AST Query - Keeping address for mail / banking

andyrich666

Hello

I have a tenant who has moved in and is eager to get her AST, There are 3 issues outstanding, because I do not have a lot of free time - I wanted a agent to do it all but she is happy to keep it private

First. the AST is for 1 year but she wants 3, I said I would renew it every year, but can you do 3 year's It was my impression you could not.

Secondly We have a really nice cooker I have left at the premises it is 2 years old but never had any use until she moved in, I want it in the agreement that we will leave the cooker but not be responsible for any issues it has - please can you tell me how I could word this in the AST.

Lastly, when we first me the lady agreed in principal verbally that she would allow me to have some post delivered there, I have decided to take a year out the UK but I still want to keep my bank and cards in UK, only this, so I need to ask how to put this in the AST also. I would also like to be kept on the electorall roll but that is not a major issue at this time.

Lastly if you don't mind, has any law been broken with her not signing the AST by being in the property and if in the unlikley event that she did not agree to the 3 additions I want to make, what would I do, I like the tenant and am happy so far for her to be there.

Thanks all in advance for you time and advice should you reply.

Andy

JuicyJesus

andyrich666 wrote: »

Hello

I have a tenant who has moved in and is eager to get her AST

Whoa. Stop. Not even reading the rest of the post.

She's already moved in... without an AST agreement? You're only asking these questions now, AFTER she's living in your property?

Can of worms. For the future - an AST is something you have agreed and signed BEFORE THE TENANT MOVES IN. Not after. You are on VERY shaky legal ground.

She has not broken any laws. Neither have you. But both of your legal rights have possibly been compromised.

andyrich666

We both trust each other and she is paying her rent, I was forced into it but it is her who is nagging me for the AST we signed our bit but for some reason she did not hers, and a couple of months has now passed, Thanks for your post and I appreciate you cant comment further, what's done is done so I still need to sort it out.

Simply Im not very good at doing thing to time scales I have a high pressure job and I did not have the time to sort all this out, it was my intention from day one to give it to a agent but she talked me out of it.

I hope someone else can offer a solution

Annisele

andyrich666 wrote: »

First. the AST is for 1 year but she wants 3, I said I would renew it every year, but can you do 3 year's It was my impression you could not.

So, she's already moved in - so the tenancy has started. If she says her tenancy is for three years and you say it's for one, then (unless the two of you come to an agreement) you're pretty much down to 'who does the judge believe'.

Secondly We have a really nice cooker I have left at the premises it is 2 years old but never had any use until she moved in, I want it in the agreement that we will leave the cooker but not be responsible for any issues it has - please can you tell me how I could word this in the AST.

You already have a tenancy agreement - but as above, working out exactly what the existing terms are is a matter for a judge (if the two of you can't agree). So, be nice to your tenant.

Lastly, when we first me the lady agreed in principal verbally that she would allow me to have some post delivered there, I have decided to take a year out the UK but I still want to keep my bank and cards in UK, only this, so I need to ask how to put this in the AST also. I would also like to be kept on the electorall roll but that is not a major issue at this time.

Why do you want to do this? Is it because you haven't told your mortgage lender you've let the place? And do you know the rules for non-resident landlords and tax?

Lastly if you don't mind, has any law been broken with her not signing the AST by being in the property and if in the unlikley event that she did not agree to the 3 additions I want to make, what would I do, I like the tenant and am happy so far for her to be there.

She hasn't broken any laws. No idea whether or not you have. Are you in England/Wales, NI, or Scotland? Have you registered the deposit / registered as a landlord / got gas cert / complied with all legal requirements (they're different in the different areas of the UK).

Yorkie1

Do you have a mortgage?

You may well find that the lender does not permit an AST for more than 12 months at a time.

G_M

Your naivity and ignorance are frightning!

andyrich666 wrote: »

Hello

I have a tenant who has moved in and is eager to get her AST,
She aleady has an AST. It is verbal. She is a tenant, with tenant rights.
There are 3 issues outstanding
FAR more than 3!
, because I do not have a lot of free time - I wanted a agent to do it all but she is happy to keep it private
Big mistake sinceyou seem toknow solittle about being a landlord

First. the AST is for 1 year but she wants 3,
It is not "for 1 year". It is for whatever you agreed. If you did not agree, then it is for whatever a court thinks was agreed. You cannot change the terms of a tenancy (even ifitwas verbal) after it has started (except by mutual agreement).
What exact words were used be each of you? Does she believe it is 3 years? If so, it IS 3 years already.

That is the problem with verbal contracts!

I said I would renew it every year, but can you do 3 year's It was my impression you could not.
Why 'renew'? Why not go Periodic?
Yes you can do 3 years, but anything MORE than 3 years requires a Deed or will be invalid.

Secondly We have a really nice cooker I have left at the premises it is 2 years old but never had any use until she moved in, I want it in the agreement that we will leave the cooker but not be responsible for any issues it has - please can you tell me how I could word this in the AST.
Too late! You cannot change the terms of a tenancy once it begins. And it has already begun. She is a tenant. The contents of the property are part of the contract. What does the inventory say?

See the relevant Act for your repairing obligations( link below)

Lastly, when we first me the lady agreed in principal verbally that she would allow me to have some post delivered there,
Unenforcible. If she does not, nothing you can do.
I have decided to take a year out the UK

How is she paying you? Have you sorted out HMRC?!!!!!! See link below.

but I still want to keep my bank and cards in UK, only this, so I need to ask how to put this in the AST also.
Mad! What you do with your bank is.... between you and the bank.Nothing to do with your tenancy. Whether she forwards your mail is up to her. She may prefer to take out credit cards in your name at your address, and run up a few bills :eek:

I would also like to be kept on the electorall roll but that is not a major issue at this time.
Check with the electoral officer.

Lastly if you don't mind, has any law been broken with her not signing the AST by being in the property
???? No. You have granted her an AST by giving her the keys and accepting rent.
and if in the unlikley event that she did not agree to the 3 additions I want to make, what would I do, I like the tenant and am happy so far for her to be there.
You are stuck with the agreement already made. Nothing you can do.

Thanks all in advance for you time and advice should you reply.

Andy

Read:

New Landlords (information for new or prospective landlords)

Have you got permission from your mortgage lender? Insurer?
Has she got an address in Eng/Wales "for the serving of notices"? Will this address still apply when you are abroad?
Did you take a deposit? Where is it?

.....................................:rotfl:

G_M

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Do you have a mortgage?

You may well find that the lender does not permit an AST for more than 12 months at a time.

That's the main concern?

:rotfl:


(Sorry Yorkie!)

Werdnal

I know you feel you have come here with genuine questions and looking for advice, but I have to agree with the others, you should have done all this BEFORE you even decided to let the place, not 2 months after the tenant moved in.

Have you taken a deposit? If she has been in for 2 months I doubt you have protected it in a scheme and issued the PI to the tenant. Tenant can now sue you for 1-3x the deposit amount, and you cannot issue notice to end the tenancy until you return the deposit in full (even then the right for T to sue you remains).

What about your mortgage, have they given consent? Changed your insurance to a landlord based policy?

If you are going out of the country for 12 months , have you registered with HMRC as a non-UK resident landlord for tax purposes? Otherwise your tenant will have to pay your tax on rental income for you. Oh, and there is also the matter of providing the tenant with an address in England/Wales to contact you for serving notices, reporting faults etc, - if not, you cannot legally charge her any rent!

You are lucky you seem to have stumbled upon an apparently good tenant ... or is she just waiting for your lack of knowledge and amateur approach to all this to take you to the cleaners?

andyrich666

There is no mortgage, as for the AST for the tenant Its a company tenancy its in the name of a LTD Company and I don't believe that you have to have it protected but I will be doing that once it is signed for both of us, I have not moved yet, I also have a LTD CO so its not important what I do at this stage, If I move it will be October.

andyrich666

BTW I am happy for her to have the 3 years, she wants long term and so do I, there is no animosity, we have both agreed to start the AST from a new date, I just want to know how to word the additions, if she disagrees I will let her have the original agreement of the new dates, I felt sorry for her as she wanted my property for a long time but I never had the money to do it up, I got it done up and she went to another property once i told her mine was done she cancelled her other property and was staying in a hotel some miles away, I just felt sorry for her so I said unofficially she could move in a bit earlier.

honestly 100% we are ok with the arrangement and she just wants her AST and I want to give it to her, just I never thought about the additions before, like I said if she does not agree I will just stick to the original and leave it at that with a new date.

She is a good tenant and I want to be a good landlord.

G_M

andyrich666 wrote: »

...., as for the AST for the tenant Its a company tenancy its in the name of a LTD Company and I don't believe that you have to have it protected .....

??? You mean the landlord (you) is a company?

Or the tenancy is a company tenancy (so NOT an AST)?

Please don't drip-feed information to us. Many of us happily offer advice here, but it is most annoying when we do so, only to find the situation is not as originally described.

I don't believe that you have to have it protected

The tenancy? Or the deposit (if you took one)?

Is this Scotland? Tenancies there do not need protecting but landlords need registering. Is this what you are thinking of?