landlord refusing rolling contract

[whatreallymatters45]

I have rented in my current flat for 4 years. I have paid rent on time, kept the place clean and tidy and reported repairs promptly. In short I have been a good tenant. My tenancy is up for renewal at the end of June. I asked the landlord if I could go on a rolling contract as I am looking to buy. I offered all sorts of other incentives: potential tenants could view the premises with the agents freely, me giving in excess of two months notice .....still he refused. Am I being unreasonable? I'm fuming.

Conveyancing takes fucking ages. If you had an offer accepted today you might be in in three months.

I was no chain vendor was no onward chain (probate) still took FOUR MONTHS.

Our last house purchase took 5 months from offer to completion. While I totally understand where you are coming from I don’t think a six month break sounds too bad tbh.

Advice has been so helpful. My biggest problem at present is I am still fuming over how unreasonable and aggressive the agent and landlord have been. I have a young child and am a single parent. The agent liives in the same block so unfortunately I will see him periodically.

I don't know why you are fuming that he is unreasonable, although there is no need for him to be aggressive. In what way has he been aggressive?

He hasn't been unreasonable. It is his property and clearly he wants to ensure his income is coming in on a regular basis. If he allowed you to have a lease on a rolling monthly basis then it is more difficult for him as he isn't controlling the timetable. He would prefer to know, in advance, a definite date on which you will leave (either the end of this tenancy or after a further 6 or 12 months). This is not unreasonable in the slightest. A rolling month may not give him the notice he needs to put everything into action to ensure he gets the right tenant into his property without having it empty for a while.
His property, his choice.

How does anyone ever move house? Surely it's beyond hard to line up the date your tenancy ends with a move-in date for a suitable property ?

Yes I understand that he needs to know what's what financially.
I have been in the same complex with the same agent for 9 years and I expected a little more. His first email to me mentioned section 21 and he asked for a decision before I am legally obliged to give one. I have checked with Citizens Advice.A polite less aggressive refusal would have been in everyones inyerest.

YABU

This is why section 21 needs to be banned tbh. YANBU. The LL is but you can't currently stop him serving notice if you refuse to sign a new TA.

With a six month break clause you don’t stand to lose much.

I don’t think either of you are BU but as pp said you gave competing interests so a compromise is required.

How is he being unreasonable? It’s his property, he can do whatever he likes with it.

Based on the fact he’s offering a break clause YABU.

We were first time buyers buying a flat with no chain... we had our offer accepted in February, didn’t complete until July!

I don't know enough about renting to answer any of your questions there (though DC1 'S LL was happy to allow a rolling contract with an extended notice period when DC1 was looking to move), however I do know of two very recently 'no chain'hoise purchases. One, took four months from offer to completion - vendors were keen on a quick, smooth sale and did all they could go facilitate this. The other took almost eleven months. Despite wanting a 'quick'sale, the vendors and their solicitor dragged out the process by failing to respond to purchaser's questions, not allowing access for survey etc. In the end, the process only completed because the purchaser decided that they would pull out if completion didn't take place by a certain date.
I think it's impossible to predict how long a purchase will take as do much depends on the people involved - solicitors, surveyors etc as well as sellers and buyers.