Being asked to pay £19,200 rent upfront in the second year!

user1977 · 23 February 2024 at 11:46AM

Spendless said:

charliehelyes said:

To provide more clarity this is the draft rental agreement.

The Term: The Tenancy shall be for a period of 12 Months to start on and include the 28th April 2023 and to end on and include 27th April 2024, and thereafter from Rental Period to Rental Period. The Term and the periodic tenancy that arises after it shall be referred to as "the Tenancy".
("the Term")
The Rent: £1,600.00 per month, or £1,600.00 per month
The first 10 months' rent in the sum of £16,000.00 shall be payable in advance on or before the 28th April 2023. Thereafter rent will be payable in advance at a rate of £1,600.00 per month. The first monthly payment will be due on or before the 28th February 2024.
Full details can be found in the Payment Schedule attached to this document.
Should the tenancy continue or renew, rent will be due in advance from 28th April 2024 at the same recurring frequency, unless otherwise agreed with both parties.

This is the final rental agreement.

The Term: The Tenancy shall be for a period of 12 Months to start on and include the 28th April 2023 and to end on and include 27th April 2024, and thereafter from Rental Period to Rental Period. and the periodic tenancy that arises after shall be referred
to as "the Tenancy".
("the Term")
The Rent: £19,200.00 upfront for the duration of the fixed Term, or £1,600.00 per month
The total upfront rent for 12 Months in the sum of £19,200.00 shall be payable in advance on or before the 28th April 2023.
Full details can be found in the Payment Schedule attached to this document.
Should the tenancy continue or renew, rent will be due in advance from 28th April 2024 at the same recurring frequency, unless otherwise agreed with both parties.

I'm not reading this in the same light because they have an included an 'or' that I have bolded. I read the next sentence as IF you are paying the total upfront rent £19,200 is due on or before 28th April. Otherwise why include the word or?

It may be "or" as in "this is equivalent to", and not imply that they'd accept monthly payments. But certainly ambiguous.

_Penny_Dreadful · 24 February 2024 at 6:03AM

What I would do in this situation is once the fixed term ends just let the tenancy become periodic, decline any offer of a 12 month fixed term contract if it expects 12 months rent to be paid upfront, and start paying £1,600 on the 28th of each month starting 28th April. The letting agent has no power to evict you. The landlord might start the eviction process (a tenancy can only be ended by the tenant or a court but the first step for the landlord would be issuing a Section 21) but any landlord who goes to the effort of evicting tenants who are a) a known quantity, and b) pay the rent on time each month needs their head read. Presumably you haven't trashed the place, or turned it into a brothel, or upset the neighbours.

In my opinion, and I am not a lawyer, the letting agent is in danger of turning the tenancy period into a year instead of a month.

mexican_dave · 24 February 2024 at 9:20AM

Doesn't the OP say that after the end of the Fixed Term, the payments continue at the "same recurring frequency". Well the recurring frequency here was monthly, unless I miss read this the last 2 payments were monthly. To do otherwise eg yearly, is not the same frequency. So I say it's monthly. Don't understand why EA put poor or obscure clauses in contracts.

Ady87 · 24 February 2024 at 9:59AM

When I moved in to my last rented house it was the day before Boris announced the first lockdown and we all knew it was coming. I’d agreed to pay the £675 rent but asked if I paid 6 months upfront could I get the equivalent price of £625 for that period. It was a 6 month tenancy and the landlord (via EA) said yes. After the 6 months I paid £675 monthly and still do to this day 4 years on. Hoping to buy in June. I guess this is different but I’d have still expected the mechanisms to work the same following the initial period.