Landlord trying to charge renewal fee?

Plantlover66

You've been a massive help, thanks @bradders1983

hannah021

you have nothing to worry about. I'm renting too, when it came to renewing my contract, i refused to sign and said i will continue on a periodic basis, or i'll leave you to it, he agreed. Thats all before covid, so you are in much stronger position cuz they'll wait a long time to evict you, and you are a good paying tenant they wouldnt want to lose your income in these difficult days. Just put your foot down and say no, nothing will happen, no more paper work, sign nothing

greatcrested

* As others have said, don't sign

* going back to the LL to say you'll not sign is polite, but beware as it may open a dialogue and you may find yourself having to explain the law to the LL and/or justify your position. Do NOT get dragged into discussions. You can always simply not respond

* your periodic tenancy is unlikely to be "30 days rolling". Do you pay monthly? If so, it is a (calender) monthly periodic tenancy. If/when you serve notice it must include a full tenancy period

* any notice served on you by the landlord must be via a valid S21 Notice, expiring after 6 months (Coronavirus Act 2020 )

Full explanations here:

Post 4: 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?

dimbo61

The words " Empty headed numpty " comes to mind.
If you do nothing you automatically go onto a periodic tenancy.
You need to give one month's notice ( not 30 days) to line up with your tenancy start date !
So if you moved in on the 15th of the month and pay rent of the 15th of each month then When your ready serve your notice to leave.
Not only is it currently 6+ month's notice from the landlords but the courts are overwhelmed and bailiffs have been instructed not to entry people's homes during Covid19 restrictions.

saajan_12

Plantlover66 said:

Me and my partner have been renting the same house for the last 4 years, on a 12 month tenancy agreement that we have renewed every year. This year we are renewing again, however we have asked to only renew for 6 months this time, as we are looking to buy our own house in the near future. The landlords are happy to agree to this. e. 

If you're looking for more flexibility, just move onto a periodic tenancy after your current fixed term expires. Check whether there are any terms about notice etc after the end of your fixed term in your last contract (then you'll have a CPT) and if not you'll have a SPT with 1 tenancy period notice. In terms of being able to leave, this will be the most flexible for you unless you happen to want to leave at exactly the 6 month mark. 

Plantlover66 said:

They have sent us the new contract to sign, and are requesting a £50 fee for the renewal. Knowing that the Tenant Fees Act is now in place, we have challenged the £50 charge. However they have come back to us stating that the £50 fee is covered as it relates to a "novation" fee. I've tried to look online at what constitutes a novation of tenancy, and as far as I can tell this is for making changes to the contract such as changing a tenant, or adding a clause in for a pet. We do have a pet, however this has been agreed since we first started the tenancy agreement 4 years ago.

My question is, does changing the length of the contract constitute a novation? Is my landlord right to charge me £50 just because the new contract length is shorter?
 

If they were changing the length of the CURRENT contract that could be a chargeable variation. If they were novating the current contract (in other contexts I've always thought that meant changing names) that could be a chargeable variation. However in your case this is a NEW contract, so this is not an allowed fee. Refuse to pay. 

You could pay and then report etc, but to me that's more hassle given the long notice periods currently. If you refuse to pay, either 
a) they'll given in and you sign a new fixed term
b) you go onto a periodic tenancy
c) they serve 6 months S21 notice, jumping through all the hoops that entails, wait through the court backlog, get a possession order.. likely 12 months + or longer if they get something wrong. 

newsgroupmonkey_

In fairness, if the OP had realised it is now 6 months notice, they'd have not bothered asking for a new tenancy agreement if they knew they were going to be out before 6 months was up.

However, please bear in mind it regularly takes 4 months to complete on a house and right now, there's a high chance it could take more!

Wanderingpomm

The motive period is so long now there is no need to sign a new contract if you are thinking of moving. The LL had to give 3 months so you’d be better just to go on a rolling and have some flexibility