Renewing rental contract without an agent

twink1108

Hi,

I am the landlord of a flat and we found our tenants through an estate agent. Up until this point they have been completely useless and both myself and the tenants have had no end of difficulties with them, so we have agreed that it would make sense to continue without the agent. The agent have agreed to let us do this. The current tenants do want to renew their contract for another year.

I'm just in need of some advice on how to do this - what sort of charges will I incur? What sort of charges will the tenant save - is there anything I would need to charge the tenant for, as I know they would be paying the agent a renewal fee anyway. Is there anything else I need to renew a tenancy myself?

Thank you

elverson

The tenancy will become a rolling one automatically if neither you or the tenants sign a new one. They don't have any obligations to the estate agent.

Guest101

twink1108 wrote: »

Hi,

I am the landlord of a flat and we found our tenants through an estate agent. Up until this point they have been completely useless and both myself and the tenants have had no end of difficulties with them, so we have agreed that it would make sense to continue without the agent. - check your contract. The agent have agreed to let us do this. The current tenants do want to renew their contract for another year. - excellent

I'm just in need of some advice on how to do this - what sort of charges will I incur? - Check your contract What sort of charges will the tenant save - irrelevant. - is there anything I would need to charge the tenant for - such as what? , as I know they would be paying the agent a renewal fee anyway. Is there anything else I need to renew a tenancy myself? see below:

Thank you

1: Paper
2: a pen

rtho782

So, you have two options.

1. Make them sign a new tenancy agreement for a new fixed period. This will cost you nothing other than the cost of a bit of paper and some ink, so no real reason to charge them. Either find a template tenancy, or if you are happy with their current agreement, copy it and edit the dates.

2. Just do nothing and go onto a rolling tenancy.

If you do 1, you gain "certainty" that they will stay at least another X months where X is the length of the tenancy. BUT, they can leave at the end of that X period with no notice to you. You could just have keys handed back on the last day which means you'll have a void.

If you do 2, you at least will get a months notice if they want to leave.

2 is better.

G_M

Read:

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

and

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

Both from:

* Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants