Hi all
I've searched through the previous posts here before asking my question, but am hoping to get a little more clarity & help on my specific situation.
We've been on a 12 month AST, which is coming to an end in about 6 weeks. Rent is paid monthly. Agent recently sent us a letter asking if we intended to enter into a renewal, otherwise they would be marketing the property for re-let immediately. No Section 21 has been served, I think they hope to simply intimidate us into believing that if we don't renew, they'll find other tenants and we must vacate at the end of our tenancy.
We understand a little more about tenancy agreements though, and as we're looking to buy and don't know how long it will be before we find something, we don't want to tie ourselves into another 12 month renewal with fixed 6 month tenancy. We notified the Agent that we're happy to continue on a Periodic Tenancy. The agent emailed us to say they would be recommending to the Landlord to sign a renewal for 12 months with 2 months notice for both parties, as it was not in the Landlords best interest to receive 1 month notice from us and only have 4 weeks to re-market the property when we vacate (who knows when, it could be months or years!). Subsequently the Agent has emailed again to say that after recommending this to the Landlord, the Landlord has also decided that they are not happy for us to move onto a Periodic Tenancy as it is not acceptable to their mortgage provider.
Personally sounds like a made-up story, to try have us believe we MUST sign a renewal. Original tenancy agreement does state that at renewal the Agent will charge renewal fees (something like £140), and our rent will automatically increase by 5% on renewal. Clearly we don't want this, which is why we're happy all round on a Periodic Tenancy.
The trouble is we don't particularly want to move out just yet, and I get the feeling this Agent will tell the Landlord that they should serve notice on us to vacate if we don't wish to sign a renewal. The Landlord is a new and very inexperienced Landlord, and we have had to point out numerous things to them over the period of the tenancy that they as Landlords are obliged to do. All in all though, we have been good tenants, always paid on time, kept the property in immaculate condition, not made a fuss, and things have settled into a good relationship between us, Agent and Landlord. Agent, however, appears to be trying to pull the renewal in order to get fees (naturally) and LL is not clued up to how things actually work, so believes Agent.
We really don't want to sign a renewal, so want to understand our position at the moment (we won't vacate at the end of the current tenancy in 6 weeks, so I understand it automatically becomes a Statutory Periodic Tenancy regardless). How do we signal to the Agent and the Landlord that the mortgage provider issue is not actually an issue at all? Any advice on how to proceed with Agent and Landlord, without annoying either, as we don't want to be served Section 21 just because the Agent is pissed they're not getting their renewal fee.
Agent has also asked us to 'renew' with a 12 month tenancy where both parties can give 2 months notice at any time. Personally we don't see any advantage for us to do this.
Thanks in advance.
I've searched through the previous posts here before asking my question, but am hoping to get a little more clarity & help on my specific situation.
We've been on a 12 month AST, which is coming to an end in about 6 weeks. Rent is paid monthly. Agent recently sent us a letter asking if we intended to enter into a renewal, otherwise they would be marketing the property for re-let immediately. No Section 21 has been served, I think they hope to simply intimidate us into believing that if we don't renew, they'll find other tenants and we must vacate at the end of our tenancy.
We understand a little more about tenancy agreements though, and as we're looking to buy and don't know how long it will be before we find something, we don't want to tie ourselves into another 12 month renewal with fixed 6 month tenancy. We notified the Agent that we're happy to continue on a Periodic Tenancy. The agent emailed us to say they would be recommending to the Landlord to sign a renewal for 12 months with 2 months notice for both parties, as it was not in the Landlords best interest to receive 1 month notice from us and only have 4 weeks to re-market the property when we vacate (who knows when, it could be months or years!). Subsequently the Agent has emailed again to say that after recommending this to the Landlord, the Landlord has also decided that they are not happy for us to move onto a Periodic Tenancy as it is not acceptable to their mortgage provider.
Personally sounds like a made-up story, to try have us believe we MUST sign a renewal. Original tenancy agreement does state that at renewal the Agent will charge renewal fees (something like £140), and our rent will automatically increase by 5% on renewal. Clearly we don't want this, which is why we're happy all round on a Periodic Tenancy.
The trouble is we don't particularly want to move out just yet, and I get the feeling this Agent will tell the Landlord that they should serve notice on us to vacate if we don't wish to sign a renewal. The Landlord is a new and very inexperienced Landlord, and we have had to point out numerous things to them over the period of the tenancy that they as Landlords are obliged to do. All in all though, we have been good tenants, always paid on time, kept the property in immaculate condition, not made a fuss, and things have settled into a good relationship between us, Agent and Landlord. Agent, however, appears to be trying to pull the renewal in order to get fees (naturally) and LL is not clued up to how things actually work, so believes Agent.
We really don't want to sign a renewal, so want to understand our position at the moment (we won't vacate at the end of the current tenancy in 6 weeks, so I understand it automatically becomes a Statutory Periodic Tenancy regardless). How do we signal to the Agent and the Landlord that the mortgage provider issue is not actually an issue at all? Any advice on how to proceed with Agent and Landlord, without annoying either, as we don't want to be served Section 21 just because the Agent is pissed they're not getting their renewal fee.
Agent has also asked us to 'renew' with a 12 month tenancy where both parties can give 2 months notice at any time. Personally we don't see any advantage for us to do this.
Thanks in advance.