Renewal of tenancy agreement

The_Gentt

Hi all,

I've been living in a property with 3 flatmates for a year and our tenancy was up for renewal at the start of January. Two of us have had a change in employment situation recently and we can no longer afford the rent. I'd be very grateful if someone could offer some advice as to where we stand here.

We were sent an email with the renewal of the tenancy agreement which needed to be signed, and also given a paper copy to sign. We each singed the electronic contract individually and sent it back via email to the agent around a month ago. She replied saying she needs us to all sign the same paper contract and bring that into her so that she "can exchange them as soon as possible". In that time our employment situation changed and we never signed the paper agreement together.

We were under the impression that without the signed paper agreement we had moved to a statutory tenancy and were free to give a months notice and leave. However, after informing the agent of our situation she has told us the paper contract was just for good practice and their own filing purposes. Can anyone advise if this electronic contract we each individually signed is enough on it's own to keep us tied in for another 6 months?

Thanks

The_Gentt

Sorry just wanted to bump this incase any informed minds had missed it!

theartfullodger

Was the new contract in any way different - eg more money?? If so & if you had started paying the extra then likely it would be found you'd agreed to the new contract..

An AST does not have to be written if less than 3 years....

The_Gentt

Yes it was for more money and we'd already started paying it. Luckily we received a call out of the blue today informing us that the landlord has agreed to let us move out whenever we want, so worked out fine in the end.