Verbal agreement of notice renewal

chestofdrawers

Hello all, would appreciate some advice.
I am a landlord who has a 12month fixed shorthold tenancy agreement that includes a 2months' notice to move out clause for the tenant and landlord. 2months before the end of the tenancy my agent sent the tenant an S21 as part of the renewal pack ie it would not be enforced if he agreed to another 12month renewal. He replied to the agent and me by email saying he wanted to stay for another 12months. Unfortunately he did not sign the renewal document but there was no conversation about him moving out. Then 10days before the agreement was due to expire, he said he was moving out. Can I claim for the 2 or even 1 months' rent for the notice that he was required to give and the fact that he reneged on his verbal and email agreement to stay? Can I claim on the TDS?
Thanks for any advice

Planner

chestofdrawers wrote: »

Hello all, would appreciate some advice.
I am a landlord who has a 12month fixed shorthold tenancy agreement that includes a 2months' notice to move out clause for the tenant and landlord. 2months before the end of the tenancy my agent sent the tenant an S21 as part of the renewal pack ie it would not be enforced if he agreed to another 12month renewal. He replied to the agent and me by email saying he wanted to stay for another 12months. Unfortunately he did not sign the renewal document but there was no conversation about him moving out. Then 10days before the agreement was due to expire, he said he was moving out. Can I claim for the 2 or even 1 months' rent for the notice that he was required to give and the fact that he reneged on his verbal and email agreement to stay? Can I claim on the TDS?
Thanks for any advice

You are aware that no matter what your tenancy agreement says, you cannot require a tenant to give notice to end the fixed term of a tenancy. They can leave on the last day of the tenancy, without giving any notice.

Has the tenancy agreement you have sent changed from the agreement he is on now (apart from dates obviously), if not then I would suggest that his email confirmation confirms he is willing to take on a further 12 months tenancy. Its obviously up to you to decide if you want to take that matter further. If the tenancy agreement you sent is different... different rent, different clauses etc, then, in my opinnion, you wont be able to use the tenants email as proof they agreed to a further 12 months as they would not have had the oppurtunity to consider the revised rent/clauses proposed in the new agreement.

N79

I think not. T clearly had an intention to create a new 12 month tenancy at one point but never actually did so. Therefore they can leave at the end of the initial fixed period without further notice.

I disagree with Planner that the T's email can be said to constitute agreement to a new 12 month tenancy. If T had remained beyond the end of the fixed period then a periodic tenancy would have resulted, not a new 12 month AST.

Due to this I do not believe that the T has failed in his notice requirements.

chestofdrawers

Thanks very much for replying.
I had told the tenant that we agree to his request for a renewal of 12months on the same terms as the previous contract. The agent had asked him to sign the renewal document but he said he lost it and asked for another one to be sent out to him - we have the email chain with the agent to corroborate this. Then one week later he told us he was leaving at the end of the current tenancy agreement, giving us 10 days notice. I have asked him to give me 1 months' notice or until we find a new tenant, whichever is sooner, which he has refused.

silvercar

He doesn't need to, he is leaving at the end of the fixed term. As he hasn't signed a new contract or stayed beyond the end of the fixed term, he doesn't need to give any notice, effectively you have had a years notice.

Losing the contract was probably a tactical move to delay signing while he lined up another option.

If he stays even one day beyond the end of the fixed term, he has allowed the tenancy to become periodic and would have to give a months notice to end by a rent day.

Planner

Ultimatley it will be down to the TDS arbitration to decide if you have a case or not.

I would lodge a dispute and send your email trail to them.

franklee

chestofdrawers wrote: »

2months before the end of the tenancy my agent sent the tenant an S21 as part of the renewal pack ie it would not be enforced if he agreed to another 12month renewal.

Is there no end to this Sword of Damocles type wheeze?

You can't send a Section 21 notice requiring possession at the same time as offering a tenant remain as that's a contradiction. Either you want the tenant to remain in which case you negotiate this OR you want the tenant to leave in which case you serve a Section 21 notice requiring possession. Asking them to negotiate under the duress of the S21 notice period ticking away isn't the best way to treat a tenant and is a good way to make them panic into saying an initial yes under duress while at the same time !!!!ing them off.

A renewal offer and a S21 at the same time is a mixed message to the tenant for which you should take the agent to task. S21 notices aren't confetti to be thrown about willy nilly! No wonder your tenant didn't know if he was coming or going and shipped out.

For next time ensure you serve a Section 21 if you wish to tenant to leave and not if you wish them to remain. I think you should be asking the agent for compensation for having bungled this.

franklee

silvercar wrote: »

If he stays even one day beyond the end of the fixed term, he has allowed the tenancy to become periodic and would have to give a months notice to end by a rent day.

Without the S21 I would agree with you. With the S21 I doubt it. As there was an offer to renew served at the same time as the S21 it is a mixed message from the landlord to the tenant, goodness knows what it means! The tenant could argue that the S21 asked them to leave and they did just that. Certainly a valid S21 served during the fixed term remains valid during a periodic tenancy unless something is done to invalidate it. What an S21 mixed in with a renewal offer is . The landlord hedging his bets would not stand up IMO, unless the new agreement was signed by both sides. For all the tenant knew the landlord may not sign the renewal in the end and meanwhile the tenant thinks the notice period is ticking away due to the S21 so he may have felt under pressure to make arrangements elsewhere after all.

chestofdrawers

Thanks all very much for taking the time to reply. I don't think the tenant was in any illusion about what the pack meant but I do take the point that it may be confusing. He called me straight away referring to the renewal pack to say he wanted to stay for another 12months. He then emailed the agent and called her to say the same thing and that he would be signing the renewal notice. I told him that I agreed with him staying under the same terms. All this was done 2months before the end of the current agreement. He then asked for the renewal pack again because he said he lost it. There was never any discussion about him leaving and he had my phone number, emails etc.

franklee

Might be worth you phoning the tenant to ask him directly why he is leaving. If it's the way the agent behaved then you would be better off knowing so you can head off any similar problems next time.

If I was served an S21 at the same time as a renewal was offered I'd not be happy. I wouldn't want to negotiate with an agent who dished out ultimatums in that way. As the tenant was one you'd had for a year and were willing to keep for another year he must have been OK and therefore serving the S21, i.e. agree to a 12 months renewal (pretty quickly) or face the S21 start to be enforced in a couple of months is pretty provocative IMO. No offer of periodic, or six months renewal or a bit of breathing space to make his mind up. Meanwhile he probably thinks any time he takes to make his mind up is less time he has to arrange moving as he thinks his notice period is ticking away (although I doubt the S21 was even valid). It's really so unnecessary to be that heavy handed. Did the agent start hassling for viewings as well?

I'm not surprised he played for time and then got out.

Thankfully the agent I'm renting from starts a civilised email conversation without any ultimatums which has got us through two renewals so far.

Ulfar

You have no comeback on the tenant, he has complied with the S21 notice you sent him.

While you may have discussed a renewal, no tenancy agreement was signed.

In addition to this funds from the deposit cannot be claimed via TDS for rent the tenant owes (or not in this case), valid claims against a deposit are for damage beyond wear and tear.

I have to say maybe you should talk to your letting agent about not issuing a s21 next time, I also bet they wanted renewal charges. What would have been wrong with letting the tenancy switch to periodic ?