Rental Agreement Coming to an end. Options?

David1984_2

I currently rent a house which was a 12 month rental agreement through a lettings agency although it is owned by a separate landlord. The lettings agency just 'manage' the property (apparently)
The 12 month contract is coming to an end and the lettings agency have been in touch trying to force another 12 month contract onto me with an option to 'get out' after 6 months. This deal is no good for me as I am in the process of buying my first property. It is looking likely that this will not complete until after the initial 12 month rental agreement comes to an end so I have made the lettings agent aware of this. I have suggested a rolling month by month contract with 30 days notice but they have refused saying that is not possible. Is that true? I suspect they are trying to get me to sign so they receive an admin fee and extra rent etc. What are my options here? Ideally I would like to stay an extra month. Could I just continue paying rent then give them 30 days notice when its looking likely completion on my house purchase is near? They cant kick me out of the house without 2 months notice according to my contract and if I continue paying rent I presume they cant do anything?
Contacting the landlord directly is not an option as I do not have their direct details.

LateStarter

No they can't kick you out (legally) without the 2 months notice, and you go on a rolling periodic (1 month) contract automatically. They can't change the law.

You cannot be forced to sign a new agreement. In fact, if you do, they'll charge you (and the landlord) "processing" fees in the £100+ region.

David1984_2

Do you have a link for this 'law' ? It would interesting to see what it says so if they do ask I can direct them to this.

RAS

Well firstly, have you yet been sent an S21 notice? Assuming England and Wales?

And you do realise that you if you do not sign, you automatically go to a periodic tenancy. Check what your tenancy agreement says about this.

They are correct however that you cannot just give 30 day's notice.

The end of the notice period has to tally with the end of a rental period so the notice could be 28-61 days depending on the time of year and whether you gave notice at the beginning or end of the rental period.

Pixie5740

Assuming you are in England and Wales see: What happens when a fixed term ends?

RAS

Read this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67759913&postcount=4

RAS

Snap.........................

David1984_2

No I have not seen anything that says S21. I don't know what one of those is... Yes I am in England & Wales.

The tenancy agreement does not say anything about after the tenancy agreement. No mention of periodic tenancy.

Are you saying that if I give notice the day after I pay rent (for arguments sake say I pay rent on 1st month) on the 2nd of the month then I will have to wait until the end of the following month to move out. Affectively just paying 2 months rent? Have I understood that correctly?

Pixie5740

Yes, you can't pro-rata your rent unless your LL agrees to it. You need to give full rental periods of notice.

Edit: It's not necessarily the date you pay your rent that's important but they date your tenancy actually started. It's not always the same.

RAS

read the links above; but more of less correct. Assuming that your rental period and the dats you pay rent tally.

What was the start date of the tenancy?

David1984_2

The start of the tenancy was 8th of the month. The rent is paid on the 8th of the month.

So if I give 30 days notice on 8th of the month I should be alright until the following 7th of the month?