Tenancy agreement renewal issue

imran22

Dear members

My tenancy agreement for my house is up for renewal. The estate agent called me to find out what my intentions are? I told her I do want to stay but if I could have periodic tenancy? She said that they are unable to offer periodic tenancy but she will speak to the landlord and see if they can help in some other way.

She then informed me that the landlord agreed to let me leave anytime during the new tenancy if I give one month notice. However they are unable to add this to the contract legally but she will email me to say this in writing that I can leave anytime during renewed tenancy with one month notice. She did eventually email me.

My question is that I will be signing a 12 month contract with a breaking clause at 6 months. Can I trust the estate agent and rely on the email?

many thanks for your help

Kind Regards

ali_hire

No. There is no reason why they cannot add this to the tenancy and I'd question its legality even if it was.

imran22

ali_hire wrote: »

No. There is no reason why they cannot add this to the tenancy and I'd question its legality even if it was.

My main concern is if they have voluntarily offered to send an email without me asking then can I trust them? Maybe they do not want to edit the contract without taking legal opinion which will probably cost them?

fairy_lights

You don't have to sign the new contract. If you stay in the house it will automatically become a periodic tenancy. Do the agency want you to pay for a new 12 month contract as well? Have they given any reasons why you can't move on to a periodic tenancy?

stator

You can call their bluff and refuse to sign a new tenancy. After the old one ends you would automatically be on a periodic tenancy.
However there is always a risk they will evict you with 2 months notice.
Ask them for the landlords contact address and write a letter to him/her asking if they are happy for you to remain a periodic tenant.
Often agents try and force you into a new fixed term agreement just so they can earn fees.

bowlhead99

The reason they have voluntarily offered to send you an email is not because they are the good guys with your best interests at heart.

It's because they think that you will think their email gives you some legal rights, which it doesn't, and you will shut up about not wanting to sign a new contract which ties you in for 6-12 months, and you will sign the contract that legally binds you to something that you do not want or need, and which the landlord does not need either (if he is genuinely happy for you to leave on one month's notice). But by you and the landlord signing a new contract they will get to charge the landlord and/or you a fee for this administration service.

Presumably you already have a tenancy agreement with the landlord and it's minimum term is now up. If you and the landlord don't want that to end, and simply run on, perhaps with a different rent to account for inflation, that should be fine, and when you want to leave with some notice, you can. But that wouldn't earn them a fee for arranging for you and the landlord to sign another new contract that they already have on the shelf ready for you to sign with minimal effort on their part.

Your assumption that they don't want to properly modify that new boilerplate contract to account for the agreed terms - because that would require them to either be good at writing legalese, or pay someone to do that - is probably entirely correct. They would prefer not to pay for a lawyer to deal with it properly, they would rather use a standard contract that doesn't meet your needs, that they can charge for, and doesn't cost them anything, and then send you an email on the side which carries no legal weight but reassures you.

So, if you go along with physically signing a contract between you (person A) and the landlord (person , that is dated and carries both signatures in ink, do YOU think that document is overruled by some email from person C saying "yeah, ignore the legal words written by the lawyers and signed by you both, and take my word for it, that you won't be bound by those terms." Sounds like rubbish to me. When you give your notice in 3 months from now, and they are no longer the landlord's agent, what value is that email that the landlord will say he didn't authorise them to send?

imran22

Thank you for all the useful advice

If I cross out and initial the clause in the contract which ties me in for six months atleast and then sign the contract will that work?

harrys_dad

Don't sign a new contract, just move automatically onto a Statutory periodic Tenancy. No landlord would want to lose a good tenant for the sake of getting a 6 month contract, so ignore what the agent says. The agent is trying to generate fees and acting in their own interest.

Any contract is between you and the landlord, not the agent.

you may also consider contacting the landlord directly, at the address for serving notices on your tenancy agreement, and let them know what you are being told by the agent. if I was your landlord I would sack the agent.

imran22

I have two questions

Say my contract is expiring on 30th November. Can the landlord/agent kick me out without giving me notice as the contract is expired? They have served the section 21 notice when I signed the contract

The other question still stand can I cross the clause on the contract that ties me to stay for atleast six months and then sign

many thanks

stator

No, you can't cross out part of the contract, unless the LL has agreed to this.
If you have been served with a section 21 more than 2 months before the end the landlord can claim possession upon the end of the fixed term tenancy.

martindow

imran22 wrote: »

They have served the section 21 notice when I signed the contract

I think it is quite possible that this section 21 is not valid as it should be served after the start of the tenancy.