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stothy862
Posts: 41 Forumite
The letting agent on our house contacted us recently to tell us we need to let them know if we are staying on and if so to pay a renewal fee (only halfway into our tenancy). We were advised when we signed that we could move onto a month by month contract once our original contract was up. They are now saying that is not the case and we can pay up or get kicked out. However, we brought to their attention a clause in our contract that allows exactly what we have described to them. When we did this they said they don't do short term contracts and ignored the clause completely stating we must pay the renewal fee to stay or risk being kicked out.
I'm coming here to ask for advice, what rights do we have here in terms of our contract and is there anything we can do to be moved onto a shorthold tenancy? What would you recommend we do? The paragraph detailing our right to a shorthold tenancy from our contract is below. Thanks in advance for any help!
I'm coming here to ask for advice, what rights do we have here in terms of our contract and is there anything we can do to be moved onto a shorthold tenancy? What would you recommend we do? The paragraph detailing our right to a shorthold tenancy from our contract is below. Thanks in advance for any help!
If at the end of the fixed Term the Tenancy continues as a statutory periodic shorthold tenancy the Landlord and Tenant agree that the Landlord can end the Tenancy by giving the Tenant a minimum of two months’ notice by serving a Section 21 Notice which must expire at the end of a period of the Tenancy being the day before the Rent is due; and the Tenant may end the Tenancy by giving the Landlord a minimum of one period’s notice in writing to be served to the address for service shown at clause 1.1. The notice must expire at the end of a period of the Tenancy being the day before the Rent is due.
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Is this Northwood (scum) ?
If you ignore them you will automatically move onto a periodic tenancy.
There is a chance they could evict you, giving you the proper notice. But it's unlikely.
You could try contact the landlord directly and asking them if they are happy with a periodic contract. The agents won't evict unless the landlord wants them to.
They are probably just trying to earn themselves fees for nothingChanging the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
It's not, it's Whitegates, it does just feel like they are trying to get extra money from us for no work at all. I could try and contact the landlord if things get out of hand but right now I'm just waiting to see if there are any other courses of action that others have taken in this situation. Thanks for the suggestion!Is this Northwood (scum) ?
If you ignore them you will automatically move onto a periodic tenancy.
There is a chance they could evict you, giving you the proper notice. But it's unlikely.
You could try contact the landlord directly and asking them if they are happy with a periodic contract. The agents won't evict unless the landlord wants them to.
They are probably just trying to earn themselves fees for nothing0 -
Statutory Periodic Tenancy, its statutory law. The letting agent cannot prevent it from happening. So the best course of action might be to do nothing at all.
Your contract is with the landlord not the letting agent. So even if the letting agent issues notice on behalf of the landlord it's the landlord or a solicitor acting on his (or her) behalf that would take you to court. Now would a landlord take a good tenant to court to evict them because the tenant wouldn't sign a new TA? Only if the landlord has screw loose.0 -
Contact the landlord if you can.
In my experience, they are often amazed at the things their appointed agents are doing "on their behalf"...The above facts belong to everybody; the opinions belong to me; the distinction is yours to draw...0 -
Do you know who the landlord is ?
If you spend £3 with the land registry you can find out !
You can also write to the letting agents and they are requires by law to give the details of who is your LL.
They will be part of the government redress scheme for letting agents so check out the website and complain if they push you into a new tenancy.0 -
Agreeing with everyone else. Contact the landlord and make sure s/he is ok with a periodic tenancy. Then contact the agent, ideally CCing your landlord, to inform them that you and the landlord have agreed to a periodic tenancy. If they push the matter, ignore them. If you receive a section 21, contact the landlord and ask if s/he asked the agents to send it.0
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To sum up you have two options:
A) Pay the fee
Ignore them and wait
I wouldn't bother talking to the agents, they aren't going to tell you anything different. They will just keep saying you have to pay the fee.
When I was in rented I did the same thing, just ignored their letters and phone calls until it became periodic automatically.Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0 -
They are broadly right. You can either...... they said they don't do short term contracts and ignored the clause completely stating we must pay the renewal fee to stay or risk being kicked out.
1) go for security and sign a new fixed term contract (and pay any asociated fee)
or
2) move to a Statutory Periodic tenancy (which happens automatically if you don't do 1) above) but have little security (so yes, there is a risk)
Whether the landlord would kick you out is a different question.
See:
* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?0 -
Thanks for everyone's help, after following the advice the letting agent came back and said that they would ask the landlord, no gaurentees as he may want fixed term (we offered a long term contract but they refused?!) but it would still cost us as we signed a document at the start of the tenancy that said this apparently. I may just take this as I've had enough of dealing with these crooks but I was wondering if anyone knew if was even legal to charge for a renewal fee on a statutory shorthold tenancy?0
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Contact your LL. Why are you allowing the slightly suspect LA do this (who almost certainly have their ears perking up at the prospect of being able to charge a fee and not necessarily relaying truthfully what the LL says).
Get an understanding of what the LL is wanting from the LL.., not from the LA.
There are risks in terms of security if you go to a periodic tenancy but whether its worth it depends on how high the admin charge is that the LA want you to pay for renewal.0
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