unconventional tenancy agreement

McCloud94

Hey guys,

so me and my mate are going to move shortly and we are about to sign the tenancy agreement.
As you can see, it's a Short Assured Tenancy as we were agreed with the landlord to rent for only 4 months (instead of the normal 6 months tenancy agreement).

But as I can see, the rent period is stated as 6 months.. and there are several things in the agreement that I am a little suspicious about.

https://www.mediafire.com/?065x8uadvki5dxe

There is one section, which might deal with this issue.

a) By the Tenants giving the Landlord two months’ notice in writing to terminate the tenancy at its termination date, **or earlier if agreed in writing with the Landlord.

I have no experience at all renting houses (especially not in the UK) and I certainly don't want to get into any inconveniences in the future. Would some of you more knowledgeable guys be able to quickly run through the document ?
I am not sure if this is the best way to do it, but I got rid of all the personal information, so it should be fine.

I have not spoken to the agent yet, but I wanted to check first, so in case there is something wrong I can discuss that with her.

There's also this advice from the Tenants guide to renting here on forum:

2. Keep your website log-on details for the deposit protection scheme to yourself, don’t be persuaded into giving them to your LL/LA for any reason.

I thought the deposit goes to the agents/landlords account as well and they deal with it. What kind of website is this regarding to ?

Thank you very much for help!

Yorkie1

Just to clarify - are you in Scotland?

theartfullodger

OK:

That looks like a pretty-standard old "Scottish Association of Landlords" SaT but without their copyright .... so this is Scotland...

You want 4 months: Fair enuf.

However if a landlord in Scotland grants a tenancy of less than 6 months (note yours is 6 months one day..) then even though he serves AT5 prior, even though the paperwork says SaT it won't be an SaT it will be an AT (Assured Tenancy) and you will be much harder to evict (basically if you keep paying the rent you can stay forever..). So the wise landlord only grants SaTs of at least 6 months... which commits him to 6 months tenancy & you to paying for 6 months, even if you leave early..

Your question is, can you trust landlord to let you go early after only 4 months: We can't answer that...

The deposit details & keeping them secret. The deposit is put in one of 3 government approved schemes. Landlord has an account, so do you have an account. If you give landlord/agent your account details he can instruct scheme to let him have your deposit. Make sense?? See...
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/paying_for_a_home/deposits/tenancy_deposit_schemes#Tenancy%20deposits%20schemes

McCloud94

Excellent, thank you!
That explains it all pretty much.