice of the repairs, the costs and supporting documents immediately afterwards, and the costs must be reasonable at prevailing market rates. The Landlord reimburses the Tenant within 14 days of that notice, failing which the Tenant may recover the cost from the rent next due.
9. Entry and inspection
Section 48 — entering without at least 20 hours' notice is an offence.
(a) The Landlord may enter the Premises to inspect them or to carry out repairs, having first given the Tenant at least 20 hours' written notice, and in no case less than 20 hours.
(b) Entry is at a reasonable hour. In a genuine emergency threatening life or the Premises, the Landlord may enter without notice and tells the Tenant as soon as possible afterwards.
10. Ending the tenancy
Section 38.
(a) Either party may end the tenancy by giving the other 30 days' written notice, and in no case less than the 30 days the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022 requires for a tenancy of this type.
(b) Notice is given in writing. A notice sent to the address or email recorded for a party in this agreement is validly given.
11. Rent arrears and recovery of possession
Sections 29 and 45.
(a) If the Tenant defaults in paying rent, the Landlord may apply to court to recover the amount owed.
(b) If the default continues for more than 30 days, the Landlord may re-enter the Premises and take possession, and may still pursue the unpaid rent afterwards.
(c) Any eviction takes place in the presence of the area Local Council official and the Police.
(d) The Landlord does not seize, hold or sell the Tenant's belongings to recover rent. Distress for rent is abolished.
(e) The Landlord does not lock the Tenant out, cut off services, or otherwise compel the Tenant to leave except in accordance with the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022 and this agreement.
12. Identification and records
Section 3(5).
(a) The Tenant has produced a national identification card, an alien's identification card, or another identification document, and the Landlord has recorded its number above.
(b) The Landlord keeps a record of the Tenant's full details, the location of the Premises, the rent and how it is paid.
13. General
(a) This agreement is governed by the laws of Uganda.
(b) Where a term of this agreement contradicts the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022, the Act prevails and that term has no effect. The rest of the agreement continues to bind both parties.
(c) This agreement may be varied only in writing signed by both parties.
SIGNED by the parties on the date written above:
The Landlord gives the Tenant a signed copy of this agreement. Drafted with the RentEase Uganda tenancy agreement builder from the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022. It is a template, not legal advice. Have an advocate review it before signing.
The whole document is built inside your browser. Names, ID numbers and phone numbers are never sent to us, never stored and never logged, and there is no share link that could put them in a URL. Printing goes straight to your own printer.
Why not just download a template
Because most of the tenancy agreement templates circulating in Uganda predate the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022, and some of them are simply wrong. One widely shared example cites the wrong statute in its header, gives three months’ notice for a rent increase where the Act requires sixty days, and makes the tenant liable for all repairs when section 9 puts repair and fitness for habitation on the landlord.
None of that is harmless. Section 4 of the Act is about enforceability, and a clause that contradicts the Act is void, so a landlord relying on a downloaded template can find that the one term they cared about is the term binding nobody. This builder drafts every clause from the Act itself and tells you, as you type, when a figure you have entered would produce a clause that cannot be enforced.
What the Act fixes, and what you choose
Some numbers in a Ugandan tenancy are yours to set. The rent, the due date, how it is paid, the length of a fixed term, whether there is a guarantor. Others are set by Parliament, and typing a different number into an agreement does not change them.
Rent, and the currency it is paid in
Rent is payable in Uganda Shillings unless both parties agree otherwise. If you set another currency the builder still produces the clause, but it records the mutual agreement the Act requires rather than pretending the point does not arise.
A landlord cannot demand more than three months’ rent in advance. The exception is narrow and it runs one way: a tenant who volunteers more, in writing, may pay more. A landlord who asks for six months and writes it into the agreement has not made it lawful.
Every payment of rent needs a written receipt stating the amount and the period it covers, and the landlord has to keep a record of the receipts issued. The agreement says so, because the duty exists whether or not the agreement mentions it.
Rent increases
Ten per cent a year, at most. Sixty days’ written notice, at least. Not more than once in any twelve months. And not during a fixed term unless both parties agree to it. Enter fifteen per cent and the builder will tell you the clause is void to the extent it exceeds the cap. It will not quietly write ten instead, because you should know what you asked for.
The security deposit
The deposit cannot exceed one month’s rent, or one twelfth of the annual rent, whichever is less. For a weekly tenancy the builder uses the annual limb, because a month is not four weeks and the second limb is the one that is unambiguous. The conditions for withholding it have to be in writing, which is why the advanced mode asks for them, and it can never be withheld for normal wear and tear.
Repairs
Section 9 keeps repair and fitness for habitation on the landlord, having regard to the age, character and expected life of the building. A tenant may carry out an urgent repair with no prior notice at all. For a repair that is not urgent, the tenant must first take reasonable steps to get the landlord to act and then give fourteen days’ notice of the need for the repair and its cost. Either way the landlord has fourteen days from the tenant’s notice to reimburse, and if they do not, the tenant takes it out of the next rent.
There is no toggle in this builder that puts repairs on the tenant. It is not an omission.
Entry
At least twenty hours’ written notice, except in a genuine emergency. This one is not merely a contractual term: section 48 makes entering without that notice an offence carrying a fine of up to one hundred currency points, which is UGX 2,000,000. A caretaker with a key is held to the same twenty hours.
Ending it
Section 38 sets seven days for a weekly tenancy, thirty days for a monthly one and sixty days for a tenancy from year to year. Those are floors. You may agree longer in writing; you may not agree shorter.
A fixed term is different: it ends on its own end date and the Act sets no minimum notice for one. The builder says so rather than inventing a figure to fill the gap. There is also no six-month rule for repossessing a property to repurpose it. That circulates widely in Ugandan template packs and appears nowhere in the Act, so it is not in the document.
Arrears and eviction
Distress for rent is abolished. A landlord may not seize, hold or sell a tenant’s belongings to recover rent. Where the tenant defaults, the landlord applies to court for the amount owed; where the default runs past thirty days, the landlord may re-enter and take possession, and may still pursue the arrears afterwards. Any eviction happens in the presence of the area Local Council official and the Police.
Simple mode and advanced mode
Simple mode asks only for what a valid agreement needs: the two parties, the property, the rent, the term, the deposit and the notice period. It still produces the full document, including the clauses the Act requires whether or not you were thinking about them.
Advanced mode adds the terms you may or may not want: subletting, who pays which utility, an inventory, a named caretaker, dispute resolution, a break clause and a guarantor. Each one says in a line what it means before you switch it on, and each adds a numbered clause to the document.
Printing it
The print button hands the document to your browser’s own print dialogue, where “Save as PDF” produces a file. Only the agreement prints; the form, the warnings and the rest of the page do not. Four document themes are offered: plain legal, classic serif, modern sans, and a letterhead carrying your own name and contact details. Each comes with a serif or sans choice, three text sizes including large print, and control over margins and line spacing. They change how it reads on paper and nothing about what it says.
Anything you have not filled in prints as a blank line, so you can complete it by hand at signing. Both parties sign, each in the presence of a witness, and the landlord gives the tenant a signed copy. That last part is the landlord’s duty under the Act, not a courtesy.
What this is not
It is a template drafted from one Act, and it is not legal advice. It does not know whether your property is registered land being let for a term that needs a registered lease instead, it does not know what you agreed verbally last month, and it cannot judge whether a term is reasonable in your circumstances. Have an advocate read it before either of you signs.
For the longer walk-through of what goes into a Ugandan tenancy agreement and why, see how to write a tenancy agreement in Uganda, and for the Act itself in plain language, the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022 guide. If you are working out what may lawfully come out of a deposit at the end of a tenancy, the deposit deduction worksheet does that part.
Common questions
Does a tenancy agreement in Uganda have to be in writing?
Section 4 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 2022 makes a tenancy agreement of twenty five currency points or more unenforceable by action unless it is in writing or in the form of a data message. A currency point is UGX 20,000, so that threshold is UGX 500,000. Below it a written agreement is still what makes the terms provable.
What is the maximum security deposit a landlord can charge in Uganda?
One month’s rent, or one twelfth of the annual rent, whichever is less. The builder works the cap out from the rent you enter and warns you the moment the deposit goes above it. The deposit cannot be withheld for normal wear and tear.
How much can rent be increased in Uganda, and how much notice is needed?
Not more than 10% a year, on at least 60 days’ written notice, and not more than once in any 12 months. Rent cannot be increased during a fixed term unless both parties agree.
How much notice must be given to end a tenancy in Uganda?
Section 38 sets 7 days for a weekly tenancy, 30 days for a monthly tenancy and 60 days for a year-on-year tenancy. Those are minimums: the parties may agree longer in writing, never shorter. A fixed term ends on its own end date and the Act sets no minimum notice for one.
Can a tenancy agreement make the tenant responsible for repairs?
No. Section 9 puts keeping the premises in repair and fit for habitation on the landlord, and a clause that contradicts the Act is void. This builder never generates a clause transferring repairs to the tenant, whatever options you choose.
How much rent can a landlord ask for in advance?
Three months, unless the tenant voluntarily agrees in writing to pay more. Demanding more than three months is not something an agreement can make lawful, and the builder marks it as a breach rather than accepting it quietly.
Is anything I type into this builder sent anywhere?
No. The whole document is assembled in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored or logged, there is no share link that would put names and ID numbers in a URL, and printing goes straight to your own printer or PDF file.
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