expired tenancy agreement

[helena pozniak]

I had an assured shorthold tenancy agreement with my lodger of three years, which expired two years ago (he never signed or returned the new contract I sent but has continued to pay rent) - I now want to put the rent up. Is he on a continuing periodic tenancy? Should I get him to sign a new assured shorthold tenancy agreement at the same time?

[Preston]

Hi

Not quite sure what you mean by lodger - does the person live in your home and share some living accommodation with you, such as kitchen or living room? If so, then they wont be an AST, but rather an excluded occupier.

The shelter website has quite of lot of good information on the status and rights of excluded occupiers. In a nutshell, they have very little security and if you want them to leave all you need to do is give reasonable notice, assuming any fixed period has expired, as seems to be the case in your situation.

Similarly, once any fixed period has ended and you want to increase the rent all you need do is give reasonable notice (unless your tenancy agreement says otherwise). And no you definitely shouldnt get them to sign an AST agreement, it would only confuse things.

Hope this helps.

Preston