What Was an Assured Shorthold Tenancy?

Apologies
for the length of this document, please bear with us and it should give you some
idea as to what An Assured Shorthold Tenancy is.

The
tenancy must not be granted to a company, foreign government, association or
other body that is renting a property for its’ employee.  These fall
outside of the Housing Act 1988 and Housing Act 1996.  This is contract
law.

The
granting of a property as a home for tenants has to have the following criteria
to ensure that the landlord is protected under the Housing Act 1988 Amended
1996:

The
criteria is:

1.
The tenant is an individual or group of individuals, for whom at least one, it
is their principal residence

2.
The tenancy commenced after January 15 1989

3.
The tenancy can be periodic from the beginning, but it is wise to have an agreed
fixed period.

4.
The landlord can not terminate the tenancy unless he has given two months notice
to the tenant under the Housing Act 1988 Section 21.

If
the fixed period is not renewed the tenancy becomes a statutory periodic
shorthold tenancy on the same terms and conditions as the original tenancy and
continues until the tenant gives one month’s notice or the landlord gives two
months notice to coincide with the rent end period.

The
fixed period can be renewed for any length of time beyond the fixed period
depending on subsequent renewal terms and service of a section 21 notice.

A
tenant can seek the registration of a market rent from a Rent Assessment
Committee during the first six months of the tenancy, regardless the length of
the tenancy.  The Committee will only review the rent if it is above the
market rent of similar properties in the area.

IMPORTANT
POINTS:

The
main points regarding An Assured Shorthold Tenancy is that it provides the
Landlord with the right to gain possession of his property at the end of the
fixed term.  Remember though that the tenant has the automatic right to be
in the property for a minimum 6 months.  If the agreement is for 3 months
and the tenant decides he wants to stay on for another 3 months – then so be
it!  The tenancy is still protected under the Assured Shorthold
Tenancy.  Possession will not be granted by the courts unless the tenant
has been in the property for a minimum 6 months.

Possession
is mandatory, meaning that the courts cannot grant possession to a landlord
– thus getting away from the sitting tenant scenario.

Once
a tenancy becomes periodic, you can only increase the rent by serving a section
13 notice on the tenant.  These are available from legal stationers and we
hope to have them on here shortly.

Please
also remember that should the rent be in excess of £25,000 per annum then it
can not be An Assured Shorthold Tenancy and you as a landlord are not protected
by the 1988 Housing Act.  This agreement becomes a contract between two
parties and therefore you become involved in contract law – get a solicitor!

The
landlord must always give 2 months notice to gain possession of the property –
at no time is less than 2 months allowed – EVER!  You can get into
serious trouble if you try to force the tenant out of the property with less
than 2 months notice and a serious fine can be imposed – to the value of about
1/3 of the value of the property – may be a little more including costs etc and
the judge!

If
you are renting to a company then you are not protected under the Housing Act!