Updating post from Reddit.
We have rented out our family home in Wales whilst we moved abroad for a year. We have used a letting agent who have been pretty poor at communicating about processes and fees ect.. no responses at times and giving conflicting information to us. The house was rented on 30th May 2025 to a couple.
We recently the informed letting agent that we would like to return to the family home next year on 30th May 2026, ready for our son to re-start school and just come home. The letting agent informed us that the tenants had signed a 12 month contract and so with housing act in Wales we could not given them 6 months notice untill 30th May 2026 and so earliest we could move back in would be 20th November 2026.
I have checked the housing act and this seems to be the case, as below. I know we have been a little naïve and ignorant of the processes as first time landlords and not trusting our instincts with this letting agent. But is there any way we can move back in at the end of the 12 month contract? anu thoughts or advice would be appreciated, thank you
if you have a fixed term contract (which says how long the contract is for) your landlord cannot normally issue a notice to end your contract. If you do not leave, the fixed term contract will usually become what is called a periodic standard contract at the end of the fixed term, and your landlord will have to serve a 6-month no fault notice to bring this to an end.
You could offer the tenant cash for keys to get them to leave earlier - depends how desperate you are to move back in
Yeah, cash for keys is really the only realistic workaround if they won’t leave voluntarily. Just make sure it’s all in writing and done properly so they can’t accept the offer and then change their mind at the last minute. It’s not ideal, but if you need the house back before Nov 2026, that’s pretty much your only card to play, and if they say no, there isn't anything you can do.
Needs to be stressed far and wide that renting your house while you’re abroad for a short period is completely unrealistic as the length of time taken to regain possession is both hugely long and unpredictable.
You’ve basically got it right under the new rules in Wales, fixed term contracts are binding until they expire. You can’t serve notice to end it early just because you want to move back in. The agent was correct: you’ll need to wait until the fixed term ends on 30th May 2026. If the tenants stay after that, the contract becomes periodic, and then you can issue a 6-month no-fault notice under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
So earliest you’d be able to move back in is 30th Nov 2026 unless: The tenants agree to leave earlier (voluntarily). You negotiate a surrender of the tenancy, or there’s a breach of contract (e.g., rent arrears), but that’s a whole different legal route.
Annoying situation, but it’s how the law works now in Wales. If your agent didn’t make that clear from the start, they’ve screwed you royally.
So in Wales a 12 month contract is really an 18 month contract? Could you do 6 months to make it 12 then?
Just interested really.
That's bonkers really
Yes, and OP should have done exactly that. Fixed for 6 months then moved to a periodic. Hindsight is a wonderful thing however so OP is unfortunately where they are. Fixed term then required noticed once the fixed term expires.
The whole situation in Wales has now caused the worst housing shortage in its history in both the private let and the social let sectors. Nothing short of an idiotic move by the Welsh gov. (But its OK, Westminster is on the cusp of making whole swathes of tenants ineligible for housing with their Renters Rights Bill…….so the idiocy continues)
Not read the context and don't want to. This is my absolute worst nightmare this, paying rent for a couple that are just after a stop gap and all of an sudden "want their house back".
Thankfully I own now but my my, this was always my first question when looking at renting... Are they a couple after a few quid or is it a business and they have no interest in living in the property. Horrific.
Many in this Subreddit may not like this as landlords but as renters, 10000% it's your fucking worst nightmare.
If it’s important to have the house back by a particular date then you need to negotiate with your tenants.
Ask them their intentions, ask whether they would consider an early surrender, offer to pay their moving costs, return deposit in full and perhaps a years worth of any increase in rent they may have to pay.
Being sure to get it back will cost you, it really depends how much you are prepared to pay and how readily the tenants are to accept a deal.
Explore this carefully, as in England there would be different options so the end of the fixed term period and notification period would run concurrently. There are also different options for sale or reoccupation. Wales will be different, but some of these options may exist in some form.
True for England, but in Wales, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 changed things completely from Dec 2022. You can’t give notice to end a fixed-term contract early, and once it ends, the 6-month no-fault notice doesn’t run concurrently it has to start after the fixed term ends, unless the tenant leaves willingly. There is no accelerated process for moving back in either, even for reoccupation.
Do the renters also have to give 6 months notice?
Nope, renters only need to give 4 weeks' notice if they’re on a periodic standard contract in Wales. Completely different to landlords, who have to give 6 months’ notice in most no fault cases. Bit one sided, but that’s how the rules are under the welsh renting homes act.
It seems to be designed to push long term letting and market stability, which is good for everyone to be fair.
Sorry for all my questions but does is the renter locked in for the 12 month contract atleast?
Of course.
Its resulted in the worst housing shortage in the private let sector in Wales’ history, a shortage that continues at pace.
Its bonkers……but great for the b&b sector which is where all the now homeless, due to the chronic housing shortage, are being dumped. To ensure this genius plan works, (and rapidly brought in as an amendment as b&b use by councils has gone thru the roof) the Welsh gov have now excluded b&bs from the Renters Act and any occupation contract, simply to enable them to be used long term. (Previously they became ‘occupation contracts’ after 12 months.)
The most vulnerable in Wales now have the least protections. If anyone thought a LL with the power to issue a Section 21 was the devil incarnate, wait till you meet unregulated b&b owners who are now providing widespread temporary accommodation lasting years.
https://www.galago.co.uk/news/news/wales-faces-record-high-homelessness-amid-housing-shortage
The article directly blames a lack of homes to rent, not longer notice periods.
Bingo. Apart from its not just longer notice periods and the demand that landlords fund even more rental arrears, its the other ridiculous demands also.
See OP for todays example. Not only will they probably never rent their property out again, if theyd realised the consequences of doing so, they probably wouldnt have rented it out in the first place.
https://propertysoup.co.uk/welsh-rental-market-faces-crisis-as-landlords-exit-in-droves/