I’d welcome advice please. Was letting through an agent who went awol in Dec. Long-term tenants remained in property and have been paying rent direct to me since December.
Realised I should draw up new paperwork direct between me and tenants since although previous AST would have rolled over to a periodic, it would have been defunct as between awol agent and tenants, not me and tenants.
I have drawn up new AST based on OpenRent template. My query is re dates. If signature date will be this month (July) should AST start date be now or backdated to Dec (to cover period rent has been paid direct)? My understanding is that it is bad practice to backdate a contract, is that right? But if the start date is July, then effectively Dec-now was not covered by any valid contract - does this matter?
And other posts on here suggest that starting a new AST is not in either tenants’ or landlord’s interests so is there anything different I should be doing in this situation?
(I have sorted transferring the DPS details already)
Are you saying that this is a rent to rent arrangement where your tenant is the so called agent and he is the landlord of the occupants? If so, you have to end your tenancy with the agent first. If you have a written agreement with him, it should tell you about forfeiture, unless he has deliberately struck out or altered that clause, (some charlatans do). Once that tenancy ends, the occupants would become your direct tenants. The danger if you dont do this is that he returns at some point and sues you.
If you dont think its a rent to rent arrangement, please say more about what you think it is.
From this statement, I think the OP might be confused. If they’ve appointed an agent to arrange the tenancy then it’s highly likely that they’ve signed terms which allow the agent to sign paperwork on their behalf. If so, then the AST is not between agent and tenants but between the OP as LL and the tenants.
Claire, I’m confused as to why you have the deposit paperwork and were able to transfer deposit and yet don’t have the original AST. If I understand your situation correctly, you don’t need to do anything at all as the agents have simply arranged a tenancy on your behalf.
As we don’t know what “agent went awol” actually means, it’s very hard to advise accurately given the little we know from your post.
Thank you for the reply and I’m sorry if it was unclear. I am the owner. There are two tenants. I used to let via a very small (one man band really) lettings agency which due to sudden family bereavements suddenly wound up business and breached on contractual terms. I terminated notice to the lettings agency and went through a claim process with Property Redress Scheme to recoup rent they had already collected from tenants but not passed to me.
The original AST drawn up by the agent on my behalf names the tenants, and names me as landlord but with the previous letting agency’s registered business address, not my own. The AST started 2022 so long ago converted to periodic.
Is that a little clearer?
That address would simply be an address for service. You can change that by simply writing to the tenants with your new service address.
If you’re on the AST then I don’t think you need to do a thing.
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Ok, well if you are the named landlord you are at liberty to agree a new tenancy contract with your tenants. Provided there are no changes other than landlords address, you shouldnt need to end the existing tenancy first as the new one will just replace it. You cant backdate a tenancy, so the start date should be when you all sign it.
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@David122 what would be the disadvantage to maintaining the current AST?
To my mind, not bothering to change anything saves a load of admin and potential of getting something wrong with legal implications.
And as Claire has said
Yes, keeping the existing tenancy is an option although we dont know the quality of the contract template this agent used. Claire would instead have to serve a s48/s3 notice for change of address. Id probably also go for a deed of variation or addendum to the current contract to formally record any other changes, such as the payment bank account.
Im not sure what Claire has done in relation to the deposit, but assuming that its all in line with the legislation, Id also record that change in the deed/addendum.
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Thank you so much @David122 and @tatemono this is really helpful.
So my next steps:
- review original AST
- if happy with quality then s48/s3 notice and deed/addendum to clarify changes/updates
- if any issues with original then draw up afresh, start date same as signature date
Thanks, really appreciate your thoughts
Will you know what to look out for in the existing tenancy agreement? Spotting errant clauses usually needs an experienced eye.
you could compare what you’ve got with OR’s AST and see if there are any differences to see if it’s worth your while changing.
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Thanks again both, really appreciate it