My Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) contract rolled over in July, and has a clause that explicitly states the contract will become a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) rather than a Contractual one. My notice period clause in the AST is 2 months, even at the end of the fixed term, but also indicates the two month notice is also for any periodic tenancy following the fixed term.
Here are the relevant clauses in the contract:
1.6 Term
1.6.1 The Term shall be from and including 05/06/2024 to and including 30/06/2025. Please see paragraph 2.6 as it contains important information about what you must do to end the tenancy.
1.6.2 The âTermâ is to include a statutory periodic tenancy or any contractual periodic tenancy that is defined in paragraph 1.6.1 as following the fixed term.
1.6.3 If on the coming to the end of the fixed term agreed above, the Landlord does not seek possession and the Tenant remains in the Property, they will be considered, by virtue of section 5 of the Housing Act 1988, to have a statutory periodic tenancy. This will continue till ended by either party.
2.5 Ending the Tenancy
2.5.1 If the Tenant intends to vacate at the end of the fixed term, or at any later date, he agrees to give the Landlord at least two months prior Notice in writing.
2.5.2 While the tenancy is periodic the two monthâs written Notice must expire the day before a Rent Due Date.
2.5.3 The Landlord may bring the tenancy to an end at, or at any time after, the expiry of the fixed term by giving to the Tenant at least two monthsâ written notice stating that the Landlord requires possession of the Property. A notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 will suffice to implement this sub-clause.
But itâs very poorly worded with conflicting and meaningless clauses. For example, 1.6.2 tries to cover both Statutory and Contractual periodic tenancies, but neither are defined in 1.6.1.
Iâve read online, like on Shelter which says SPT notice periods are 1 month for monthly rental periods. This is also found in other places, but it always seems to indicate an SPT is specifically when there isnât a clause about what happens after the fixed term.
Questions:
Given the information above and what 2.5.1 claims, what is my notice period? 1 month or 2 months?
Are there any cases I can cite if this ends in an argument with the LL?
Are there any good resources a non-legally literate person can read/understand that provide evidence to support this situation?
As an aside, Iâve tried to ask the LLMs, and they disagree. ChatGPT thinks the 2 month clause is still valid after the AST ends, Claude and Gemini think my statutory rights are priority and itâs 1 month. I posted this on Law StackExchange, but it was closed as it was asking about specific legal advice which is not permitted.
So, assuming by reading between the lines that youâre a tenant wanting to give notice to leave your current home and you want to be able to only give one month, how vitally important is it to you that you only have to give one month notice over two?
The RRA is has become law but has not yet been extended to existing tenancies. When it does, all tenancies will automatically become periodic assured tenancies and tenants will be required to give two monthsâ notice unless the landlord agrees to a shorter period. So, that will have a bearing depending on when you intend to give notice although if itâs in the next month or so, you should be fine if your contract allows you to give only one month.
Other points
you donât actually give us Clause 2.6 but that seems relevant (or did you mean 2.5?)
the term is unusual because it seems to not cover a multiple of the rental period
assuming you pay rent on the 5th of the month and that is your rental period, even giving one monthâs notice now you would still be liable for the tenancy until the 4th of January. If itâs two months, itâs the 4th of Feb.
I agree that the contract is badly worded, but the time to ask questions about that was before the 5th of June 2024 rather than now.
I forgot to say, paragraph 2.6 doesnât exist. The relevant section about ending the tenancy is 2.5. I suspect my landlord edited a standard contract they found and didnât check to see where headings were referenced.
I realise I should have asked earlier, but I didnât. And since then the landlord has been particularly awful to deal with - they suggested a 10% increase in rent citing inflation. We offered to go up to 6%, and they countered with a 15% increase. I asked for some clarification on terms, and they havenât responded in 2 months. Just to give some insight into our current relationship.
If itâs important, we also canât find our deposit with any of the 3 schemes, let alone the one cited in the contract.
I am looking at moving out in the next 2-3 months, so the RRB is unlikely to affect me.
Our rent is paid on the 1st of each month. So handing in notice today would mean paying rent until January 31st for 2 months, and December 31st for 1 month notice period. Letâs just say my circumstances are likely to change quickly, and itâs not ideal to have to pay 2 months double rent if I donât have to.
I suspect you need to speak to a solicitor if you wish to have advice you can rely on, as any advice you receive here, will be individual opinion, rather than legal advice.
My understanding is that for a SPT, the Statutory rules win, over conflicting terms in the contract, but for a CPT, the contractual terms are relevant.
The question here, given the conflicting wording is whether you are in a SPT or a CPT.
Personally, if were you, Iâd serve your months notice as per statue for an SPT. The risk here is if the Landlord refuses to accept this notice, and fights you over it, and its found your notice was invalid, you will still be tied into the contract in months to come, as you hadnât ended it correctly.
If they donât fight you, but the Landlord refuses to refund your deposit, then appeal via whoever holds it, and if nobody holds it, tell the Landlord you will report them for breaching deposit rules if they donât refund it.
At the moment I am happy with just getting some opinions. I realise legal advice is probably needed if I want to be safe - it is cheaper than a monthâs rent so might be worth it. I am also trying to get in contact with citizens advice, but itâs more difficult than I thought.
I think a mixture of the two might be a good starting point. Maybe even start with the deposit certificate request. If they fail to provide it, 1 month notice.
What Iâve read seems to indicate improperly served notice doesnât trap me anyway entirely. Here, if the 1 month notice is incorrect, my 2 month notice period (2.5.1) still starts. So I would be liable for 1 extra month of rent which would be taken from my deposit. If itâs correctly protected in a scheme.
Do you have the prescribed information for the deposit? If not, youâve got the landlord with a slam dunk penalty for not fulfilling his deposit obligations and it will cost you not a penny. (I can give you a no win no fee lawyerâs contact details for this)
That should give you enough leverage to allow you to give one monthâs notice without any issues from him.
We have the prescribed information, but to my knowledge thatâs just where the deposit is meant to be, name, amount, and how the resolution system works, etc⌠Not proof the deposit is actually where they say it is. Sadly, MyDeposits doesnât automatically contact the tenant like the scheme did with my last tenancy. But MyDeposits hasnât been able to find mine with the information provided. GDPR prevents them from telling me if itâs potentially just very poorly spelled or mislabeled with another name entirely.
I donât have the how to rent guide, EHIC, or gas safety for either year. Weâre waiting to ask for these for after we move out as suggested by Citizens Advice. Then itâs the councilâs problem to resolve if the LL fails to provide the documents.
why does the council need to be involved and why would you need those docs once youâve left?
The prescribed information is autogenerated by the scheme based on the info provided by the LL and the money deposited. If no money is deposited, the PI canât be issued.
The advice was to only initiate these requests after youâve left otherwise the landlord can make your life difficult by providing a bad reference. To be fair, weâre circumventing that by not including her as a reference and explained the situation with evidence to prospective LLs. I might ask for them with the deposit certificate. The council enforces the legal obligations for the landlord regarding electrical and fire safety. Given the LL has rentals in at least 6 postcodes, this neglect might be a serious issue for many people.
The landlord is unreasonable every time I ask for information, so I only engage when absolutely necessary. For example, I was told I needed to chase the previous tenants and other tenants in the building when I cleared years of neglect from the garden and asked the LL to pay for a one-off green waste removal, offering to compost and deal with everything else moving forward. Similar scenarios have played out with minor repairs in the flat. Why bother asking for information if this is how Iâve been dealt with ta every stage?
I am assuming itâs insured, given the contract says we are not eligible to receive the interest on the deposit. There is a section in the AST with the heading âTenancy Deposit Protection Prescribed Informationâ. It ticks the boxes for what is expected on the guidance on Shelter. I thought signing the AST covers the signature requirement mentioned. Is this not the Prescribed Information?
Youre right. The contract is conflicted. It looks like heâs drafted it himself. A landlord cant really elect to have an SPT. The whole point is that it arises by statute not by contract. It would probably take a judge to decide for certain, but despite what 1.6.3 says, my money would be on a contractual periodic tenancy. This is in part because 1.6.2 says the term WILL include a periodic tenancy and also because the notice period is stated as 2 months, rather than the 1 month if it were an SPT.
Sounds like LL isnât responsible for garden maintenance and contract says up to you / tenants. Your example suggests you may have been behaving in a misguided and irresponsible way.
if you have chosen to deal with years of past neglect in garden and improve its condition thatâs your choice. If as a consequence there is a further removal cost that was your choice too. Unless you agreed in advance the LL would pay for it. LL rented to you in a neglected state and doesnât live there so may well have been content for you just to stop it getting any worse.
(Would you incur a potential expense for a friend, family member, partner, work colleague or anyone else without discussing and agreeing it was their responsibility first? So why behave that way with the garden waste removal cost?)
As for minor repairs in the flat, if these are wear n tear the LL is responsible but up to them how often or when to eg replace carpets or redecorate. . But small items like changing a lighbulb are covered by âbehaving in a tenant like mannerâ and legally would be your responsibility. Again depends what is in contract. And on communicating with them reasonably not just expecting them to pay. Not all LLs are either rich or unreasonable but we do have to be asked upfront including where ÂŁ is involved. This is their income. They have expenses. They are people. Itâs all about communication. Behave to them how you would like to be behaved to.
I totally understand the perspective. I think itâs hard to get across all the details of what was said and where we thought we stood with the LL. Overall, based on the positive conversations we had with the LL about improvements, we still think what we asked for was reasonable and suggested we would improve the garden during our time here. There is a debate to be had about neglect in gardens/properties and whose responsibility it is to remedy it when new tenants move in, but this isnât why I posted.
And I also would agree that in most cases LLs are reasonable - this is the first time in my adult life Iâve had a breakdown of this relationship. And if it wasnât for her owning the whole building and the insane turnover in it, I would probably say this was just how we interacted. But anyway, I was trying to convey where we stood and why Iâve struggled with communication with the LL. I posted to try and get opinions of what the terms are for my existing situation, and I would still like to hear these opinions.
Thanks for taking time to reply appreciate hard to get nuances of who said what here without going into insane detail. And glad your other experiences of LLs have been better.
Get proper legal advice if it matters to you, not opinions of folk here or online reading.
Before you claim âI donât have the how to rent guide, EHIC, or gas safety for either year.â check - do make sure these havenât been emailed to you or made available for you to download from a platform (this is what OR does) - you donât have to have received physical copies. If however these havenât been provided that may help your negotiating position as these are legal requirements for ASTs (failing to provide an Epc can be a fine of up to ÂŁ5000). If the tenancy was renewed the guide doesnât need to be supplied again (unless itâs been updated). The lack of gas safety is serious and if you ask and they fail to provide you can ask hse to investigate
