Rental landlord negotiating to lease terms

pramsbottom

hi there this is my first time post in this forum:

here's the story hope someone can help

Started renting property back in july 2004, on a one year shorthold agreement LA acted as introductory service so agreement is completely with Landlord, in 2005 we renewed for one year, in 2006 LL renewed for six months as she los her job and was unsure what would happen, at the time we explained that my wife was pregnant due Sept 06 and really we needed security and in january could she look at a longer term, january came we asked again for a longer term and were given six months again in early june we wrote a letter to LA and LL and also emailed here asking for a 3 year lease, this was six weeks before renewal due we tried phoning LL no answer, phoned LA they tried to contact no answer, today we recieve a call from the LA stating that she is out of the country and would only agree to 1 year, nothing in writing yet and this is 5 days before tenancy expires, now the point is i want more security for my family, i was declared Bankrupt in 2006, and due to depression have changed jobs and although the council are helping with rent i am starting to hate living here, getting another property to rent will be difficult due to Bankruptcy and low income, where do i stand the only thing i can think of is refuse to sign a 1 year agreement andget LL to evict but i dont know,
any help would be appriciatted

Peter

silvercar

why would you want to be evicted? refusing to sign the renewal is more likely to lead to eviction. Any new landlord is unlikely to give you a tenancy longer than a year intiially so you will gain nothing.

Apart from anything else, lenders don't like rental agreements that last longer than a year, so your LL may have their hands tied.

pcwilkins

pramsbottom wrote: »

now the point is i want more security for my family, i was declared Bankrupt in 2006, and due to depression have changed jobs and although the council are helping with rent i am starting to hate living here, getting another property to rent will be difficult due to Bankruptcy and low income, where do i stand the only thing i can think of is refuse to sign a 1 year agreement andget LL to evict but i dont know,
any help would be appriciatted

Peter

First off you will find it very hard to get a tenancy agreement for more than a year.

Secondly, if finding another property to rent will be difficult you had better not get evicted from where you are! You don't explain why you are starting to hate living where you are, but I would suggest that a home which you hate is way better than not having a home at all.

Thirdly, even if you do want to move, you would be stupid to force the landlord to evict you. Most LLs will ask for a ref from your previous LL and she is hardly likely to give you a good report if you've caused her grief. Thus you will make it even harder to find somewhere else to live.

Unless your current place is really intolerable I would stick it out. Sign for another year. Security for your family is all very well but let's face it, none of us are really that secure. Witness the floods up north last week.

I think you are going a bit OTT on the security bit anyway. You would not be much for secure with a 3 year lease as LL could still evict you if she wanted to sell. And if she doesn't want to sell then signing a 12 month followed by another 12 month is not a problem.

Peter

clutton_2

every mortgage offer i have ever seen stipulates an AST should not be more than 12 months - how is the lender to regain possession if it is longer ? A 3 year agreement is actually not an AST but a license and has to be arranged via a solicitor.

Notlob

A 3 year agreement is actually not an AST but a license and has to be arranged via a solicitor.

??????????????

I think you will find there is no maximum term to an AST.

If AST is over 3 years, it must a deed

If over 7 years, Landlord's repairing obligations (LTA 1985) no longer apply.

TheDink

An AST can be up to 3 years in duration. Any lease for a longer term than this is not a lease under the Housing Act 1988, and does have to be a deed.

All the advice I've seen for landlords is to stick to 6 month terms for ASTs, so getting agreement for a year seems pretty good for you. I think, but am not sure that if your landlord does not renew the tenancy before it expires, you will effectively lapse into a statutory periodic tenancy anyway.

clutton_2

i used the wrong word when i said license - i did indeed mean deed !! thanks !

jaype

A three year agreement won't help your security at all - if the LL needs to move you out they'll be within their rights to just give you two months' notice at any point. Sorry

silvercar

jaype wrote: »

A three year agreement won't help your security at all - if the LL needs to move you out they'll be within their rights to just give you two months' notice at any point. Sorry

Not if you have a fixed term contract. Unless there are break points in it, a three year contract gives you the right to live there for 3 years. If you are on a periodic tenancy then you can be given 2 months notice to leave.