Question

Tenancy Agreements (England)

Fixed Term AST Renewal

28 Feb 2017 | 2 comments

Hello Adrian,

I remember reading one of your articles about how there is no need to actively renew an AST contract where a clause allows (as in your own contract format) for contractual period tenancy on the same terms. However, it was not clear to me why somebody “would” wish to specifically re-sign another [example: 12 month] AST ? Your comment on this will be most appreciated? I’m assuming perhaps something as simple as periodic certainty for tenant or landlord (or both) may be a reasonable driving factor? Are there any other key reasons under normal circumstances? Ours is a private, professional tenancy and running smoothly.

Peter

Answer

2 Comments

  1. guildy

    In our view there’s no major advantage to renewing.

    Regardless of the terms of the tenancy, all assured shortholds will go periodic at the end of the fixed term assuming the tenant continues to reside.

    The only small advantage is that a renewal ties in the tenant for another fixed period. However, the reality is that if the tenant wants to leave 3 months into a 12 month renewal, they will. Yet, the landlord is stuck and would have to wait until the end of the renewal before being able to ask them to leave.

    Agents will commonly do a renewal but that’s only so they can charge a fee. It doesn’t necessarily protect the landlord (other than the tenant being committed for another period but see above).

  2. suenpete

    Thank you, Guildy. I’ve decided to give the decision to our tenant (after explaining no legal imperative), should they wish their own comfort of certainty. When you have excellent tenants this is one way of showing transparency and flexibility within the legal framework.

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