Updating post from Reddit.
A few months back the letting agency asked if we'd like to renew, we said yes, they said there'd be an increase of £xx, again we said ok.
We were expecting a new contract to sign, but we were informed that it was not necessary as its now rolling.
This seems odd to me as our previous fixed term contract has expired and thus no longer be valid.i do know that consent in the email chain would be considered as a valid contract.
As far as i understand it the notice period is one month for the tenant and two months for the agency/landlord.
I now have a nagging worry that the termination will be requested sooner rather than later. I'm concerned as obe of our teenagers is just completing A levels and the other is about to start GCSE's and go on to A levels.
Anyway, I'd appruciate your thoughts on the above. I know that landlord/tenant laws are changing and that it maybe an obvious thing that has happened as no explanation was given and the agency hasn't responded to any emails since we agreed an increase.
Also i would have thought that a contact, even a new/changed rolling contract does need to be signed by both parties.
Thanks in advance for any thoughs on this.
A statutory fixed term tenancy falls over to a periodic tenancy by operation of law. No further contract needs to be signed. The law simply implies one.
In the vast majority of cases, a tenancy doesn't need to even be written down, never mind signed, to be legally formed.
I can presume you are not in Scotland or Northern Ireland from your kids schooling but are you in England or Wales? The law is different in each country.
In England there's not any legal requirement for a tenancy to be in writing.
In Wales a landlord must give you a written occupation (tenancy) agreement.
A similar thing has just happened to us, and while there is no need for a new contract to be signed to move onto a rolling tenancy, it gave me similar anxieties on notice being served. When I queried the estate agency/landlord they said it’s basically anticipating the renters rights bill becoming law where all tenancies will be like that. Weird that yours haven’t been responsive - if you haven’t already paid the rent, you might want to send them an email specifically asking for a response before your next payment?
It might be worth looking around you to just to see what the landscape is, a lot of houses in my area are selling (mostly landlords shifting properties ahead of the bill passing and older people downsizing), and I do worry that my landlord might be bracing to sell as it is gives them the option to have us out within 2 months rather than wait out a tenancy term. I have put a Zoopla alert on my address just in case!