Illegal eviction

[ToniNicoleBx]

Hi I am just wondering if anyone can help me please, I have been renting our current home for 12 months, and we have received a letter this morning off the agent telling us to re-new our contract for 12 months or tell them by the 23rd of June and then we have to hand over the keys! We have a 8 month old daughter and we are now worried as to what we are going to do, surely this is illegal and they have to give us more notice than 2 weeks?? If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate any advice , thank you :) xxxx

Presumably you signed a contract for a year, and the agent is just reminding you. If you want to stay where you are, all you have to do is renew the contract (and probably pay for the privilege), otherwise start looking for a new home. It's not an eviction.

hi, thankyou for ur reply, no they have stated in the letter that if we don't sign the contract that we have to tell them and hand over the keys by the 23rd June :/ , this cannot be legal can it??xxx

You'll be better off contacting Shelter. It's not legal, they have to give you 2 months notice if they want posession, you have to give them 1 month if you want to move out. I would just sign the contract if you're not intending on moving out though, it will save you a great deal of stress.

Unless, of course, that's when your contract runs out, in which case it is legal. Just sign it if you're going to stay.

What's your problem with signing the contract?

This is not an eviction, and it's perfectly legal. You have an agreement to rent the property for 12 months, and 12 months only. That time has now come, and you either sign a new contract or move out. You'll have to sign again next year, and the year after, and so on.

Please, look out your rental agreement and read it.

Check here www.landlordzone.co.uk/notice_to_quit.htm

You are now in a periodic tenancy and they have to give you the same amount of notice etc as they previously would have if they want you out.

I am no expert just a tenant myself and as I understand it they cannot force you tosign another fixed term contract, but of course if you don't then they can decide you are being awkward and just give you the required notice as per your original agreement.

more here too

I'd also add that companies charge stupid amounts of money for you to sign a printed off the computer contract which is not needed really, which is why I some people are not willing to sign another contract and wish to leave it as periodic. Agencies round here charge you £150 for the privilege, not sure what charges they lay on the landlords.

When is the 12 months up? Normally it is discussed a month or so (depending on the terms of the lease) ahead but with a finite contract you probbaly don't need as much formal notice. If it is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy you can just continue the same contract on a month by month basis with you or ll only having to give the specified notice (usually 1 or 2 months'). However if the rent or terms are being changed then you need a new agreement.

Thank you for all your replies,
sorry I forgot to mention we have had nothing but problems since moving into the property, it is full of damp etc, and the landlord has not been helpful at all when we have reported the problems, they are putting our rent up which we will not be able to afford, so we do not want to re-new the contract, we were on an agreed short hold tenancy so a month to month basis! and I have read through my agreement and it said we had to give them a months notice if we wanted to terminate the contract, however it did not mention anything about how much notice they had to give us! I really appreciate all the advice thank you xxx

I think default is 2 months' notice on ll side unless stated otherwise but do chekc with CAB or Shelter. Have you looked for an alternative? They can't force you out on 23rd, eviction proceedings take a while especially if you keep paying, but you may want to bear in mind that it won't look good for future tenancies/credit if it gets to court, so try to negotiate staying in the meantime (they won't want a void anyway).

Thank you very much I'll get in touch with CAB, I just don't want to end up with no home in 2 weeks with my 8 month old, really thank you so much xxxx

The LL has to give you 2 months written notice that he requires possession of the property, irrespective of the fact that the fixed period of your tenancy is up. Even at the expiry of the notice, the LL can't just evict you without getting a possession order from the court, so actually you are pretty safe for the time being (although you probably wouldn't want to hang around for that to happen). That's why I would never ever buy a property with a sitting tenant! There is some useful guidance Here.

It's possible that the OP was given notice as part of her original tenancy so don't rely on that. Many agents will give notice at the start of the tenancy but it can be revoked. Please do get some good advice and don't panic. It is hard to get you out but negotiation is a good start point.

You do not have to sign a new tenancy agreement. At the end if the 12 months you go onto a statutory periodic tenancy. I suggest a word with Shelter then a letter to the agency stating that you will not be signing a new agreement. This is what we do with our tenants. They sign for an initial period then go onto a statutory periodic tenancy. It works perfectly as neither side has to keep signing paperwork every 12 months.

Queen makes a very good point that a number of landlords issue the notice to quit at the start of the tenancy and accordingly OP may have already had months and months of notice. You will need to check this OP. I rent to students and always issue a notice to quit in January before the end of the academic year (ie as soon as we know whether or not the tenants will be renewing for a second year - saves any oversights in April - so they have around 6 months notice which is perfectly legal but can mean that they forget the fact that the notice to quit has been issued (not that it has ever been an issue - one of the good things about renting to students is that you are generally guaranteed that they will leave at the end of the tenancy).