Yes, you can send tenancy paperwork to be signed online. Save the document as a PDF, add each person who needs to sign, put their fields on the page and send it. Each person gets their own private link by email and signs on their phone. They need no app, no account and no password.
When the last person signs, Pixasign seals the whole file and gives you an evidence certificate. This page is about how that works for a landlord with a few properties. It does not say what your tenancy must contain, or whether it must be signed at all. That is a question for the rules where the property is, and for whoever drafts your documents.
The short answer
- Get the document into a PDF. Word and Excel can save as PDF. A photo of a paper document also works.
- Add the people. Each tenant, and you, as a separate signer. Up to 20 people can sign one document.
- Place the fields. Each person gets their own signature and date fields, so nobody signs in the wrong place.
- Send it from your computer. Each signer gets their own link. Set a signing order, or turn it off and send to everyone at once.
- Keep the sealed copy. It comes with an evidence certificate showing who signed and when.
Paperwork landlords send for signature
You do not need a letting agent to run a signing process. These are the documents a landlord typically wants more than one person to agree:
- The tenancy agreement, when you are getting it signed by you and your tenants.
- The inventory and check-in report. Each tenant signs to say they have seen it.
- Agreed changes. A new sharer replacing one who is leaving, or a change both sides have agreed.
- House rules. Bins, parking, smoking, anything you want each tenant to have read and accepted.
- A signed note of receipt. A tenant confirming they have received something you handed over, such as keys or a copy of a document.
- Works authorisations. A contractor signs the quote and scope, and you sign to approve it, before the work starts.
For contractor quotes, our guide to getting a quote signed online covers what to put in the quote so that it can be agreed.
A signature only shows that someone agreed to the document in front of them. A vague inventory, or a clause nobody can understand, is no better for being signed. Spend the time on the document first.
Joint tenants: one link each, in the order you choose
Three sharers on one tenancy is the usual problem. They live in different places, work different hours, and the slowest sets the pace. On paper that means passing one printout around. By email it means three attachments and three replies to match up.
With Pixasign the tenancy is one document with several signers:
- Each tenant gets their own private link and their own fields.
- Nobody sees anybody else’s link.
- Each person is recorded separately on the trail.
- The tenants can sign on a phone, wherever they are.
You can also set the signing order. A common one is tenants first and the landlord last, so you only countersign once every tenant is on it. If order does not matter, turn it off and send to everyone together. That is usually faster.
A document is one PDF sent for signature, however many people sign it and however many pages it has. A tenancy signed by three tenants and one landlord is one document.
What you keep afterwards
When the last person signs, the whole file is sealed with one DigiCert timestamp. The seal time comes from DigiCert, an outside timestamp authority, not from us. The time of each earlier step, such as when each tenant opened the link and signed, is recorded by our server.
Alongside the sealed PDF comes an evidence certificate. It records who signed, when, from what device, the IP address and approximate location. The events are hash-chained, so each one locks in the one before it.
Change a byte the seal covers and it breaks; anything added later shows as a change at pixasign.co.uk/check. That page is free, with no account, no sign-in and no card. It says whether Pixasign sealed a file and whether it has changed since. It decides that from Pixasign’s own records.
Months later, a disagreement about an inventory is easier to settle when you can produce the exact file each tenant signed, and the record of when. That is what this gives you. It is a record of what happened. It does not decide who is right. For the longer version, see our guide to whether an electronic signature is legally binding in the UK.
These are electronic signatures, not qualified ones. Pixasign does not offer qualified signatures. The guide to simple, advanced and qualified signatures explains the levels.
Check the rules where the property is
We do not tell you what the law requires you to sign, serve or give a tenant, or by when. Using Pixasign does not make a tenancy, a notice or a deposit arrangement valid or compliant. It sends a document for signature and records what happened.
What the law says about signatures themselves is narrower. Section 7 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 makes an electronic signature admissible in evidence on a question of whether a communication is authentic or intact. The Law Commission’s 2019 report on electronic execution concluded that an electronic signature is capable of being used to execute a document, provided the person signing intends to authenticate it and any formalities for that document are met.
What is out
Guarantor deeds, and anything that has to be witnessed, are out. Pixasign does not do witnessing. The Law Commission says a deed must be signed in the physical presence of a witness, even when electronic signatures are used. If your guarantor paperwork is a deed, do not use this for it.
Whether a document needs a witness is a question for whoever drafts it, not for a software supplier. If you are unsure, ask a solicitor or your landlord association.
Free for 3 documents a month: one or two lets may never pay
The Free plan is 1 user and 3 documents a month, with no card and no time limit. Allowances renew on the 1st. A tenancy and an inventory sent in the same month are 2 documents, however many tenants sign them.
So a landlord with one or two lets, sending a few documents a year, may never need to pay. Whether that is you depends on how many documents you send. The Free plan has every feature too, for 1 user.
If you do need more, Starter is £19 a month inc VAT for 50 documents a month, Team is £59 a month inc VAT for 200, and Business is £99 a month inc VAT for 500. Paid plans have unlimited users, with no per-user fee, no overage and no set-up fee. An account starts with room for 200 active people, raised free on request. They are monthly with no minimum term. Cancel from Account and the plan runs to the end of the month paid for. Then the account goes back to Free and nothing is deleted. See pricing for the detail.
The Free plan has one user, so one person sends. Joint landlords can still both sign as signers. Your tenants never pay and never need an account.
Documents are stored on Hetzner in Nuremberg, Germany, with backups in Reykjavík, Iceland, both in the EEA. Card payments are handled by Stripe. Document files are encrypted at rest. More is on the security page.
If you manage lets for other landlords as a business, look at e-signatures for letting and estate agents. This page is for landlords managing their own properties. The wider picture is in the guide to electronic signatures for UK small businesses.
Send one document and see
Free for 3 documents a month, no card. Put a real inventory through it with every tenant on the same document, and read the evidence certificate that comes back.
Start free A UK company. Documents stored in the EEA.Questions
- Can I sign a tenancy agreement online as a private landlord?
- You can send a PDF of it for signature online, and each tenant signs on their phone with their own link. Whether a particular tenancy has to be in writing or signed, and what it must contain, depends on the rules where the property is. Check them, or ask whoever drafts your agreement.
- Can joint tenants each sign the same agreement?
- Yes. Add every tenant to the same document. Each gets their own link and their own fields, and each is recorded separately on the trail. You can set the order or turn it off.
- Do my tenants need an account or an app?
- No. They need no app, no account and no password, and they never pay. They open the link from their email and sign.
- Can a guarantor sign a deed through Pixasign?
- No. A deed has to be witnessed and Pixasign does not do witnessing. Ask whoever drafts the guarantee how it should be signed.
- Does using Pixasign make my tenancy or notice valid?
- No. Pixasign sends a document for signature and records who signed and when. It does not make any document, notice or deposit arrangement valid or compliant. That depends on the document and the rules where the property is.
- Is this the same for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
- The signing works the same way. The rules for private renting can differ depending on where the property is, so this page is general. Check the rules for where your property is.
- Will I ever have to pay?
- Not if you send 3 documents a month or fewer and one person does the sending. The Free plan has no card and no time limit. If you need more, paid plans start at £19 a month inc VAT.