Question about Assured Tenancy Agreement

Discocat

Hi there. My husband and I are currently renting out our flat via a local estate agents. Our tenant signed up for 6 months via a tenancy agreement and we were very happy as it gave both us and the tenant the protection of 3 months notice.

Once the contract had finished we were told via E mail that the tenant was going back in to re-sign for another 6 months and then it all went very quiet. We have just received a mail from the Estate Agents saying that the tenant has given one months notice to quit and can do so because they didn't manage to pin her down on signing the agreement and therefore it has now become periodic. We would never have agreed to this, we only want 6 month contracts and the last mail received from the estate agent quite clearly stated that the tenant was signing up to 6 months.

No doubt there is little we can do about this but we are just so upset that the estate Agent mis-led us and didn't tell us that it had gone to a periodic contract.

Does anyone have any advice or words of wisdom for us?

Imp

I guess you need to remember that it is difficult to force somebody to sign a contract. The only alternative would be to evict the tenants at the end of every 6 months, but that is a sure way to increase your costs and to eventually end up with a bad tenant.

As for dealling with your agent, it sounds like you both failed to communicate effectively. Next time there is something important happening, you could try ringing them on a regular basis to make sure they are keeping you informed. This may sound harsh, but is constructive advice. It is much easier to change the way you do something to achieve your aims than to change the way somebody else does something in order to achieve your aims.

Discocat

Thanks Imp. I appreciate your advice. What I failed to mention was that the EA wouldn't return our calls nor reply to our E mails. They fully admit to stalling because the tenant couldn't make up her mind.
Oh well... we live and learn...

tbs624

Discocat - your best bet is to join a national LL association or a local affiliated one, so that you can you can familiarise yourself with the full implications of property letting. Also go and have a read of Landlordzone.

Anyone - yes, really anyone - can set up as a Letting Agent.No quals, no training ,no expertise and often no common sense either,so you generally need to be one step ahead of them

I'm not sure why you refer to 3 months notice on an AST? In the absence of a breach of contract you can't seek repossession within the first 6 months of an AST.

Once it passes onto a Stat Periodic the tenant must give one month and you must give two, to tie in with a rental period. You may want to check that the LA has got that part right because if, say, your tenant usually pays rent on the 15th but did not give notice until the 19th Oct, then they will be obliged to pay a further one month's rent, up until 15 Dec.

If renewing the contract for a further FT is important to you then you should be pushing you LA to have this in place in advance of the expiry of the original. You should also make sure than a valid S21 Notice has been served during the tenancy in case you need to go to court to regain possession from a tenant who has failed to make his/her intentions clear.

Did the LA properly deal with deposits & other issues if they were as lax with this on a renewal that you had specifically requested?

Note also that you will need to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate for the property as it is to be re-let to new tenants after Oct 1st. (useless piece of paper IMO but you have to have one, or you can be fined)

Discocat

Thanks tbs624, your information was really useful. The tenant rents monthly and pays her rent on approximately the 27th of each month (The letting agent won't give us the exact date). We received written confirmation of notice via the agent on October 9th and it stated that the tenant would quit on and pay up to October 31st. Given what you've just said she actually has to pay until November 30th. The question that I have is that what if the agent argues that they had written notice from the tenant in time but they failed/forgot to pass it on? Who would then be liable if anyone? Thanks very much for your help.

Incisor

Discocat wrote: »

... We have just received a mail from the Estate Agents saying that the tenant has given one months notice to quit and can do so because they didn't manage to pin her down on signing the agreement and therefore it has now become periodic. We would never have agreed to this, we only want 6 month contracts and the last mail received from the estate agent quite clearly stated that the tenant was signing up to 6 months.

No doubt there is little we can do about this but we are just so upset that the estate Agent mis-led us and didn't tell us that it had gone to a periodic contract.

Does anyone have any advice or words of wisdom for us?

Yes, don't get uptight about tenancies going periodic, please. You got 6 months and it went on a bit longer. Surely 2 9 month tenancies are better than 3 6 month tenancies. Personally as a renter, I would avoid a rental if I knew it was not going to be allowed to go periodic. At the outset, I could commit to 6 months [In fact where I am I was able to commit to longer than that]. But you never know when you might finally want to leave and if after the assured term you are not allowed to go periodic, you face losing 3, 4 or 5 months rent for nothing, just to exit the tenancy.

So my suggestion to you is forget about 6 month blocks, go for an initial 6 months and relax about it going periodic. There is no disadvantage and the tenant feels less uptight about moving on and does not bother to ask himself 'shall I move' every 6 months.

Being bothered about letting tenancies run periodic is not worth the effort of posting on these boards, there is no disadvantage to you, unless you want a tense end to a tenancy in the middle of a 6 month term after the first.

Discocat

Thanks, Incisor. On reflection I think you're absolutely right.

PasturesNew

I have been where I am for 14 months, it started off as a 6 monther then went periodic. I feel happier that I am not tied in as I could sign up one day then a week later get a job offer 200 miles away, which would be problematical. As it is I'd not feel trapped.

franklee

tbs624 wrote: »

If renewing the contract for a further FT is important to you then you should be pushing you LA to have this in place in advance of the expiry of the original. You should also make sure than a valid S21 Notice has been served during the tenancy in case you need to go to court to regain possession from a tenant who has failed to make his/her intentions clear.

If a landlord wants to keep a tenant (that they have observed to be a good one) then why does it matter to the landlord if it's a new fixed term or periodic. Why not just ask what the tenant would prefer? That way they are more likely to stay. Serving S21 notices to impose a new fixed term seems like a good way to !!!! the tenant off and make them leave. Besides there is doubt that a S21 remains valid if the landlord is offering to negotiate an extension. I think an S21 is best only served when the landlord has decided he wants the tenant to vacate. This cry wolf over S21's only serves to train tenants to ignore them making life harder for the genuine landlord who wants a tenant to leave.

Discocat

Thanks everyone for your help. The only question that I have remaining is whether the tenant has to give a full calendar months notice. According to the websites that have been recommended to me this certainly appears to be the case but it is the agent who didn't pass the information on to us. They claim that the tenant gave them one months notice but it was them that failed to pass it on to us. Is the agent liable in any way?

tbs624

discocat - have sent PM. You need to have a copy of the tenancy agreement itself , plus go back through the contract between you and the LA