In August last year, I signed a 12 month AST Tenancy that was set up through a letting agency but the Landlord has taken over things since that was set up and signed for. In February, I asked the Landlord about extending the Tenancy and also so that should he ever require me to leave the property, I would have sufficient time to find alternative accommodation. On 1st March, he inspected the property and was happy withe everything and we talked about a Tenancy extension. We verbally agreed that the Tenancy would be extended by 6 months as of August 2017 when the existing AST would expire and it would then run until February 2018, and that if he wanted to, he could give me two months notice in December 2017 to leave in February 2018. We agreed we would do this without us signing a new agreement and without going back through the Letting Agency so no fee's would be involved. Also that the rent would stay the same and I wouldn't have to pay anything else or any extra's. So this was all agreed verbally, I wrote down that day what we agreed to cover myself, I also relayed the information to my partner and a friend of mine, the Landlord stated he would send me an email confiriming everything in the near future, he never did. I chased him several times and a few weeks ago, he was acting as if the agreement was never made, he now keeps stating he can give me two months notice next month should he wish to do so, also that anytime from the end of August, he could give me a months notice to leave. Today he sent another email stating and I will quote the most important parts: " When you speak to a solicitor he will tell you that, in the case of housing, verbal agreements aren't valid. This is to protect you. Your AST expires on 23rd Aug. I can give notice on 23rd June for you to leave and so can you. As I have already stated you can stay until 23rd Feb. However, under the Housing Act , your AST automatically reverts to a periodic tenancy . This means that as you pay your rent monthly the tenancy period is monthly- a rolling contract. If you want a 6 month AST, then you can have this but you will have to pay for the AST to be drawn up and pay 6 months rent up front. If you cant pay 6months up front then I will accept a guarantor. I am more than happy to talk to your solicitor, CAB or your housing officer if necessary" So now he's stating that a verba agreement isn't legally binding, he's still acting as if this agreement wasn't made, but notice he does state that I can stay until 23rd February 2018. But now he's stating about signing a new 6 month agreement and paying 6 months upfront or having a guarantor, when the agreement was made, it was made clear that the agreement was to be extended by 6 months and there would be no charges or anything to pay other than the existing rate of rent. For some reason and I have no idea why but he is acting like the agreement wasn't made or is just trying to change the terms to get money out of me but regardless this needs to be resolved as I am a disabled person with several long term chronic health conditions and as I only know a handful of people where I am, I cannot be in a position where I only have a month's notice to leave and that was one of the main reason that I asked him round to sort out a Tenancy extension. I did speak to CAB today who say I have a case and I have an appointment to see them in a couple of weeks time, however, I wanted some opinions on this from some of you if possible in the meantime. Thank you.

Good Afternoon everyone, Having had a read of these forums I have seen how helpful you have been with offering advice to other people so decided to register and post my own situation to see if you can offer me any advice. I am currently a private tenant through a letting agent. I originally signed an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement on the 1st October 2016, which was a 12 month agreement with a 6 Month break clause. This agreement was signed by both myself and my Girlfriend at the time, so this original tenancy has not yet ended. On the 12 June 2017 (3 and a half months before the tenancy end date) I was contacted by the letting agent to re sign a new agreement which would run from 1st October 2017 for a further 12 months, with a 6 month break clause, so this is still a month away from actually commencing. The tenancy is still in the names of both myself and my girlfriend at the time (with myself listed as the lead tenant). Since signing the tenancy agreement on the 12th June 2017 I have had a change in circumstances, in that myself and my girlfriend are no longer together (this happened in the last week). As such I am now in a rather dire situation where I face having to pay a minimum of another 7 months worth of rent (£1200 per month) which on my own I simply cannot afford to do, I don't earn enough on my own to cover the cost of this and council tax/other bills etc. I was wondering if anyone would be able to advise me where I stand legally with regards to now cancelling the tenancy agreement due to start on the 1st October 2017. From what I understand this is only possible with the landlords consent and I would be liable for any costs incurred to re let the property, however as I am the current tenant, at the end of the current agreement I only needed to give 30 days notice, so would this apply? I wanted to know what (if anything) I can do to cancel the AST from the 1st October. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jamie

Hi, Can anyone explain legal term in Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement'...execusion of this agreement..' Rent in advance was paid on execusion of this agreement and then mothly afterwards. The agent twists this part. Thanks,

Hi all, I have come across a thread on this site (unable to post link to thread as a new user, appears to be thread 359520) which after reading sounds like a very similar situation to my own, so I thought I would post here for some advice on the matter. I have a shorthold tenancy agreement, with a fixed term of 6 months. This started on 28/08/15, so therefore this agreement ends 28/02/16. I have informed the landlord that myself and my friend who share the tenancy will be moving out, and will be vacating the property by 27th February at the latest. 2 days after informing them, the landlord called me and stated that 2 month's notice will be required. Obviously this concerned me, so I thoroughly read, re-read, re-read again and also got 3 other people to read through my contract. The contract does not state anywhere at all that a notice period would be required. Literally all that is stated in my contract with regards to the fixed term is the following: Term - For the term of 6 months commencing on 28/08/15 No mention of notice period, no mention of what will happen at the end of this term. Nothing. (for what its worth, we signed a new agreement following on directly from another friend who had rented this house for 4 years before we moved in. To my eye, the contract just appears to have been typed up in a rush, fitting with the notion that the landlord wanted us signed on and moved in ASAP) This prompted me to get in touch with the Citizens advice bureau, who in turn pointed me in the direction of the tenancy advice team at Shelter. It was shelter who informed me of case law authorities Flower Vs Darby (1786) and and Cobb v Stokes (1807), and explained that if we are simply leaving prior to the end of a fixed term agreement, then no notice would be required. I am going to take my contract in to my local Citizens Advice branch tomorrow, to have another person read through my contract on the off chance that I am missing something, or simply not understanding some of the property/landlord jargon in front of me. Does anyone else have a similar experience of this issue? I just want a bit more advice and backing before I meet with the landlord this coming weekend. Certainly do not want to look an idiot bringing this up with the landlord. Finally, the thread I linked to above has a comment quoting a guideline from The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued Guidance on Unfair Terms in Tenancy Agreements (OFT 356, September 2005). The Guidance states as follows: “3.78 A tenant is not required to give notice to bring the tenancy to an end at the end of the fixed term. That is because a fixed term agreement comes to an end at the end of the fixed term, and no periodic tenancy will arise if the tenant then leaves. We appreciate that landlords will want to ensure that their properties are not left empty between tenancies, but object to terms that impose a contractual obligation on the tenant to give notice in order for the tenancy to be terminated at the end of the fixed term…” Beyond the fact that the landlord has neglected to mention anything about a notice period on the contract, are all UK landlords subject to the guidelines stated by the OFT? Again, any advice here would be helpful. Thanks for reading!

Hello, I am new to the forum having joined today. I'd be so grateful for any advice please. In September 2015, I signed as a guarantor for my son's first year student rental in a shared house. I understood then (as now) that each renter and guarantor were jointly and severally liable for any debt or damage incurred. This agreement was signed by each party on the understanding that there would be six tenants in a shared house. However the sixth tenant never showed up and the letting agency have failed to find a replacement renter. This has meant bills have had to be shared by 5 instead of 6. The letting agency gave a verbal assurance that the 5 renters wouldn't have to pay for the missing tenant and indeed the 5 students have been paying a sixth of the overall rental each month. Now they have received a demand from the letting agency for the missing rent from the no-show renter, backdated from September. When our son queried why they were not chasing this person's guarantor, they said they'd made several efforts to contact the renter and his guarantor, to no avail - so now the other renters and/or their guarantors were liable. Today the letting agency has admitted the missing renter never did sign any contract with them, so he has no responsibility to pay the rent and neither do his guarantors. At no point has the letting agency advised the 5 tenants to recruit a replacement, or warned them of their liabilities for the room not being let. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I just moved into a new flat 3 days ago, but I signed the tenancy agreement 7 days ago (I couldn't move in earlier because the landlord hadn't cleaned/maintained the flat in a good living condition). Anyway, the matter is that I just got a job to go abroad for 6 months (Exactly the duration of the tenancy agreement) and I don't want to be paying rent here for an empty flat. Is there any possible way I can get out of the contract before the initial 6 months term? there is no other clause in the contract. Thank you.

Hi all I’m sorry to go ahead & just ask for advice on first visit but I have had one awful day that’s ended with the Police involved & being Friday night with nowhere open till Monday I could really do with some help? So I live in a private rented property, tenancy commenced 15th Oct 2012 and at the end of the 6 months agreement we continued month to month as per the original tenancy agreement. Rent was to be paid on 15th of each month, again as per the tenancy agreement. My rent has been on time, and no issues. However Landlady came to visit on Monday 17th Feb 2014 to give notice, however she gave me a hand written note on a scrap of paper without mine or her surname, no letter dated no reference to section 21 giving me six weeks notice. I.e. Myself to move out by 31st March 2014 (She is returning to live at said property ie where I rent off her currently). OK so I have been told this was illegal and she has to give 2 months also reference section 21 in the letter etc etc. However I believed her to have recently split with her partner & when I mentioned that I needed a legal document & not a scrap of paper she seemed perplexed! As I knew she had a definite move date in mind and I was now in conversation with local council to see if they could assist me they needed a definite section 21 notice to quit. So to mitigate time on both our behalf’s & knowing she really didn’t understand what I was talking about I said I would write up a section 21 for her and put all the legal correct info on it! And bring it to her for her to sign. (Big mistake). The section 21 that I prepared without all the flim flam stated that I would need to vacate by 15th May 2014. I had worked very hard researching the legalities and as far as I can tell with the 2 months notice required by law and ensuring the tenancy finishes on the final day ie rolling months on the 15th this was correct. After dropping a copy off with the council I received a call from the landlady stating that she wanted me out by the 31st March as she had nowhere else to go! I advised her that I was trying my best to find alternative accommodation however the council would not accept a notice to quit that wasn’t proper ie had a short illegal notice period! She called back a few minutes later saying she wasn’t happy and I advised her that I would return her signed copy and we would rip them up and she could provide me with her own official section 21 notice. We met at a local large branch coffee chain and her, and her mother and young daughter where there and whilst we disagreed on the 31st march issue and why exactly she needed to give proper legal notice to me and this wasn’t my doing or my choice it was required by law. I could tell none of this was getting through! I was then berated for trying to make a woman with 2 kids homeless. I ripped up the paperwork and left! A short time later the partner ex partner (I do not know now) of the landlady called me & made physical threats of violence towards me. I should have said earlier I am male but am in no way interested in physical confrontations with anyone let alone when all I was trying to do was expedite this whole procedure and mitigate anytime dilly dallying whilst she tries to make up her illegal section 21 notice. I placed a call to the police (On their non emergency line) to report this and was given a reference number. On arriving home The partner was outside the car telling me to get out & we’d “have a chat” I drove away and called the police and when they arrived at my property I returned to discuss what had happened, the partner had left the area. Just after the Police left my property they advised not to answer the door to either the landlady or the partner & report anything else. I am sure this was sent prior to them being contacted by the police but they have asked via txt if they can visit my property on Monday 24th February and discuss the end of my tenancy! I do not want them anywhere near me until I have found alternative accommodation do I have to let them in on Monday? Should I txt back and request that due to today’s events I would prefer all communication be via letter, and I will do the same? That Monday is inconvenient until I have had legal advice? Should I just ignore them until I get legal advice but I do not want them turning up at my door? Are my calculations indeed right? Guys any help or advice over the weekend would be greatly appreciated, I am a nervous wreck now waiting for the next episode & all I was ever trying to do was assist her with something she clearly did not grasp and get what I needed from her to give to my local council. thanks for reading.

Hey everyone, Our landlord is currently away until 4th April and we are unable to contact him at all. In the past week we have had the fuse in our hoover blow twice in the same socket, and just this morning our brand new phone charger exploded (literally) in another socket tripping the fuse box with it. I have two questions. If anyone knows much about electronics, can anyone give advice as to what this may be caused by. And secondly, if i do need to get an electrician in ( i don't want my family at risk ) how do things stand with a shorthold tenancy agreement in terms of getting one in / billing etc when I am unable to contact the landlord. Thanks guys

My assured shorthold tenancy was entered into on the 5th July 2012 and I was of the opinion that this automatically expires on the 5th July 2013and therefore there is no need to provide notice to our landlord that we would be moving out on that date. We have found a new flat and intend to move in in early july, however when I phoned the rental agency he informed me that we need to give me 2 months notice? how can this be when there is nothing in the contract stating this and we have a section 21 letter from the landlord (sent to us when the contract was originally signed) stating that they will require possession on or before the 4th July 2013!

Kids are a bloody nightmare. As above, my Son and 3 mates have had a 12 month FT AST from 8/9/2011 to 7/9/2012. This is managed by Leaders. They recieved an invitation to extend the contract from 8/9/2012 to 7/9/2013 (intention to renewal or similar) and have continued to live at the house. My Son popped into Leaders last week to ask for the current Tenancy to see if there was a leaving early clause as they all finish in May this year and didn't want to pay rent for the 3 months they wouldn't be there. They were given a copy of the original Tenancy and have never signed for 2012/13. In addition, the original has been signed on all 15 sheets by all 4 boys but the Owners have not signed the agreement. I take it, that as no Tenancy has been signed for this year, that it has become a Statutory Periodic Tenancy now, or am I mistaken? Sorry for the long post for such a small question!