By Admin Tenancy Agreement 0 Comments

Can My Tenant End A Tenancy Agreement Early?

Tenancy Agreements are drafted for a particular reason, to protect both Landlords and Tenants. The terms and conditions included in this kind of agreement are important and should be complied with at all times – as much as possible.

Of course, there are times and instances when one of the signed parties may have the need to go against the agreement. For example, what if the tenant decides to vacate the property before the indicated end of the contract? For a landlord like yourself, you could be wondering about what you should do and what your rights are.End a Tenancy Agreement Early

Leaving During Tenancy

To answer the question above, the answer is yes. Your tenant can end the tenancy agreement early, but only if you agree. If there is a clear agreement between you and your tenant to terminate the contract earlier than the agreed date, then everything is legal and binding. This is what is called Surrendering Tenancy.

Your tenant can surrender their tenancy in two ways. The first one is by giving up their property occupation and by you accepting this. The tenant then hands over the keys to the property to you after you accepted that the tenancy is over and you once again have possession of the property.

The second means of surrendering tenancy is the legal way of declaring surrender. This happens when your tenant signs a written document called the Surrender of Tenancy Letter. This document proves that your tenant has voluntarily given up their possession of your property back to you.

It is important that you understand that your tenant cannot terminate the agreement unless you agree to it. If your tenant refuses to stay in the property and pushes with the termination of the agreement, you have every right to expect them to pay you for the rent that they should pay for the whole length of the contract. It is your tenant’s obligation to fulfil what is agreed on the fixed term agreement.

As a landlord, here are some of your options:

  • You can continue enforcing payments from your tenant since they are liable until such a time that the tenancy gets terminated legally
  • Your tenant can provide you with a new tenant, but you do not have to accept the new tenant if you do not deem them to be acceptable
  • You may allow the termination of the tenancy based on financial settlement – like if your tenant offers an acceptable compensation fee
  • You can also oblige your tenant to pay for the costs that would incur for finding new tenants – agency fees, advertising, and such

Or,

  • you can simply let the tenant terminate the agreement

In case your tenant informs you that they want to end their tenancy before the and date of the agreement, it is your right to demand an explanation. Then you and your tenant should discuss the possible settlements. Everything will be legally settled if you and your tenant can come to a mutual agreement that will benefit you both.

By Admin Break Clauses 0 Comments

Tenanycy Agreement Break Clauses EXplained

What are break clauses in Tenancy Agreement?

This is an agreement which if found in the tenancy agreement that gives both parties the opportunity to prematurely terminate the tenancy agreement. Example a 24-month contract can be terminated after 12 months. The breaking of this clause can be undertaken by either the tenant or the landlord provided the correct procedures are followed. break clauses in Tenancy Agreement

One thing that needs to be noted is that even if a break clause is included in the tenancy, the court is prevented from awarding possession to the landlord due to the Housing Act 1998 until six months of the tenancy has passed. The landlord may have the right to evict tenant using one of the seventeen statutory ground of possession and should serve a Section 8 Notice before. It also has to be noted that, break clause can only be enforced 6 months into the fixed term of the tenancy.

Tenancy Breaking Notice

If a landlord wants to enforce the break clause, he/she is required to serve a written notice (Section 21 Notice) to the tenant at least two months before the eviction date. The same goes for the tenants too: they should submit a written notice known as the Tenancy Surrender Notice. But the tenant enjoys some statutory right which allows them to submit a one-month notice if they want to end the tenancy after or on the fixed term.

Why use the break Clause?

Break Clause bring flexibility to both the landlord and the tenant. It provides them with the opportunity to break mutually the tenancy agreement due to personal circumstances like a change in the financial circumstances of the tenant, relocating of the tenant to another place due to work or even when the relationship between both get soar.

Is Break Clause the Best?

This is a question with an indirect answer. Some find break clause flexible others too do not. One would not want or like to use break clause because they deem it to be scary.

Let us take this scenario below:

Assuming a landlord wants to use break clause and sends his/her tenant a notice; in this case, if the tenant refuses to vacate the premises after the date, then the landlord will have no option than to proceed to court in other to get an order possession. The court will now decide if the break clause is valid or not and if they are not happy with it, then the landlord will not get possession.

What can happen that will make the court unhappy with the break clause?

Well the break clause is drafted in a way that is fair to both parties. If the court decides it was fairly or properly drafted, then the landlord will have a better chance of getting possession but if the court decides otherwise (if it was drafted to favour the landlord), then it is unlikely to be enforced.

To this point, a break clause should be fairly drafted with high degree of legal expertise.

Alternate Methods to Break Clause

Looking at the “problem” an unfairly drafted break clause can bring, some landlords choose to go by the 6-month tenancy agreement method. Here the landlord will rent out the property for a term of 6 months which is subject to renewal. This way if the landlord or the tenant wishes to end the tenancy, they can easily do it without the break clause.

Here if a problem is to arise and the tenant refuses to vacate the property after a valid possession notice (section 21) is served to him/her, the landlord is assured of possession if the case is taken to court.

Do you use break laws?
Unfairly drafted break laws is one of the main causes of dispute between tenants and landlords. It is advisable to seek a professional help in drafting one.

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By Admin Tenancy Agreement 0 Comments

How To Renew A Tenancy Agreement?

When it comes to renewing a tenancy agreement, there are some important aspects that you need to consider. If you are a tenant or landlord, it is important that you know your rights as well as what you need to do when the tenancy contract comes to an end.
In England, according to Housing Act 1988, if a landlord (or estate agency) does not renew the tenant agreement contract before its end date, then the terms and conditions previously signed off by both parties will still apply.

This means that the expired tenancy agreement will continue to be used as a reference for the roles and responsibilities for tenants and landlords. This mechanism is known as a “rolling basis contract” and it can just be used after the initial contract expires. It works as if your contract is being renewed every time you pay your rent (which can be weekly or monthly). Renew A Tenancy Agreement

There are advantages and disadvantages by following this route. The main advantage for both sides (landlord and tenant) is that they do not need to sign anything or do any new paperwork. From a landlord perspective, this “do nothing” attitude, based on Housing Act 1988, can actually save some money with state agents who may want to intermediate the deal.

The downside to it is that, if the landlords receive a leaving notice from their tenants, then the landlords will need to put the property back on the rental market and negotiate rates with different estate agents. As a consequence, the landlord may lose months or weeks of rent until finding new tenants (and of course, face new fees from estate agencies on advertising, following paperwork checks when a potential tenant appears).

From a tenant’s point of view, the advantage of “do nothing” when it comes to renewing the contract benefits them as they will be on a rolling contract instead of a signed contract for a specific period of time. This means that they can give their landlords leaving notice at any time. Normally, tenants will seek not to renew their contract as they do not want to tie up themselves into a new agreement.

So how to renew a tenancy agreement if that is what you want?

First of all, you will need to give your tenant a new agreement. If you want to increase the rent this is the best moment to do so (remember that with a rolling contract you as a landlord will have to negotiate a rent increase directly with the tenant, who has the right to disagree).

Also, if you are looking at renewing the tenancy agreement make sure that if there are terms that you want to change (such as no pets, no smoking, or no subletting, etc.), make sure they are in. You can demand that your tenants need insurance to landlords belonging and you can impose responsibilities and penalties to your tenants, such as late payments, cleanliness of the place, etc.

One thing that is important to remember is that if you are renewing a tenancy agreement, make sure you have an estate agency behind it as they will be the witness in case you have a bad tenant and need to take them to court for eviction. You should not make amendments on separate papers. You need to make sure that everything that is agreed verbally is in the agreement.
Once the new tenancy agreement is written and everyone is happy with it, then both parties involved should sign (so there is no room for argument).

You need to remember that letting agencies usually require a fee to process new agreements. It is worth paying that fee as they are specialists. Renewing the tenancy agreement for a fixed-term gives landlords and tenants the security for coming months, from a landlord perspective the security of income, and for a tenant the security of a place to live (as a landlord cannot evict a tenant until the contract lease, unless rent is not paid).

As you can see, there are more advantages for tenants and landlords when they both agree to renew the tenancy agreement.

By Admin Tenancy Agreement • Verbal Tenancy Agreement 0 Comments

Tenants Without a Written Contract- Verbal Tenancy Agreement

Most tenants fall for this because they do not have the adequate education or knowledge about this. They think they have no right which is WRONG. They do have right as a verbal contract is bonded by law. Which means a verbal agreement is a legally binding agreement just as a written one. (But most expect would not advise you to go for this option).

What is my Legal Right without a written Tenancy Agreement?

The fact that a tenant does not have a written agreement does not affect the statutory right of the tenant. Under this agreement, both the tenant and landlord is protected by the statutory law. If an agreement was reached (without a written agreement) and the landlord wants to evict the tenant, he/she is required to submit a valid Section 8 to the tenant before the tenant can be evicted and also the reasons for eviction must be on legitimate grounds. Also, after the Section 8 is served to the tenant, he/she is entitled to 14 days after the date of submission to decide on what to do. This process is just the same as evicting someone with a written agreement.Verbal Tenancy Agreement

A tenant without a written Tenancy Agreement can request for the Housing Officer at the Local Authority to inspect the property if he/she is not happy with the condition of the property and based on the outcome, request for an improvement notice to be served to the landlord in the property does not meet the set standards.

How Is a Verbal Tenancy Agreement Created?

For both parties (they) to say they have entered into a verbal Tenancy Agreement, there are some factors that should be included in the Verbal Tenancy Agreement for it to be deem valid which includes the following:

  • They must agree to be legally bonded to the agreement
  • They meet the minimum requirement in other to enter into an agreement (i.e. not drunk, insane or under the age of 18)
  • They must not be under any pressure to commit to the agreement
  • The agreement cannot go contrary to the law

Although the above are some elements of a Verbal Agreement, there are three most important factors that must also be included:

  • An Offer
  • An acceptance of offer
  • Payment known as the legal term consideration.

Why Is Verbal Tenancy Agreement Not Advised Even Though It is Protected By Law?

Even though Verbal Tenancy agreement is boned by law, it is always in your own best interest to go for a written Tenancy Agreement when creating a tenancy. Written tenancy agreement helps avoid misinterpretation between both parties. The written agreement clearly outlines the terms and responsibilities of both the landlord and tenant. This help solves any further dispute or misunderstanding that may arise later on.

Also for those who have in a Verbal Tenancy Agreement, you are advised to go for a written one if you want to renew the Tenancy.

How Do One Create Written Tenancy Agreement?

Despite its massive benefits, a written agreement is not difficult to put together. There are a lot of resources at your disposal you can use to create one yourself. There are many websites that offer a Written Tenancy Agreement Template that you can use to create one yourself. You can also consult a specialist solicitor who will help you draft one.

Reading all the above, if you are a landlord or a tenant who is yet to commit to a tenancy agreement, then it is advisable to go for a written one. Also, if you have already committed to a verbal Tenancy agreement, that is not the end as you are protected by the law but is advised to go for a written one when renewing your agreement.