Refusing to pay renewal fee

singhini

I no nothing about tenancy agreements but I would check with citizens advice that if you do nothing then does the tenancy auto roll into a periodic tenancy.


many many years ago (about 25) my dad used to rent properties out via an estate agent and they were dodgy (they would say one thing to us and the opposite to the tenants i.e. "the landlord only likes 6 month contracts" while telling us that "the tenants are only looking for a 6 month contract). we later discovered they would move tenants from one house to another every 6 months and charge both the tenants and the landlords finders fees which were 50% of the first months rent.

Mark64uk

aneary wrote: »

Is a s21 valid if it's due to not renewing on a fixed term contract?

Do you have somewhere to go if you are evicted?

Were the perfect tenants rent always paid in full on time every time never had and complaints made against us we have had someone out twice due to snagging issues as the house was a new build at the time of moving in thats it.

I have the funds available to move out and as i can see it dragging out over a few months ill have steps in place to make sure we have somewhere to go.

Comms69

DoaM wrote: »

What about OP's statement that they already received an S21 notice?

Well they said they don't care if they get evicted so...

pinkshoes

The LLs details should be on the deeds...

Just WRITE to the letting agent and say that you are happy renting the house, but do not wish to pay their unnecessary fees, so you are therefore happy to go onto a rolling contract after your fixed term ends, and you are sure the LL will also be happy with this as you are a reliable tenant who wishes to remain long term in the property.

Keep paying rent and do nothing for now.

This sounds like a revenge eviction for refusing to pay their unnecessary fees!

Mark64uk

On every email i always say i'm willing to renew but not paying the fee, ill just keep paying the rent hopefully it will get escalated internally and common sense will be applied at some point.

aneary

The letting agent doesn't care.

They get you out they get new fees from the new tenant and probably finders fees.

The LL loses out as there will be a void period, unless the LL is alerted to this you will be evicted.

Mark64uk

I agree with you they don't care but at some point there going to have to inform their client the landlord that they are starting court proceedings against there rent paying tenant for failing to pay inflated fees.

I was thinking of sending one final email tomorrow regarding the issue basically saying i'm willing to pay £25 to cover one hour of a persons time to copy my name into the PDF template and email it to me if that's not acceptable ill await the eviction date from the courts.

Pixie5740

The letting agent can’t go to court to get the possession order it would need to be the landlord or the landlord’s solicitor. I’d put money on there being no court proceedings if you just keep living in the property and paying the new, higher rent.

I wouldn’t even bother contacting the letting agent and offering £25.

G_M

1) Stop makig offers and emailing. The agent has made their position perfectly clear and as others have said is just interested in their fee. They will not change their mind

2) The landlord cannot 'not offer' a periodic - it happens by law automatically - see link

3) the S21 may or may not be valid. The timescale sounds right (2 calender months) but worth checking all the other factors. See my link for full details. If it's invalid, don't tell them. Just wait and contest it at court

4) the agent cannot apply to court. The LL has to (or a legal representative ie solicitor). The LL is unlikely to want to evict a tenant who is otherwise sound - it's just the agent that wants this for their fee and /or new tenant-find fees.

5) if you move to a periodic (ie by staying on the 21st[?] November), continue paying the same rent. The rent can then only be changed by service of a S13 Notice.

6) no harm contacting the LL. If the address provided for serving notice on the LL is c/o the agent then

a) pay £3 to Land Registry here to check name/address of property owner, or
b) write to the agent quoting the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 section 1

See:

* 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?

* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

00ec25

Mark64uk wrote: »

I know they just want there fee i was emailed this yesterday

I am sorry to hear that you will not be renewing. The Landlord will now require me to serve notice on the property and this will confirm your vacate date. If you would like to vacate sooner, we just require one months' written notice from yourselves.

I assume the one month notice is due to being on a periodic after the 21st so they want me to abide by the rules of one month notice but wont recognise a periodic tenancy so i replied this to see if they would admit i'm on one

I also noticed i am able to vacate before the end of the s21 expiry why would i have to give one month notice when the tenancy ends in nov? It cant be that the tenancy has rolled over to periodic as you dont offer these even though its the law if a fixed term continues so why the notice? but your tenancy does not end in Nov if you remain resident

Yeah i've told them i'm not going to be moving out on the 5th of December when the s21 expires and ill continue to pay the increased rent up until the eviction date i think ill just leave it that.

if you remain in residence after the end of the current fixed term, but have not signed the renewal, then yes, you have automatically "rolled over" on to a Statutory Periodic Tenancy.

As a SPT, the tenant must always give notice in order to end their tenancy. That notice must be for 1 rental period and the expiry date must align with the end date of the rental period. Therefore it will, in practice, often be for more than "1 month" - see G_M's guide on tenancies for examples of what that means
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=67759913&postcount=4

as for your options:
1. your fixed term expires on Nov 21st - you could move out that day without having to give notice as that is the natural end of your tenancy and you do not wish to renew it, so it ends!

2, if you remain in occupation after Nov 21st an SPT commences. You cannot issue notice before the SPT comes into force, therefore, assuming your rental periods run from 22nd to 21st of each month, the earliest you could give notice would be Nov 22nd to expire on Dec 21st (1 rental period of the newly created SPT). Thereafter any notice you give must end on the 22nd and be served on or before the 21st of the previous month

3. whether the S21 you have already received with an expiry date of Dec 5th is valid I leave to others to comment on. Presumably as you already have it then it has given you at least 2 months notice given today is Oct 3rd, but i am unsure if a S21 served before the start of an SPT is valid