How can we get a 3 month rental?

swimmer35

We are a professional couple with two young kids moving to Reading and looking for a 2-3 bedroom flat/house for 3 months.

All the estate agents we've spoken to are only interested in six month contracts but we only need the property for 3 months. We've looked at serviced apartments but they cost a fortune!

How can we get a 3 month rental? Any advice will be hugely appreciated.

N79

Very very difficult (the law mandates that LLs can not evict until 6 months which means that 6 months has become the effective minimum tenancy term).

Your best bet would be to approach LLs directly and ask them if they would be prepared to do it (but most will not and I would always advise a LL to refuse such a request from a T). Would an option be to take a 6 month rental and then delay your subsequent move?

A final option would be to lodge in a house with a resident LL as such agreements are not subject to the 6 month rules but with kids this is probably not ideal.

theartfullodger

tricky this one:

All AST contracts are effectively for a minimum of 6 months... but there is nothing to stop you/Landlord agreeing after 3 months to end the tenancy, particularly if you find a new tenant for him...


Sorry, that's the law...

You might be best to rent for 6 months then hope you can come to an agreement with LL - even a 6-month rent payment might be cheaper than a serviced apartment...

Cheers!

Lodger

ILW

Travelodge?

N79

theartfullodger wrote: »

tricky this one:

All AST contracts are for a minimum of 6 months... but there is nothing to stop you/Landlord agreeing after 3 months to end the tenancy, particularly if you find a new tenant for him...

However any agreement prior to signing an AST for 6months that it will only be for 3 months would, as far as I understand it, be invalid & unenforceable..

Sorry, that's the law...

You might be best to rent for 6 months then hope you can come to an agreement with LL - even a 6-month rent payment might be cheaper than a serviced apartment...

Cheers!

Lodger

Artful - there is nothing stopping an AST having a fixed term of three months (or indeed having a fixed term of zero months ie periodic from the start).

The 6 month rule is not the length of the tenancy but is a restriction on using S21 (see Housing Act 1988 S21 (5) a as amended by the 1996 Housing Act as the restriction is an amendment and is not original) which means the LL can not start to end the tenancy until after 6 months.

Jowo_2

N79 wrote: »

Artful - there is nothing stopping an AST having a fixed term of three months (or indeed having a fixed term of zero months ie periodic from the start).

The 6 month rule is not the length of the tenancy but is a restriction on using S21 (see Housing Act 1988 S21 (5) a as amended by the 1996 Housing Act as the restriction is an amendment and is not original) which means the LL can not start to end the tenancy until after 6 months.

Exactly, so issuing an AST of less than 6 months duration is not worth the paper it's written on!

N79

Jowo wrote: »

Exactly, so issuing an AST of less than 6 months duration is not worth the paper it's written on!

It is to the tenant who could leave after the fixed term without notice. There is just no action the LL could take if the T choose to remain in occupation after the fixed term until the 6 month point.

mufi

Unless you need a rented property in the peak season (school summer holidays), try a holiday rental company or, perhaps more likely, a private individual who rents out several properties - barn conversions on farms spring to mind, or even a caravan park.

That's how several people I know have got round the problem; you obviously need to negotiate a decent rate, and I appreciate that Reading isn't a well-known holiday area...

tbs624

N79 wrote: »

Very very difficult (the law mandates that LLs can not evict until 6 months which means that 6 months has become the effective minimum tenancy term).

That's so for an AST but perhaps the OP could enquire about the possibility of a Standard Assured Tenancy for 3 months, on a property where the the ownerhas lived as own main home but needs to be away for 3 months, and will be returning to the property, so owner/LL pre-serves a G1 Notice

kmmr

I'm in a short let at the moment, found on gumtree with a private LL, who is away for 6 months, so was looking for someone just for a short period. I think we were actually pretty lucky as we had been looking for a while, and almost had to go into sharing, something we really didn't want to do!

Have you looked at any house sitting sites? They may have some longer term requirements (and I think 3 months is a long time for house sitting) but in general it's difficult.

So, I'd just say focus on trying to find private landlords, they tend to be a little more flexible. Watch out of the WEALTH of scammers on gumtree though, but they are pretty easy to spot. Excellent house, for a bit less than normal, sob story, reason that they can't meet you, and then a request for money via western union. Can be annoying time wasters, but you learn to identify them early on after a while!

Good luck!

N79

tbs624 wrote: »

That's so for an AST but perhaps the OP could enquire about the possibility of a Standard Assured Tenancy for 3 months, on a property where the the ownerhas lived as own main home but needs to be away for 3 months, and will be returning to the property, so owner/LL pre-serves a G1 Notice

Not really an option TBS (but then you know that):D

This will severely restrict the pool of available LL's to "amateurs" and they would be very foolhardy to go down this line. At the very least the OP would need to pay the LL's legal fees for drawing up the notice and checking the LL can fulfil the conditions and would also need to pay higher rent to cover the extra processing costs and extra risk. I'm sure a 6 month AST or a furnished short term let would be cheaper.

The bottom line is that the cost of getting this wrong (for peoples information the cost is 50%ish of the property value) is just far to great a risk for the LL when there are plenty more Ts in the sea.