Renting directly from Landlord?

babyfruitella

We currently rent through a letting agent. They contacted us today to say that the Landlord has advised them he's terminating his agreement with them & will rent the house out to us directly. My husband contacted the landlord who's said he'll sort out bank details when he returns from his holidays. I'm a little apprehensive about it, but we like the house & aren't really looking to move. So I was wondering what sort of things we need to be wary of? Will our bond be returned from the letting agent? Is it a legal requirement for the landlord to draw up a tenancy agreement etc?

Werdnal

Your existing tenancy agreement should still stand, but LL must provide you with his new contact details for serving legal documents, and bank details - get this in writing. I take it your fixed term has expired? If not, LL must observe the existing tenancy until it does. Obviously then LL may want to give you a new tenancy agreement - if so, ask for a copy and a few days to read through it and make sure you understand every clause and can comply with them all before you sign. Or they may allow you to run to a statutory periodic tenancy, which carries all the same terms and conditions of your current agreement, except you only need give 1 month's notice to leave.

LL should arrange for your deposit to be transferred to them and re-protected, and then provide you with the prescribed information from whichever scheme they have used.

Why are you concerned at the change? Anything specific?

babyfruitella

Our fixed term was a year, we're just coming up to 2 years now on a rolling contract. We found out last month that our rent will be going up by £30 starting from September. We were keen to fix this for at least a further year, & had discussed this with the LA. I think I liked the security of a LA, & knowing that we had a port of call if the LL was on holiday or something. The LL only lives around the corner, so things should be straightforward. In fact when we were initially planning to rent it out, we did suggest setting up a private agreement & he declined. I just find it a little odd that he didnt let us know himself, as he walks past regularly.