Hello all,

We currently rent out our flat in the Glasgw and plan to move back into it when we return to the UK at the end of the year. Slight problem though, our agents (in their wisdom) have allowed a 12 month lease to be signed by the new tenant (moved in in June) despite all previous leases being on a 6 monthly basis. This means that we won't have anywhere to live for 6 months until the lease expires in June 2009. I have looked through the lease and there is no specific clause to allow us to break the lease, but I think their may be grounds under the Housing (Scotland) Act to allow us to claim back possession of the flat prior to the end of the tenancy agreement.

The lease is a short assured tenancy.

Anyone able to help or point me in the right direction before I get a solicitor involved?

Thanks

 id have a good look through your tenancy agreement as if it is set for 12 months they may be entitled to live there for 12 months have you spoken to the tennants. did they pay the 12 months or just pay monthly?? all these things can help either you oor the tennant if its monthly paid there should be a set notice period to give up the lease of the place which could work both ways

I'd be looking for the agents (who've ballsed it up) to pay for your accomodation for the 6 months rather than get rid of paying tennants??

 Is your flat part furnished? Im pretty sure you get more rights on a property if any of your belongings are there.

 I probably wouldnt even go down the getting rid of the tenants route that will be more hassle than its worth and by the time you have gone through court and lighter pockets the 12 months would have elapsed.  I rent out 4 properties and hd the same problem...  Either talk to the tenants with a pretty please and see if they are in any mood for negotiations or as Mike says shove a big stick up the agents backside.

What contract do you have with the agent as quite rightly they should pay your 6 months accomodation if they have screwed up..

double post

is it a standard contract? Most of the contracts i've been involved with (from the tenants side) tend to have a clause in them that the landlord or the tenants are entitled to end the lease if you provide about 2 months notice in writing.

Hi Mate,

I work for a Housing Association (although in the Maintenance Team).  I have to say that unless there is a clause in the contract that allows you to break from it early, you're stuck with the tenants.  In my eyes, you should go after the agency as the liable party here and seek compensation from them to cover the cost of renting an equivalent property until you get your own place back.

I'm also unsure of how the law stands in Scotland compared to here.

I know that we do have a clause in our Shorthold Tenancy Agreements that allows us to make immediate access to a premises if there is an emergency maintenance issue, but more mundane things, like servicing gas appliances, can take many weeks to go to court to gain entry.

I hope ya sort it out in time for your move home...

Wigster. 

I think i would be pretty slightly intoxicated if somebody informs me that I have nowhere to live in 6 months time, when ive signed a 12 month agreement. They probably have more grounds to take you to court that you have them.

I also think, landlords should treat tennants as they want to be treated themselves.  After all, we all need somewhere to live, and that was the risk of you renting your property out in the first place. Renting something out for the year, and only the year (or less than now), is alot of hassle.

SOrry to go on, but also, Wigster said above, it can take weeks to get the court to gain entry, why would you even need to do this? The landlord is breaking the agreement and the tennant is entitled to a full refundf of deposit straight away and 3 months notice i believe.

You can only end it early if the tenants have breached the agreement in someway - then you can serve them with a Section 8. As there is no break clause you are stuffed and should go after the agent for compensation to rent somewhere else for the period you did not agree to?

Swines

tony_danza:

I'd be looking for the agents (who've ballsed it up) to pay for your accomodation for the 6 months rather than get rid of paying tennants??

Probably the best plan of attack, presuming that the fact that all previous leases being 6 monthers are based on a contract/in writing saying so, or was it just a mutual understanding that was never in stone?

 My dad (a landlord himself) was telling me last night that legally you can only do 6 months and then monthly thereafter?

His latest tenants want to sign in for 2 years which he is quite happy to do but he said that after 6 months if either him or them wanted out there is nothing to stop either party doing so.

Thanks for all the replies guys

I agree that if I were in the tenants shoes I would also be thinking that I've signed for 12 months and so I'm staying for the 12 months. I do plan to go after the agents as they have also failed to pick up on a number of (albeit minor) breaches by previous tenants. There is a slight problem in that a lot of the arrangements between my wife (was my GF at the time the first resident moved in) and the agents seems to have been verbal. I'm still waiting for a full copy of the agreement with the Agent. We had previously asked that all leases be on 6 monthly terms as due to the nature of our contracts out here, we could move back at relatively short notice. We also asked the agents to forward an electronic copy of correspondence to us so that we could act upon any issues within the required notice period, but they seem to do this 'willy nilly', I'm going to ask for a copy of our file showing all correspondence.

Anyway, do you think it worth talking to the tenant to see if they're negotiable on the tenancy end date? Especially if we got the agents to find them an alternative property and offer to pay their moving costs? I'm concerned that if we contact them to try and negotiate an early end, that it may be seen as harassment.

It looks like we'll end up renting for the 6 months, but just a pain as we had plans to give the place a makeover over the xmas period. Having said that, we're also keeping an eye on a couple of flats in need of renovation in the same area

Every lease Ive signed for flats (around 5) says that they can be ended early by the 'leaser' but not the 'leasee'. I signed up for my last flat for 12months and had to leave
 after 5 months as the owner decided he wanted to give it to his son who had got into a different university than expected. Sh*t news for me, but nothing I could do. Have a proper read through your contract mate, and if it doesnt have that type of "8 week notice" clause in it, kick your letting agent's a*se. You could probably force them to put you up in one of their flats for 6months as compensation? Dont back down, get it sorted!

I used to live/rent in Scotland, its not Grant Management you're dealing with is it?

 Also, just a thought, but like with house sales which work in a totally different manner in Scotland as opposed to England, maybe leasing law is different north of the border??  

Thanks for the comments guys, I haven't had a chance to get on here lately as organising stuff ready for the move back. We've decided to rent a flat for a few months (going to live with my folks for the first couple of weeks, but don't want it to be any longer than that!)

I'm going to have a word with the agents once we move back as it's a right pain in the arse trying to get responses by email/phone due to time difference, etc.

Good news is that now the decision has been made, I can start looking for a nice set of BBS split rims for my mk2

flashbsd:

SOrry to go on, but also, Wigster said above, it can take weeks to get the court to gain entry, why would you even need to do this? The landlord is breaking the agreement and the tennant is entitled to a full refundf of deposit straight away and 3 months notice i believe.

Hi Mate,

Just thought I'd clarify the above point as social housing matters can be a complete minefield.  There are circumstances when court action is necessary to gain entry if a tenant doesn't allow access to the property when it is required.  For example:  it is a landlord's responsibility to carry-out a safety check on all gas appliances annually and access is required for this.  I regularly have a battle with some of our tenants who, despite this being free to them and of no cost either, do not want us to do it.  In these cases, we take the tenant's to court and force entry to the property with the Police, if necessary.  Sadly, this happens quite regularly.  It is completely legal for us to do this as the tenant has broken their Tenancy Agreement by not providing access to the property when given due notice:  we are in fact, breaking the law if we do not take this action.

We've now got to the point at my work, where we are fitting timed restrictors onto the gas supply:  these time 365 days from the date when they are re-set (at gas service), then cut-off the supply, forcing the tenant to call us to reinstate the supply and allowing us the access we require. It's a crazy world when people will break the law to stop you from helping them! 

Wigster.