Statutory v Contractual Periodic Tenancy: what to issue?

Statutory v Contractual Periodic Tenancy: what to issue?

10:21 AM, 16th December 2020, About 3 years ago 44

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Despite having been a landlord for over 20 years, I only became aware yesterday of the existence of contractual periodic tenancies, as opposed to statutory periodic tenancies! I am now rather worried about this; when one of our fixed-term tenancies has come to an end I have – in good faith – been telling our tenants that their tenancy has now become a statutory periodic tenancy, and issued them with an updated Deposit Protection Certificate.

However, having read up on the difference between the two types of periodic tenancy, I am wondering if I should also have been sending them the most recent ‘How to Rent’ guide, and perhaps all the other paperwork associated with the start of a tenancy (EPC, Gas Safety Cert, etc), exactly as though it was a brand-new tenancy? Can anyone clarify this for me?

And if I assume I definitely should have re-issued the ‘How to Rent’ guide, could I retrieve the situation by sending the new version to all our tenants now? (We have one tenant where we may wish to issue a Section 21 notice in the next month or so, hence my worry about this!)

Many thanks

Annabel


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Comments

Annabel Blake

17:40 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David at 18/12/2020 - 17:19Thanks to everyone who has contributed. I have now been given an answer which I am content to go along with - my local letting agent contacted his compliance officer at their national headquarters, who confirmed (a) that, unless asked specifically to include contractual in the original fixed-term AST, their ASTs revert to statutory periodic; and (b) they do exactly what I do at the expiry of a fixed term, in that they write to the tenants to inform them of the change of status, and reissue the deposit protection certificate to show the change in status. They do not re-issue the 'How to Rent' booklet at this point, and made an interesting point, which was: strictly, every month on a statutory periodic is a 'new' tenancy agreement, rolling on month-by-month, so logic would say you should issue a new 'How to Rent' at the start of every month! This clearly would be totally unreasonable, and cannot have been the intention.

Steve Masters

17:44 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Annabel Blake at 18/12/2020 - 17:40
Haha, there is a difference between logic and law!

Annabel Blake

17:45 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Steve Masters at 18/12/2020 - 17:44
Oh no, don't deflate me, I was so happy to think I could put this problem to bed!!!

Steve Masters

18:02 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

If How to Rent changes AND fixed term rolls into Statutory Periodic, re-issue new How to Rent once.

Draw up future AST's to become Contractual Periodic.

Simples!

Annabel Blake

18:04 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Steve Masters at 18/12/2020 - 18:02
Thanks, I will do that in future - a good old 'belt and braces' approach. (Being a landlord these days is an absolute minefield, I think.)

Steve Masters

18:11 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Annabel Blake at 18/12/2020 - 18:04Tell me about it!
After a three "soak test" for the emergency lighting that plunged the whole HMO into darkness on one of the shortest darkest days of the year (I must move this to the summer months) I am still dealing with an ongoing row over who can have a Christmas Buble where in an HMO.
Don't get me started!
Oh the joys of being a landlord!

Annabel Blake

18:37 PM, 18th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Steve Masters at 18/12/2020 - 18:11
Indeed!! And have a Happy Christmas (keep the mobile phone switched off for one day)

Puzzler

8:13 AM, 19th December 2020, About 3 years ago

I am a bit confused by some of the points on here
A periodic tenancy does not usually incur a fee, these are usually for renewals of a fixed term so neither would benefit the agent. The council tax liability of the landlord is protected by a contractual agreement (I never heard this but accept that it is true) yet Prakash says that his tenant won because it was contractual which is contradictory.

Annabel Blake

8:35 AM, 19th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Puzzler at 19/12/2020 - 08:13
I think the point was that if a letting agent uses an AST which defaults to statutory, this allows them to issue another fixed-term at the end of the initial one rather than let it rollover into periodic - and I presume they are allowed to pick up some sort of (small) fee for doing this. However, if contractual periodic is specified in the initial AST then this is no longer an option.
And on the council tax front: as I read it, contractual leaves the responsibility on the tenant in a way statutory does not, so contractual would BENEFIT the landlord (and this is the route I shall take in future). Have a look at the NRLA website - perhaps I misread it, but that was my take on the difference between contractual and statutory.

David

9:19 AM, 19th December 2020, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Annabel Blake at 18/12/2020 - 17:40
Your agent is wrong Annfield. Periodic tenancies don't work like that. You must re-serve H2R at the start of an SPT and check the deposit insurance if its and insured scheme. Many landlords choose to re-serve H2R immediately before a s21 instead as there is no penalty for late service.

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