Letting Agent charging to move a Periodic Tenancy

emsy2

Hi


I am hoping someone with some knowledge can help me here, I am a long term reader of these boards so have picked up some information about this but not sure if I am correct!

Our fixed term tenancy agreement comes to an end on 18th March this year. We have been informed by our letting agent that the landlord has decided to sell the property and therefore will not be willing to enter into another fixed term agreement. They have stated that they are happy for us to remain in the property until it is sold, however we will be required to pay an administration fee of £60 to the letting agent.


They have also advised that if we do move to a periodic tenancy we will need to give two months notice should we then decide to leave.


Ideally we would like to move to a periodic tenancy as it gives us time to find somewhere else, it is also possible that the house will sell to a BTL investor rather than private buyer (sitting tenants being likely to put some private buyers off) and if that happened we would like to stay in the house.


It is my understanding that, as the tenancy automatically changes to periodic we should not have to pay the admin fee. I was also under the impression that we should only have to give one months notice when on a periodic tenancy (but I might have made this up!)

Sorry this post is so long, wanted to make sure I included everything!

Thanks in advance for your help!

anselld

Your understanding is correct. Do nothing, pay nothing, move onto periodic automatically. 1 rental period notice from you, 2 calendar months from LL.

Tell the LL you are happy to remain on the statutory terms but will not be paying his agent.

SerialRenter

I agree, and if they ask again, i suggest you laugh at them.

Loudly.

Herbalus

As above.

If they persist with their fee nonsense, you could ask them exactly what administration they will be doing for £60 when a rolling contract is created by you simply not moving out after the fixed term ends, but there's no need to waste your breath.

You might be interested to know that a mortgage lender will only proceed with a house purchase (unless it's a BTL) with vacant possession. So their "stay until the house is sold" could prove problematic for them. Any residential buyers would have to wait the minimum 2 months for your notice to be served.

stator

Check your tenancy agreement. Does it contain any information about what happens when the tenancy expires. It is my understanding that if your AST specifically creates a periodic tenancy automatically at the end, then a statutory period does not get created. Therefore the periodic tenancy may say two months notice.
Either way don't pay their fee, just ignore them completely.

G_M

As above.

Read:

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?)