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Periodic tenancy - six months period


bdh198

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Hi

I have a tenant who was found by an agent (tenant find service only). His 12 month AST is coming to an end and under the AST he paid in six monthly installments in advance of each six month period. Now, because the agents want to charge the tenant to renew the tenancy I have agreed to let the tenant go onto a periodic tenancy. The tenancy will therefore be a six month periodic tenancy. The tenant wants to continue to pay six months rent in advance.

My query is, what is the position if either I or the tenant want to end the periodic tenancy when the period is for six months and he pays in six monthly installments? I assume as it is a statutory tenancy I will have to give 2 months notice and the tenant will only need to give 1 months notice. However, if the tenant has paid six months in advance and then after three months gives a month's notice would I need to refund the tenant the final two months? If so, what does the six month periodic term mean in practice? Is it simply the rent payment periods?

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This is about as far from being a normal tenancy that I've ever heard of......I've never seen anything as complex as this before. Why anyone would want to move away from the recognised, accepted, well tried and tested normal tenancy is beyond me.

These sorts of tenancies seem to work well UNTIL either something goes wrong or a change event such as ending a tenancy early happens.

I suspect that it raises lots of legal issues and i wouldn't dream of entering such a contract myself.

If the fixed term tenancy shows the rent is paid at 6 month intervals then the notice period is 6 monthly. Whilst this might not be an issue for the tenant.....it is likely to be an issue for the landlord should he wish to regain possession of the property. Most landlords who do this keep the fixed term contract monthly but allow the tenant to pay in advance, issuing a separate receipt for the advance payment. The landlord would be expected to refund a tenant who had paid in advance but this way normal notice periods can be applied.

Your situation appears to be different........In your situation, where rent period is 6 monthly, this determines the notice period. All parties should have been made aware of this before entering into the initial fixed term.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks Richlist, I think I know where I have got confused. Under the contract I have the rent is payable per calendar month, but the tenant chose to pay the rent in six monthly installments at the start of the rental period. Therefore if he did terminate the periodic tenancy after three months having paid for six I would have to refund him the final two months.

What confused me was when reading about the operation of a periodic tenancy I read that if the tenant paid the last period of rent up front, for example the last six months under the AST, then the periodic tenancy would be a six months periodic tenancy. I think this is probably relating to a different situation. As my AST states monthly payments on the 13th of each month then the periodic tenancy will be a standard monthly periodic tenancy and should the tenant choose to pay six months upfront it won't change the notice periods (1 month for the tenant, 2 months for landlord) and any overpaid rent at the end of the tenancy will need to be refunded.

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