Staying in rented property past lease

junglejame911

We initially took out a 12 month rental lease through an agency for a house. As the end of the initial 12 months approached I emailed the landlord and they said "fine stay on as long as you like, just let us know when you want to move out".

4 years later we are still there and I'm just wondering where we stand re rights/deposit.

No additional agreements were ever signed and rent is paid directly to landlord by standing order. We have had very little contact with landlord since and place is well looked after.

We are finally looking to buy and legally I am just wondering at this stage how much notice we would need to give and could still expect our initial deposit to be returned?

Landlord seems very reasonable but I am just looking for a "heads up" before proceeding.

Any experiences would be valued

Guest101

Yes your deposit is still valid, is it protected?

You must give one month notice to fall inline with your rental period. So if you tenancy started on the 8th of the month, u need to give notice by the 7th for the following 1 month period.

Delay giving notice until you're ready to exchange. There's always a delay

junglejame911

Thanks for the reply

Pretty sure it was protected initially.

I assume in this situation it is still held with the agency? That was my only concern. Essentially we have "bypassed" the agency for these past few years.

Guest101

Depends on which scheme, but makes no difference. The agency is basically the landlords employee

G_M

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

Kynthia

You're only passed the fixed term on the lease, you have instead moved into a statutory periodic tenancy. As above you give one tenancy period as notice and the landlord must give you two months notice. G_M's link goes into more detail.

tbs624

junglejame911 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply

Pretty sure it was protected initially.

I assume in this situation it is still held with the agency?

You should have been given the Deposit Scheme's "prescribed information". If you cannot find/were not given any paperwork then check online at each of the deposit schemes websites

Was a jointly signed inventory used at the start of the tenancy?

When a tenancy moves from the fixed term on to a statutory periodic tenancy,all the original contract terms apply except for those on determination, ie how the tenancy may be ended.

You will need to check back to the end date of the original Fixed Term as the SPT runs on from the following day, from one month to the next ( assuming rent paid monthly). This day may or may not be the rent due date.Unless the LL agrees otherwise you will need to line up your notice expiry with the end of a *tenancy* period.

See G_Ms link pages for more info