Tenant problem at end of contract

stevetodd

neas wrote: »

You sound like a selfish landlord.

You want someone to pay 100 quid evevery 6 month to rent your flat? This will obviously increase the monthly 'rent' of the people living there. And this is what annoyed the tenants.

As they didnt sign a new agreement they have to give 1 month notice. I hate the 'rearrangement' fee which is stupid on all counts....

I agree I am a landlord and at the end of the initial one year contract, I offer my tenants a new one year contract but point out that this would incurr a new £30 deposit protection fee. So if they wish they can stay with a periodical contract, which not only avoids the fee but gives them more flexibility.

I don't use agents as they charge a huge fee not only to me as the landlord but also to the tenants, I think the fees that they charge tenants are outrageous. As a private landlord I only pass on the fee charges by the deposit protection, I do not charge for signing contracts, inventories etc. Although I am thinking of starting to carry out the simplest (so cheapest) of credit checks (on top of the info I ask them to supply free of fees) to search for CCJ, but I think these are only about £6 per person.

tbs624

stevetodd wrote: »

I agree I am a landlord and at the end of the initial one year contract, I offer my tenants a new one year contract but point out that this would incurr a new £30 deposit protection fee. So if they wish they can stay with a periodical contract, which not only avoids the fee but gives them more flexibility.

Assuming you are with mydeposits/TDS, where the fee is £17.12 for deposits of less than £300, and £29.36 for those over that amount, why do you think it is fair to pass the entire cost on to the T, especially given that such fees are tax deductible for LLs? Do you charge just the one £30 for those on a JS&L tenancy or do you seek to make more profit there? And yes, a periodic agreement gives the T "greater flexibility", if flexibility is what they want ,(ditto the LL) but it also gives the T less security of tenure than a new Fixed Term. The T hasn't got a real "choice" within the set-up you describe, IMO.

stevetodd wrote: »

I don't use agents as they charge a huge fee not only to me as the landlord but also to the tenants, I think the fees that they charge tenants are outrageous.......

....my view is that charging the T to scheme-register their deposit, when registering it is a legal obligations for *LLs*, is pretty outrageous. As a LL, you could have chosen the non-fee custodial deposit reg scheme, but presumably chose TDS so that you could hold both the actual deposit and retain any interest on it (admittedly pitiful at the mo)?

RainMaker_2

msdevon wrote: »

To cut a very long story short they have failed to send in the paperwork by the renewal date and have now told the agent, some 2 weeks after the renewal date, that they will not sign an agreement and are thinking of moving. Where do I stand in all this?

The way I see it you have 3 choices...

1) Serve your Tenants 2 months notice to quit

2) Do nothing and let the agreement default to a periodic

3) Offer to pay your Tenants costs in signing a new agreement

Personally I'd go with 2), but if I wanted security of tenure whilst out of the country I'd go with 3). Don't even think about 1).