Assured short tenancy agreement

[breathe21]

my tennant took out a 6 month tenancy agreement in jan 2010 since july 2010 she has been on a month by month, i have no problem with this and she's happy. i have done a remortgage on the property and the solicitor now requires a copy of the AST, could I be in trouble for letting it carry on month by month?

[muff13]

It must depend what was written into the tenancy agreement when it was taken out. When we let a house on a AST it was written into the agreement that it was for 6 months but after that it was on going with the tenant needing to give one months notice, while the landlord had to give two months notice to end the tenancy. I think that that is the standard tenancy agreement but you had better check the actual wording of yours.

[KUSTARD]

Muff is correct on all counts. The only requirement to provide another lease is if the amount of rent changes

[breathe21]

thanks i'll check it out i can remember the letting agency asking me if month by month was ok and i said yes, rent has stayed the same.

[breathe21]

im just looking at a copy of it now, it just says initial term of tenancy 6 months
commencement date 2.1.10 expiry date 1.7.10
from 2.1.10 to end of tenancy - payment of £XXX per month.

[muff13]

In that case it looks as if you will have to start again but take what you have to the solicitor and see what they say.

[bushbaby_de]

In landlord and tenant law, if an Assured Shorthold Tenancy initial period expires without either party giving notice, it automatically becomes a statutory periodic tenancy running for the same period as before - so in your case it is now a month to month tenancy. This may be fine for the mortgage company or they may prefer you to always have a fixed term in place. However periodic can appeal more to tenants if they don't want to commit to another 6 months or a year.

You have done nothing wrong, it may just not be in accordance with your mortgage company's preferred practice.

This leaflet is quite useful for explaining the difference http://www.communitie...ousing/pdf/138289.pdf

[Twenty20]

bushbaby's answer is correct. There's nothing wrong with a periodic tenancy (which your tenant's has become by default). Many tenants and LLs are happy to continue for years on a periodic tenancy. It makes it a lot easier for you to evict the tenant if you ever wanted to (2 months notice required by you) or for the tenant to leave (1 months notice required by them). If you want to increase the rent in the future you should use a Section 13 form to advise the tenant of the rent increase - you can easily find these online to download for free. You don't need a new AST to increase the rent in the future.