Adding an existing tenancy to Open rent seems over complicated to me, as I understand it, you have to advertise your property with Open rent, then pause the advert, inform your tenant ( who is of course already your tenant for many years ) to respond to your Open rent advertisement by forwarding a deposit to Open rent. Which will in due course be returned to them. I have 4 properties, and I wonder if anyone else has managed to make the procedure easier for the landlord and the tenant ?
Nope, Openrent is not designed for this process, so its not smooth.
I did it for one property. I wrote to the tenant beforehand, providing step by step process, and they were happy. I sweetened the deal by refunding in full the security deposit, as in my case, the tenant had been in for 12 years, so unlikely Iāll ever be justified to claim anything from it anyway.
Thank you for responding Karl.
@Rex you can add details of an existing tenancy to OR āoffsite tenancyā page to upload docs keep details of renewal dates for gsr etc.
If you want a new tenancy created you have to end old one properly (notice from tenant or deed of surrender or you serve notice return security deposit ) then get holding deposit create new tenancy agreement serve gsr epc how to let get 1st month rent and security deposit do a new inventory- this is exactly the same as any other agent. If you donāt do it properly you face large fines
Things like a tenantās email could well have changed as well as eg if they have pets etc and itās a new TA so worth doing properly. Even if it seems like a faff
Good luck
Well David, I donāt want to create a new tenancy, I am quite happy with my existing self managed tenancy, but I would like to use Openrent for Rent collection, and rental insurance. I am sure that my tenants will be happy to sign a new tenancy agreement with me, as the rental has been on a rolling contract for many years.
@Rex thats not how OR work. Think they only offer rent collection and RGI if you create a new tenancy using their ārent nowā service and their template with them taking holding deposit and rest of 1st months rent (which theyāll pass on to you). You are still the LL on the tenancy agreement. They will ask you to upload e p c and gsr and will serve to the tenants by email. You have to re serve all the docs for any new TA whether created by OR, yourself or anybody else.
To get OR RGI you have to have used OR referencing service as well
Maybe just get RGI as an add on to your existing landlord insurance (insurers like Alan boswell and direct line offer) and find a local agent whoāll do the rent collection for you and keep current TA.
Best
Thanks for your advice David. The fee of Ā£79 per property to OpenRent is reasonable to cover the admin. The tenant remains the same. The Landlord remains the same. The only thing that changes is a new tenancy agreement. Itās a shame that it canāt be simplified. Hopefully sometime in the future OpenRent will seize the opportunity to gain thousands more happy clients.
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Iāve only ever issued a new tenancy agreement a couple of times, but when I have I have never formally ended the old tenancy agreement in this way. I assume the new tenancy superseeds the old, and as such the old one becomes null & void.
Can you references are source that confirms this is not the case?
But how does one contract legally mean an old one is null and void? Itās not like a new will which specifically says that it replaced an older version.
I āthinkā the agreement in advance to sign a new tenancy and that old one would end would have counted as the tenant giving notice for the old one in practice.
In the past (before 1 may) everything in a tenancy agreement could still be by verbal only as well so the same likely will have applied to goving/agreeing notice
In these circumstances neither party likely to contest that old tenancy has ended so not really an issue
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I thought as you were quoting it as fact - ie you āHAVEā to end the old tenancy, this was something you were sure of, especially as you said that deed of surrender needed. This seemed well over the top to me, hence the check-in.
Iād suggest to @Rex1, that neither a deed of surrender, nor formal notice are required, and that the new contract will superseed the old one. Iāve had a quick Google and some sources seem to agree with me, but Iām not qualified enough to understand the legal text of case law etc.
That said, given that @David240 has guessed and sided with the opposite theory, you might want to await someone more experienced or qualified than both of us, who might be able to comment or quote some regulations or case law,.
ā¦ or seek legal advice to check.
I thought as you were quoting it as fact - ie you āHAVEā to end the old tenancy, this was something you were sure of, especially as you said that deed of surrender needed. This seemed well over the top to me, hence the check-in.
Iād suggest to @Rex1, that neither a deed of surrender, nor formal notice are required, and that the new contract will superseed the old one. Iāve had a quick Google and some sources seem to agree with me, but Iām not qualified enough to understand the legal text of case law etc.
That said, given that @David240 has guessed and sided with the opposite theory, you might want to await someone more experienced or qualified than both of us, who might be able to comment or quote some regulations or case law,.
ā¦ or seek legal advice to check."
my āguessā is no more a guess than your 'assumption ā that somehow a new tenancy supercedes an old one without any legal basis.
But you are right I probably should not have used the word āhave toā and thought about this and clarified that agreement in advance to end the old tenancy and start a new one likely counts as sufficient to end it (just like tenant handing over keys and leaving does)
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