Tenancy Agreement and Renewal

ViolaLass

Incidentally, OP, was your deposit protected in time and did you get the full info about where? Not saying that would help you now but if the LA has slipped up there, it may be useful ammo for you at some point.

Miss_Samantha

At some point you might want to remind them that harassment is a criminal offence, and that harassment to make you leave is another criminal offence.

Pixie5740

The letting agency should, by law, be signed up with one of the three government approved redress schemes. If you want to make a complaint you first need to use the letting agency's own complaints procedure before using the redress scheme, if they don't have one then go straight to the redress scheme.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/private_renting/problems_with_renting/letting_agent_redress_schemes

That's if you want to make a complaint about the letting agent's bullying behaviour.

ViolaLass

Pixie5740 wrote: »

That's if you want to make a complaint about the letting agent's bullying behaviour.

Genuine question - would there be a reason not to complain?

Pixie5740

ViolaLass wrote: »

Genuine question - would there be a reason not to complain?

The OP said she suffers from anxiety so it could be a hassle she doesn't need.

I have no idea what affect using the redress scheme would have on the landlord/tenant relationship since the letting agent works for the landlord. I suppose it largely depends on how much the landlord listens to the letting agent.

Mojisola

ViolaLass wrote: »

Regarding the locks, you only need to change the barrel, not the whole lock. It's not a complicated thing to buy or do.

Amy - look on Youtube to see how to do it.

amyloofoo

Okay, so after discussing it with my husband I sent this:

Good afternoon **Letting Manager**,

As you are aware, periodic tenancies are not something you can choose to not offer, they are statutory and a legal requirement once a fixed term tenancy has come to an end. This is reiterated in your own tenant’s handbook (which this letter advised me to peruse), in our tenancy agreement and in guidance from The Property Ombudsman and ARLA. We have been further advised regarding this by the CAB and Shelter. On this basis, we are continuing our tenancy as previously discussed and therefore the property will obviously not be vacant on 15th April 2016. We will therefore not be permitting any viewings at this time as this infringes our right to a quiet enjoyment of the property. Any attempt to gain unlawful entry will be reported to the police and will be considered to be harassment.

We would like you to be aware that we consider this ongoing correspondence to be a form of harassment, particularly given that you are aware that we are a family with two young children and that Amy has disabilities which include anxiety. We have kept, and will continue to keep, copies of all correspondence as well as logs of the calls and voicemails received. We have previously informed the agency that we would prefer all correspondence to be in writing, whether email or postal, and would like to reiterate this to you. We refer you to The Property Ombudsman’s guidance for agents dealing with vulnerable consumers: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/documents/guidance/tpoe33-1-guidance-for-agents-dealing-with-vulnerable-consumers.pdf

Sadly this situation appears to have become unnecessarily unpleasant, particularly given that we have been model tenants for the past 2 years – paying all fees and rent on time and in full as well as taking good care of the property. We are only trying to exert our legal right to avoid a further inconvenient fixed term and will of course continue to pay the rent and give proper notice as required by the tenancy agreement. We are very disappointed that this situation has escalated as we feel it could have been avoided had the procedures detailed in the Tenant’s Handbook been followed from the start:

“END OF TENANCY:
When your contract comes to an end, you have three options. You can either:
Extend your contract for a further 6 or 12 months, should the Landlord agree.
Move your contract to a periodic tenancy, should the Landlord agree
We will contact you before the end of your tenancy to discuss any extension contracts.
Ending your tenancy by giving the required notice before the end of any given rent period.
Should you wish to end your tenancy, it is your responsibility to give your notice 1 month before the end of your contract in writing. This must be given according to the date your tenancy began.”

We would also like to request **Letting Agent's** formal complaints procedure.

With regards,
**Our names**


I then received a text informing me there will be a viewing on the 14th March, followed by this email:



Dear **Our names**


I have been leaving messages all week to discuss this matter and no-one has called me back, that would have stopped the issue escalating this far. I wasn’t aware that you preferred written correspondence.

As we had issued you a section 21 notice at the beginning of your tenancy, this is in effect your notice to leave the property when your tenancy comes to an end.

Please refer to your assured tenancy agreement 6.3 regarding allowing access for viewings to take place.

Please see my comments in red

“END OF TENANCY:
When your contract comes to an end, you have three options. You can either:
Extend your contract for a further 6 or 12 months, should the Landlord agree. We offered this to you although we now offer 7 month leases and not 6 months
Move your contract to a periodic tenancy, should the Landlord agree Your landlord doesn’t agree to this and was put on a back foot when she received your text
We will contact you before the end of your tenancy to discuss any extension contracts. I have emailed you and tried on several occasions to talk to you.
Ending your tenancy by giving the required notice before the end of any given rent period. Required notice is your section 21 issued at the start of your tenancy
Should you wish to end your tenancy, it is your responsibility to give your notice 1 month before the end of your contract in writing. This must be given according to the date your tenancy began.”

I am sorry this has come to this but we work for our client and it is in their best interest that we do not issue periodic tenancies any longer.

Kind Regards,
**Letting Manager**


So, obviously we are changing the locks, thank you for that advice! Do we also need to approach the council regarding the harassment? Given that they are now saying a section 21 has already been served, are they entitled to do viewings?



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G_M

You are just making things worse.

Each time you respond, you will generate another response from the agent

STOP stop
STOP stop
STOP stop
STOP stop
STOP stop
responding!

1) To change the lock barrel, get a screwdriver and see this here. Takes 5 minutes.

2) have you been served a S21 Notice? Posted Royal Mail to the property? If not, then there is no valid notice served unless you accept notice served by email. Anothr reason why you MUST STOP REPLYING!

3) I see they refer to "your section 21 issued at the start of your tenancy ".
This is important so aswer clearly:

a) was this really served? How?
b) exactly what date?
c) exactly what date did the tenancy start?
d) exactly what date did you pay a deposit?
e) exactly what date was the deposit registered in an official scheme?
g) have you received the 'Prescribed Information' relating to the deposit (see Prescribed Information here for examples)

answer all questions fully.

Pixie5740

A Section 21 does not in itself end the tenancy and the letting agent knows it, or at least she should know it. Not that you've actually be served one yet. Your tenancy agreement talks about viewings in the final months of your tenancy but you are not in the final months of your tenancy so the letting agent can FOXTROT OSCAR.

Harassment is a criminal matter and should be reported to the police, not the council.

Miss_Samantha

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Your tenancy agreement talks about viewings in the final months of your tenancy but you are not in the final months of your tenancy.

She will be in 5 days, though.