advice with tenancy agreement

antwilson

Hi,

Im after some advice with our tenancy agreement if possible?

In May, we agreed by email that we would renew our tenancy agreement for a £20 reduction in rent, for another 6 months.

The estate agents took 6 weeks to send us the tenancy agreement after we had said ok by email. We forgot to sign the agreement, and no-one has ever asked us for it. We had to chase originally for them to send the agreement out.

If we dont have a signed agreement, do we have to stay until November, or can we leave by giving the usual (1 month?) notice we would have to if we were on a rolling contract?

We want to move because we are having problems with the landlord refusing to do any necessary maintenance on the property. weve being in the same position before and its took months to resolve. We even had them moaning because we asked for a visit from someone due to a strong smell of gas we had - and they didnt want to pay for it.

It seems if we break the tenancy agreement, we get kicked out and the tenancy ends, but if the landlord breaks the agreement its tough!

The estate agents we rent it through agree with us that the landlord is being completely unreasonable, and their basic reply to our problems was tough.

Jowo_2

If there is a strong smell of gas, its an emergency and you should contact the gas supplier on their emergency line.

If you do not have a new fixed term contract after the last one elapsed, you have a periodic tenancy and can give one months notice but the expiration of it must coincide with the rental period.

"It is always best to give notice in writing and ensure that the notice ends on the first or last day of the period of a tenancy. For example, if your tenancy is monthly and started on the fifth day of the month, the notice you give the landlord should end on the fourth or the fifth. "

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/ending_a_tenancy_or_licence/ending_a_periodic_agreement

Fire_Fox

If you are still on the old AST and you are paying a reduced amount of rent then you are technically in arrears with your rent. Have you been sent a copy of the gas safety certificate? Have you put any of your complaints into writing (recorded delivery not e-mail)?