Periodic Tenancy following AST

Paul_the_Painter

£25 late payment fee??? Are they quite mad?

Keep a VERY low profile for the next 3 weeks - if they phone, be a bit forgetful "Oh yeah i think John was dealing with that" "Can't seem to find it" etc.

But of course it is possibly better just to be a bit hard to contact.

When the 3 weeks are up (and you've probably had a couple of letters) THEN ask for the Landlords address.

Of course by now you are on a periodic tenancy, as you are still in the property.

The reason to make sure you have the LL address is that he may be recieving bad advice from the LA. Unfortunatley the interests of you the LL and LA are not aligned.

That is you and the LL may be very happy to continue on a periodic tenancy, the LA on the other hand wants a fee from you to renew, a fee from the LL to renew, or a fee from the LL and a new tenant to re-let the property.

re-letting the property almost inevitably leads to a void, which the LL wants to avoid. So a direct contact to the LL may be the best thing if things get messy.

Chances are though that they will just let it roll on to a periodic tenancy.

DVardysShadow

olly300 wrote: »

The contract and the late payment charge are both unlawful.

I cannot see that they are unlawful.

Unlawful: Not conforming to, permitted by, or recognized by law or rules

If OP signs, the contract will be upheld. If OP pays the late fee, then there will be no comeback for the Agent, they will not be found to have committed a crime.

They are just not legally required.

tbs624

catieeb06 wrote: »

Hiya, I posted about a month ago as to whether I was entitled to a Periodic Tenancy following a 6 month AST. You guys kindly told me that I was and that was what I told the EA.

It's not quite a case of you being "entitled" to a periodic tenancy. When the original Fixed Term ends a statutory periodic tenancy arises if the T remains in the property & LL doesn't seek repossession. In your case, as things stand at the moment, your LA/LL cannot seek repossession (via a S21 notice) because they have apparently not protected your deposit and any s21 notice served would be invalid until such time as the deposit was scheme registered. That said, don't just rely on the fact that the LA has failed to reply to you on the subject of the deposit.

Check for yourself and get confirmation from all 3 schemes - DPS, TDS, mydeposits. If you want to "push" over not signing up for a renewal you need to know whether a valid s21 can come your way, and make plans accordingly. A LL absolutely does not have to agree to a periodic agreement continuing ad infinitum if s/he would prefer to repossess the property, although many LLs/Ts do happily continue under a periodic for many years.

I don't follow your logic about using email " as at least I then have a copy of correspondence being sent to them." - if you use formal good old snail mail, you have 2 copies(hard copy if 2nd printed off plus the document saved on your computer).

Pay £4 to the Land Reg and obtain your LLs name and address that way. Yes, the LA are legally obliged to provide this info if requested (under the LL&T Act 1985, s1) but it does tend to alert the LA in advance that you are going to talk direct to the LL.

As another poster has said, the LA may well be giving poor advice to the LL because they stand to request a fee from both you, as T, and from your LL if they sign you up for a renewal. Your LL will not want to lose a reliable T because of shenanigans by an LA who is supposed to be acting in the LLs interest, but in reality is simply interested in pocketing two more "admin fees". The LA would already get a percentage of the rental if you remain a T, so wouldn't starve;)

catieeb06

Hi, I just want to say thanks to everyone for their help. We've decided to move out and cut our losses.

As our contract is up on the 19th do we still have to give notice?

Wee_Willy_Harris

catieeb06 wrote: »

Hi, I just want to say thanks to everyone for their help. We've decided to move out and cut our losses.

As our contract is up on the 19th do we still have to give notice?

You don't HAVE to, no. But it is good practice/polite to do so. But make sure you are out ON the 19th at the very latest. If you leave it till the morning of the 20th, you run the risk of triggering a statutory periodic tenancy.

Blackpool_Saver

I have rented lots of properties but have NEVER heard of this cheek in my life, IGNORE and let it go periodic, what a complete nerve they have, they can't enforce any of this ............

DVardysShadow

catieeb06 wrote: »

Hi, I just want to say thanks to everyone for their help. We've decided to move out and cut our losses.

As our contract is up on the 19th do we still have to give notice?

As already explained, make sure you are out on the 19th and arrange checkout [written request advised] now for you leaving date.

Make sure that your Landlord knows that you are moving because the Agent was obstructive about letting the tenancy go periodic - although the fact that you had this nonsense suggests that the agent amy well know that the Landlord is ignorant about this.

tbs624

catieeb06 wrote: »

Hi, I just want to say thanks to everyone for their help. We've decided to move out and cut our losses.

As our contract is up on the 19th do we still have to give notice?

Endorse what WWH says.

Did you check with each the three deposit schemes whether they have a record of your tenancy deposit?