Tenancy agreement question

kailani

We are currently at the end of a 6 month tenancy contract, which is following a one year tenancy agreement which was initially drawn up by a letting agent. The current agreement was drawn up without the letting agent and is between us and the landlord directly.

Our contract is due to end at the end of March, and we gave our landlord one month's notice at the beginning of March. He has now come back to us saying that we were supposed to give him two months notice as per a clause in the original tenancy agreement, and that we are only allowed to end the tenancy after the contract had lapsed, ie: we pay rent on the 26th, so we are to serve our notice on the 27th.

Upon checking the 6 month contract that we had signed, there was no mention of any notice period, aside from under the landlord ending the tenancy and is allowed to show prospective tenants or buyers the property in the last two months. The landlord is now claiming that he was 'renewing' the original one year contract, however he has not made any mention of any referrals to any clauses to the first contract in the current contract. He claims that it is enough that it is considered a 'renewal' as it states on the front that the deposit is 'brought forward'. But nowhere on the current contract does it state that it is a renewal of the previous contract, and as such there was no mention made of having to follow a 2 month notice period. Can he do that?

We also rang the original letting agent to ask if the landlord can refer to something in their contract, if it is not stated in his own contract. They have told us that he cannot refer to their contract as it has now expired, and that he would have had to stipulate all terms in his own contract. However the landlord has disagreed, stating that it is still his contract, despite having the letting agent's logo all over it.

We are unwilling to let this landlord 'bully' us into paying an extra two months worth of rent, when he has neglected to ensure that his own contract outlines notice periods. Can he carry forward such a term from a previous contract? Should it not be stipulated in the new contract? What is the legal standing on giving notice?

Please advise!!!

poppysarah

Ring shelter.

robpitt

If you want to end your tenancy on the last day of the contract then you can do that without notice. If staying beyond that then I wouldn't want to say for certain but my guess is that statutory notice of one month would apply.

Cashpig74

I am a landlord and the legal minimum requirement for either party to give notice is one month.

you are within your rights.

clutton_2

cashpig you are incorrect a tenant legally has to give one months notice, and landlord has to give two.

as a tenant, if you move out at the end of the fixed term, no notice is required.

if you go one day over the fixed term, you must give notice of one month, ending on the final day of the term

your landlord and agent are trying it on

clutton_2

many letting agents put 2 months notice into their agreements - tell him its written in the Protection from Eviction act 1977

kailani

Thank you all for your comments, and I have also been ringing around trying to get some advice.

Most people have said that he cannot refer to a contract that has expired, and that we should write him a letter enclosing the current contract and ask him to highlight where it states that we have to give him 2 months' notice. Apparently because he is trying to tell us that we cannot end the tenancy until after the contract is over makes it an unfair agreement.

Thank you all for clarifying what we suspected, that he cannot insist that we refer to an expired contract, and that the legal requirement is one month's notice.

Cheers!

princeofpounds

Clutton is right - you are allowed to leave without ANY notice on the last day of your tenancy unless you have contractually agreed to provide notice otherwise.

The new contract is entirely separate to the previous contract, and so if it contains no mention of such a term, there is no term.

Your landlord is plain wrong.

Outside of the fixed period of the tenancy you get a statutory periodic tenancy, which is 2 months required from landlord and 1 from tenant to coincide with a rental period.

Whoever's logos are on a contract is totally irrelevant. No-one 'owns' a contract, it is something that binds one or more parties.

Leave and provide notice correctly as you desire, apply for your deposit back. Hopefully for the landlord it is properly protected and you will have no problems.