Landlady selling house - agency pushing for Contractual Periodic Tenancy

GoingOn30

You are in a strong position and both the LA and the LL need you more than you need them.
They are not realistically going to remarket the property for another rental before it is sold.
You don't have to ignore the letting age t but can stall them, say you are thinking about it, say you are taking advice, then let it roll onto a statutory periodic in July and keep up your house hunting!
Even if the landlady accepts an offer it could take 4 or 5 months for the sale to go through and having you guys there paying rent in that time is to her benefit. Stand your ground.

franklee

Think though what will happen when you find your property to buy.

Best advice is not to serve notice on your rental until you have exchanged contracts on your purchase.

At exchange the competition date will be set. This is normally something like a couple of weeks after exchange. It can be more or less but obviously has to be agreed by the whole chain.

So it is very likely you will have to pay rent and mortgage while you have both properties on the go. The longer the rental notice you have to give the more rent you will have to pay at the same time as your mortgage.

The above assuming your purchase is faster than the landlady's sale which of course it may not be.

bhjm

short question. what does SPT and CPT stands for?

Pixie5740

bhjm wrote: »

short question. what does SPT and CPT stands for?

Statutory Periodic Tenancy

Contractual Periodic Tenancy

BadAtHaggling

pinkshoes wrote: »

I would just ignore the EA for now.

You are going to have to move anyway, so by signing the contract you will have LESS flexibility with the moving date.

Start looking for other properties ASAP.

Do you live in an area with plenty of different EAs and properties to let?

Hi pinkshoes, unfortunately there aren't too many properties to either buy or rent in the areas we're looking at (ideally near a train station which is important for my commute). Of those to let, many are marketed by the agency that we are with, so that could possibly be an issue if it would be convenient to move into another of their properties. They also sell property so if we were unlucky we may end up having to buy through them...

It's a real sellers' market locally and we're not having much luck with finding houses within our budget in the areas we would prefer. I've been receiving property alerts for a few years now to get a feel for what's available and new properties only crop up about once every couple of months and then they are snapped up instantly for well above asking price. We've had a few viewings cancelled due to places selling after the first view - very frustrating. I suspect we will still not have bought by the time the LL sells our place but who knows - maybe we'll get lucky?

To everyone - huge thanks for your advice, it's been very helpful. The plan for now is to stay quiet and ignore the LA - I haven't been prompted since their last email a few weeks ago so not too much pressure yet. I will keep stalling and see what happens. Will probably then try FBaby's approach of the polite letter. Thanks again.

G_M

bhjm wrote: »

short question. what does SPT and CPT stands for?

Long answer: Read the post provided earlier in this thread:


* 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?

bhjm

G_M wrote: »

Long answer: Read the post provided earlier in this thread:


* 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?

that you very much - whenever you ask for what an abbreviation stands for in life, just read expect than someone could give you a link to a long post take it easy

G_M

BadAtHaggling wrote: »

Hi G_M. What would you do in this situation?

My instinct would be to move to a SPT - the CPT benefits the LL but has no upside for me (unless it can be negotiated eg a lower rent!)



But it might also depend on other factors:


* relationship with LL
* relationship with agent
* importance to me of maintaining any relationship with them
* cost of signing CPT if any (or whether they were willing to waive the cost)
* whether I might need a reference
* whether I expect to want to serve notice/leave before the LL was likely to serve S21 and ask me to leave

BadAtHaggling

G_M wrote: »

My instinct would be to move to a SPT - the CPT benefits the LL but has no upside for me (unless it can be negotiated eg a lower rent!)



But it might also depend on other factors:


* relationship with LL
* relationship with agent
* importance to me of maintaining any relationship with them
* cost of signing CPT if any (or whether they were willing to waive the cost)
* whether I might need a reference
* whether I expect to want to serve notice/leave before the LL was likely to serve S21 and ask me to leave

Thank you, all sounds sensible.

After reading your take, the main thing still bothering me is that (as explained in my last post) we could well end up buying or renting again through the same EA. If we knew we would be rid of them forever after leaving our current property then I'd feel more confident about ignoring their request to sign a CPT. But, as you've mentioned/implied, it may end up being to our detriment if our relationship turns sour. Very difficult (impossible) to predict what will happen. I'm still going for the silent treatment for the time being though.

I asked if we could negotiate at all on the fee and they have said no. Just for everyone's reference, this is the last message I received from the EA a couple of weeks ago:

"I have now spoken to the Landlord regarding either a Statutory Periodic contract or the Contractual Periodic Tenancy. She has confirmed that she would like the contractual periodic tenancy (month by month rolling) contract following expiry of the current agreement which would then run until either party serves 2 months notice and not the Statutory periodic contract as you mentioned in your email.

With the Contractual periodic tenancy there is the renewal fee as we deal with all renewals as a specific process so that tenants and landlords have the security of knowing that the tenancy has been discussed and a continued agreement has been put in place. As a result of this we have associated staff and administration costs to cover which is why the renewal fee is applied.

It is a greatly reduced fee from the original application fees, as there is no need to organise referencing at renewal stage, but it is a fee that is clearly stipulated on the initial application form and we are upfront about the fact a charge will be applied if you wish to continue in occupation whether a fixed or rolling contract.

If you could please confirm that you are now in agreement to moving to a Contractual Periodic Tenancy that would be great and we can then arrange for the relevant paperwork to be drawn up and posted out".

Oh ta, EA, for the "greatly reduced fee"! Much obliged..[FONT=&quot].
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D_M_E

Don't think the agent has actually spoken to the LL - they are probably doing what they like and taking no notice of what the LL wants and taking advantage of an 80 year old.