am i protected by tennancy agreement

jillyflower

I rent my home from a friend, i've been living here now for 5 months, before I moved in we signed an agreement guaranteeing my lease for 5 years. Now my friend wants to sell so that he can raise money to move house himself. I would like to know if my agreement protects me from being evicted by a new owner.
The landlord doesn't live at the property and my agreement with him says that unless i break the agreement (which i haven't) I can stay at the property with a fixed rent for 5 years. We both signed the agreement and our signitures were witnessed by a third person. Would the new owner have to honour this agreement?
Hope this makes sense and someone can help.
Thanks

clutton_2

jilly - it will be impossible for anyone here to answer any of your questions wihtout actually seeing the agreement.. It is very unusual for a tenancy agreement to be for 5 years....

i think your best bet is to find a local solicitors office which does a free first half hour or who runs a free surgery and take the agreement to them..

Any landlord has to get a court order to get a tenant out.. he cannot just say go and you have to go.. things dont work like that....

Worst case scenario..... unless he were to sell the property to another landlord, then the new buyer would expect him to evict you before a sale could be completed and this takes a few months normally.. with your unknown tenancy agreement who knows how long it takes... so try not to worry

bw

do you know where he got the agreement from ?>

eco-friendly_2

jillyflower wrote: »

The landlord doesn't live at the property and my agreement with him says that unless i break the agreement (which i haven't) I can stay at the property with a fixed rent for 5 years.

Assuming your lease is written up properly, I doubt investors will be queuing up to to buy the property.

princeofpounds

Whatever it is it's unlikely to be the normal form of rental contract, an AST, as from memory I think they can run for a maximum of 4 years. So it's probably an SAT I think from memory. Certainly it should have been done as a deed rather than a contract, I can't tell for sure if what you have qualifies as a deed without seeing it.

You should go to landlordzone forums. They have people who can answer this I know.

Assuming you hold a valid tenancy then any purchaser of the house has to abide by it. Makes it a very unattractive house to buy.

I think even if you get your way here you are going to lose a friendship.

clutton_2

""Assuming your lease is written up properly, I doubt investors will be queuing up to to buy the property. ""



it depends on the level of the rent and what else is in the tenancy agreement...... a guaranteed fair rent for 5 years beats 2 months voids every year and a slightly higher rent....

eco-friendly_2

clutton wrote: »

it depends on the level of the rent and what else is in the tenancy agreement...... a guaranteed fair rent for 5 years beats 2 months voids every year and a slightly higher rent....

That's assuming all renters move every 12 months-which they don't. It's a 'friend' I can't see the rent being strong enough to last five years.

tbs624

princeofpounds wrote: »

Whatever it is it's unlikely to be the normal form of rental contract, an AST, as from memory I think they can run for a maximum of 4 years.

There is *no* max no of years for an AST, although there are rules about executing the agreement as a deed for those of 3+years, plus registering with HMLR for those ASTS of 7+ years IIRC:)

theartfullodger

You are probably in a strong position: Ask him how much he intends to pay you to move out before the end of the 5 years.. If the tenancy agreement was watertight you shouldn't have to (as long as you keep paying the rent on time) I'd start counting in the £10k's,,,,

As indicated above, see a solicitor - ideally one who specialises in landlord/tenant. Many high-street firms, whilst admirable, don't specialise much in that area..

Best of luck & best wishes!

Lodger

sequence

Why would anyone grant a lease for 5 years ?

We need more landlord like this

theartfullodger

Why would anyone grant a lease for 5 years ?

a) Because the tenant wanted it - & maybe made an attractive offer dependent on 5 yrs
b) For (apparent) certainty of income..
c) (Just maybe..) there might be some legal reason - can't imagine it happening, but if property were owned by a trust required to rent for a minimum of 5 years..

However, what I always say to tenants is.. 6 months to start as fixed-term: (Maybe 12 months but I prefer not). If you are then happy with the place & I as Landlord am happy with you as tenants you can stay as long as you like (an AST can, AFAIK, keep rolling on as a periodic tenancy for ever). However, Mr prospective Tenant, you don't know if you will really be happy here (neighbours, location, better offer elsewhere, job move, family crisis) and I don't yet know if you'll be the wonderful tenant almost all tenants appear to be when you first show them round..

And, do you really really really want to be committed to not being able to give notice before 5 years time and paying the rent for 5 years?? It's gonna cost you if you change your mind!

Cheers!

Lodger

clutton_2

if memory serves me, you cannot grant an AST for 5 years.... i think, repeat think, 3 years is the maximum the law allows... which is why OP needs to take this to a property solicitor immediately ....