UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

I believe I come with a quite unusual problem: my landlord did not sign a contract which got provided to me 6 months ago. (fixed term contract) I did neither, as we agreed she will fill up all her personal details first, so I've been waiting since. Now, the end of my tenancy comes due, my landlord spoke to me just once since my tenancy started and I don't really know whether I should follow the contract or not?

And the reason, why I'm asking, is the fact, the mentioned contract covers termination process, which is also not quite clear to me:

Quote9   Termination
It is hereby agreed between the Landlord and the Tenant that this Agreement may be determined at the end of the said term or at the end of any subsequent month by either party giving not less than two month's notice in writing to the other party.  For the avoidance of doubt, the tenant may give such notice to the Landlord. 

It sounds to me like I need to provide 2 months notice even when leaving at the end of my fixed term tenancy. Am I right?

That Termination clause is absolutely useless like many of its kind.

Is this the only tenancy you have had at this place with this landlord, or is this particular contract a renewal of some sort?

If you've not had a tenancy before, then we can ask, do you have a tenancy? The obvious answer to that is yes, since you moved in and paid rent I assume on a monthly basis. Then the question is, do you have a fixed term tenancy of whatever length, or a periodic tenancy? The landlord provided a paper tenancy agreement. It wasn't actually signed by either of you because it's missing some personal details. But there is a tenancy, it is thus clearly arguable that the both of you intended to be bound by the terms as set out. Given that, I would suggest that you have a six month fixed term tenancy as you intended. If that is correct, then you can leave by the last day of that 6 months fixed term tenancy without giving any notice. If I'm wrong and you actually have a periodic tenancy, or you had a fixed term and you stayed beyond the fixed term, then you would need to give a valid notice to quit to end the tenancy. A notice to quit must be in writing, giving a notice period of at least 4 weeks and at least one period of tenancy (one month if rent is payable monthly) whichever is longer, and with an expressed end date on the last day or the first day of the following period of tenancy. The tenancy then ends on the last day of the period.

If you had a previous tenancy, it's arguable that since neither of you signed the new agreement, your previous tenancy continued. If your previous tenancy was fixed term that has ended, then you'll be on a statutory periodic tenancy, and the notice period is notice to quit as above.

Thank you KTC for your reply.

In the end, I decided to follow the agreement and I've provided 2 months notice to my landlord. Although she did not even reply to it, she surely got it since she's posted a property online now.