Landlord transfer?

Landlord transfer?

10:29 AM, 30th June 2014, About 10 years ago 1

Text Size

I have inherited a property which has a tenant who has been in there nearly 10 years now.

I know when the tenant first moved in the contract was made by a letting agent. The same letting agent still holds the deposit but my father chose to deal with the the tenant direct removing the agency costs.

Since I have taken over the property legally (i.e. land registry etc is now all in my name, and the agency have been made aware that I am now the contact for the property, but I’m not sure if I need to redo a contract between me and the tenant. Looking at the contract it looks like its only for the one year and doesn’t indicate that it is a rolling contract, therefore at the moment I’m not convinced there is a contract at all. If the tenant had a contract with my father, would it automatically transfer to me even if its not in writing?

Do you think it is advisable to just redo the contract and start a fresh with the tenant? I don’t want to scare him off into looking for an alternative property, especially as I would like to put the price up to meet current market rates (he has paid the same for at least 5 years!)

Your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks NikkiTransfer


Share This Article


Comments

13:08 PM, 30th June 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi Nikki,
I would guess your tenant is on an assured shorthold, which would automatically have gone on to be periodic after the 1st fixed term ended.
The legal terms of an AST will still be in place, so you will need to give tenant 2 months notice and she 1 months etc...

If you wish to have security of say another fixed term then you can of course have a new tenancy drawn up.
But this is not a legal requirment, as long as the tenant has been fully informed of who the new landlord is.

With regards to the rent increase, you can do this once in every 365 days (so once a yr) i understand your reason for doing this, and the tenant cant really put up a fuss, but its worth remembering that the tenant may vacate if she isnt happy, so you maybe left with a void and added tenant find fees - just a thought.

hope that helps

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now