Admin Fees for Renewing Tenancies

Vin2300

We have been in our rented flat for 2 years now. Every 6 months the landlords managing agent issues us a new AST to sign and charges us £40 for the privelige. We have just paid it and signed the new agreement each of the three times so far, but this time i am thinking it is a waste of money and we should just refuse to pay it.

What is our position? Can we just refuse to sign a new agreement and stay in the property indefinitely (as long as we pay the rent)?

Or if we do that, do we lose our security and the landlord can get us out at shorter notice?

DVardysShadow

Largely a waste of time and money. After the 6 months, you go onto a 'statutory periodic' tenancy, with 2 months notice to you and 1 month notice to LL. It does give you 6 month's renewed security - or commitment, depending on how you look at it.

molerat

They can serve you 2 months notice and you can serve 1 month. £40 every 6 months is just taking the !!!! and a nice little earner for them.

Vin2300

UPDATE - after several attempts, our managing agent his given up trying to get us to sign a new AST. Instead they have now sent us a form to sign which by doing so we are confirming the following:

"We wish to continue on a periodic tenancy and we are aware that we are required to give two months notice to terminate".

As far as i am concerned, we dont need to sign the form, as the above happens automatically. However i thought we might as well sign it just to keep them happy. Does anyone have any views as to whether we should or shouldnt?

Salz

Vin2300 wrote: »

UPDATE - after several attempts, our managing agent his given up trying to get us to sign a new AST. Instead they have now sent us a form to sign which by doing so we are confirming the following:

"We wish to continue on a periodic tenancy and we are aware that we are required to give two months notice to terminate".

As far as i am concerned, we dont need to sign the form, as the above happens automatically. However i thought we might as well sign it just to keep them happy. Does anyone have any views as to whether we should or shouldnt?

Cross the two out and insert one, then inital, then sign and send it back. You do not have to give 2 months notice on a periodic tenancy. I had this problem with a previous Letting Agency, and paid every 6 months not knowing any better. When I moved to my current house (and found MSE) I realised this was wrong, and some agents just like to try it on

smp77

Thank you as I have learnt something today!

I have shelled out about £200 in the past two and a half years just to sign a new 6 month tenancy agreement each time not knowing it could have gone into a periodic one! It makes me cross as yesterday I asked my LA why my landlord didn't give me two months notice with two months to go on the agreement but with just one month left, and they said it was because after the 6 months it goes into a periodic tenancy, I then questioned as to why, if this is the case, I have had to re-sign and pay every six months...they veered off at a tangent and now I know why!!!!! Grrrrrr! :mad:

Dolly_Dimple

(New poster here - hello! ) So just to check, is it the case that landlords can't require a current tenant to sign a new tenancy agreement if there's already one in place? I've been in my place for a year now, and understood that the agreement would then become a statutory periodic tenancy. My previous flatmate was on the tenancy agreement as a "permitted occupant" rather than a tenant (she'd just moved to the UK and didn't have a bank account); she's now moved out, and my chap has moved in, so I wanted the agreement amended to reflect this.

However, our landlord now wants to issue a new agreement, up the rent by £125 a month :eek: (they finally fixed the windows, which didn't shut properly all year!), and charge us £75 for the new agreement! Is this legit, if the only difference is the name of the permitted occupant? And if so, how much notice do they have to give for the end of the current agreement and the imposition of a new one? Does the notice have to be in writing?

Sorry for all the questions - thank you!

Ankatden

Its a new agreement as you BF has no right to reside there.

Check out what rents are for similar property and negotiate, leaving means LL loses tenant who pays on time.

smp77

A rise of £125 a month...from what??? Shouldn't it reflect the current market? When mine went up after 2 years it was by £30 a month and that was enough! What a rip off!

Dolly_Dimple

Ankatden wrote: »

Its a new agreement as you BF has no right to reside there.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case The other thing is that we're looking to leave the country next June, so I'm reluctant to sign another 12-month agreement. A periodic tenancy would have been ideal. *sigh*

The rent was £775, which admittedly is cheap for the area, but they claim it was discounted because of the shoddy windows and that now they've been fixed, they can charge the full rent for the area. But the flat also has peeling window frames, peeling wallpaper and a heating system that hasn't been updated since the 60s (= bloody cold in winter!). Hopefully that might give us some room to negotiate; you're right, a £125 jump is eye-watering!

Ankatden

Negotiate and indicate that heating system is insufficient and costs you in winter.

6 Months STA is all DH gives out as if tenants want to stay they stay if its not working they leave.