Assured Shorthold Tenancy ending

[RidingMyBike]

Hi, our AST has a fixed term ending in September. I thought, if we didn't move out, it would then become a rolling/periodic tenancy with us giving a month's notice if we did want to move out.
According to Shelter this is one option and it's up to us?
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housingadvice/privateerenting/optionswhennyourfixeddtermtenancyyends
Letting agent has emailed out of the blue to say we either have to tell them we're moving out at the end of the fixed term period or we can arrange another tenancy agreement if the landlord allows us to.

Is this true or is the letting agent only telling us about the options that will make them money?!

We are waiting for building work on the house we've bought so we don't want another fixed term.

The default is to roll it on but with a month's notice on your side and two on ll, unless lease states otherwise. It is tidier for the ll, who after all pays the agent, to renew for another term.

Are you in England? If so, you are correct. The letting agent just wants to earn some fees and can be quite pushy.

The agent is (hopefully) following their clients instructions. They have put two options to you. You can write and ask if you can continue on the same tenancy bearing in mind your circumstances and that it is a legal option but they can decline or you could ask to sign a new agreement with a break clause at say 3 months so you could bring the tenancy an end early after serving the correct notice but they could decline.. Unfortunately you can't force your landlord to accept either but do make sure the landlord makes the decision and the agent isn't just following their own agenda.

Thank you, yes, in England.

Good, that was my understanding too. There's nothing in the tenancy agreement to say otherwise, I've waded through all the pages of it (there's huge amounts about not sticking anything up with blu-tack and any car parked on the property must be taxed and MOT'd)!

Yes, the letting agent has been awful throughout and plainly just there to maximise the money they make. They've done stuff like not given us notice when someone is fixed up to come round for an inspection, taken ages to get anything fixed and email before every bank holiday to tell us not to bother them with anything!

It's a fully managed property so we have no direct contact with the landlord, although I met her at the viewing last year. The landlord is a first time one - bought last year and is planning to retire to the property eventually.

We know they had problems finding tenants last year - it's expensive to rent (above the average for the area) and lots of people were interested but then failed the credit referencing. It took them several months before getting us. Since then local rental prices seem to have dropped and the utility bills on it have gone sky high so I can't imagine they'd want a void period if they can help it.

We potentially only need to stay a month or two longer. Depends how long the building work takes. A month extra is probably optimistic!

You don't give notice and you just roll over. My agent used to do this without me knowing. They then charge the tenants and the landlord. If I had good tenants ot made sense to me to just roll over. Ignore the agent. I suspect the landlord may not even know they have contacted you yet especially of you may not need a full term if you were to renew.

But even if ll served notice that is still two months' which may be enough. What is the situation with your property, is it purchased but having work done or waiting to exchange?

Yes, I thought the landlord had to give us two months' notice if they want to end the tenancy? We're about a month and a half from the end of the fixed term.

Our house purchase is completed. We're waiting for about six(?) weeks of building work to start, some of it structural and things like rewiring so moving in isn't really an option until that's done. Hopefully start date is mid-Sept. It's possible start date ends up in Oct and work takes 6-8 weeks though.

I would relook at works to make sure you could move in, partly at least, by end of your fixed term. Even if just a couple of rooms and toilet.

Thank you @LIZS it's helpful to have suggestions like this - I'm making a list of different possible scenarios so we can prepare.

I think if we did have to move in early we could, with most of the stuff into storage and just a v basic set up. I'm mostly WFH but could book a desk on site if I need to.

Can the landlord just demand we leave at the end of the fixed term without giving us notice?

@RidingMyBike

i won't wade in with 'advice' as it would just be 'opinion'.

but I'm sorry you're having this hassle when you expected it to just roll over. It's all you need on top of the building project!! 🤦🏻‍♀️

ill keep my fingers crossed that it can just roll over 🤞🏼(Which seems logical to me!)

LOL thank you @WinterMusings. It'll probably be fine and it's just the letting agent trying to get more money.

Admittedly it's not great for the stress levels!

Even if the LL gives notice, you don't legally have to move. They would still have to go to court to evict you as LL cannot end the tenancy. Only a tenant or a court can.

Just sit tight, pay your rent and give your notice when it suits you. You are in a good position as you aren't relying on a reference from the landlord.

Check Shelter or Money Saving Expert for further advice.

Ignore the letting agent. It’s in their interest to get you to agree to another fixed term as they can then charge the landlord a fee for arranging this. You have the right to go onto a rolling (periodic) tenancy at the end of the fixed term. Just be aware that when you give your 1 month notice, it needs to align with your tenancy dates. For example if your original tenancy started on the 10th of March and runs out on 9th September, you would need to give notice by (for example) 9th October and your 1 month notice would run from the 10th October to 9th November.

Agree with the above, it's already too late for the landlord/agent to give notice for your tenancy to end at the end of the fixed period. The notice would have to expire the day before the monthly rent payment after that.
If you can string things out until your next rent due date, then it would immediately jump on another month, so you'd have 2 months on top of the fixed period which should be plenty.
Prepare to argue though, often there's plenty of misinformation from lettings agents. One time they tried to take our whole deposit because we left giving 1 month notice instead of 2 as per the tendency agreement, and they only backed down when we said to put it in writing from their solicitor.