Fixed Term Lease

J_Dublin15

Hi Guys,

In August of last year I signed a fixed term lease with a developer for 12 months for an apartment and the person who signed it on my behalf was a representive of the developer with the developer, being the landlord.

Since then, the lettings side of the developer has been contracted out to another company, an sales and lettings agency which is run by the former employee of the developer who is still my contact, but clearly no longer the landlord, but I am sitll paying the developer the rent.

The rental agreement expires in a couple of weeks and I have asked about possibly renewing it or if there would be a price rise involved in this, but there has been little movement over the last few weeks on this so I am unsure of what is happening with this.

However today I have been told to pay for the full month rent for August, and the letting agent told me:
"If the landlord decides that he doesn’t want to extend the lease which I don’t think he will at this stage we still need to provide you with sufficient notice."

What say am I supposed to take this? What kind of security do I Have? The reason I ask is that it's a fixed term tenancy that comes to an end in the next two weeks, and reading through my contract, it would appear that I have no right to remain beyond it's expiry date.

Thanks!

Aka Ishur

J_Dublin15 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

In August of last year I signed a fixed term lease with a developer for 12 months for an apartment and the person who signed it on my behalf was a representive of the developer with the developer, being the landlord.

Since then, the lettings side of the developer has been contracted out to another company, an sales and lettings agency which is run by the former employee of the developer who is still my contact, but clearly no longer the landlord, but I am sitll paying the developer the rent.

The rental agreement expires in a couple of weeks and I have asked about possibly renewing it or if there would be a price rise involved in this, but there has been little movement over the last few weeks on this so I am unsure of what is happening with this.

However today I have been told to pay for the full month rent for August, and the letting agent told me:
"If the landlord decides that he doesn’t want to extend the lease which I don’t think he will at this stage we still need to provide you with sufficient notice."

What say am I supposed to take this? What kind of security do I Have? The reason I ask is that it's a fixed term tenancy that comes to an end in the next two weeks, and reading through my contract, it would appear that I have no right to remain beyond it's expiry date.

Thanks!

You do have the right to continue the tenancy even of the landlord doesn't want to. You have even now part 4 rights which means that the landlord can only evict at the end of the tenancy if selling the property, or moving in a family member. There are a couple of other instances like making major renovations. There is nothing stopping the ll raising the rent top the top of the market range tho. Once every 12 months.

FishOnABike

If you are not intending moving, make sure you notify the LL or agent of your intentions under part IV tenancy. Contact citizens information or threshold for advice if needed to do this properly.

Once you are renting there over 6 months you are automatically covered by part IV tenancy regulations but do need to advise the LL or agent of your intention to continue renting there after the end of your fixed term lease. If you do not the LL is entitled to claim costs from you for expenses incurred due to your lack of proper notification e.g. if the property was re-advertised for letting.

As the previous poster said, outside the first six months of any four year cycle there are very limited reasons for terminating a part IV tenancy.

You may also want to consider the pros and cons of entering another fixed term lease vs remaining on on a part IV tenancy only. They both have advantages and disadvantages depending on your particular circumstances.

J_Dublin15

I have been offered another place on a long fixed term lease this week from the middle of August, Ideally I'd like to stay where I am, but I want to sign a longer term lease to give ms some security rather than just using Part 4 rights which basically extends to 6 week notice.

Also many of the units in the developers inventory are being sold at the moment in the same area, so I get the feeling there is a good chance that the developer may well want to sell soon which again is another reason I want a longer lease, since else it's possible that any day they could say they are selling and 42 days notice.

I've just agreed with the agency that I will pay for the full month of August and reside there until the end of August. However unless they offer me a longer fixed term lease agreement, it would be my intention to terminate the tenancy at the end of August, to move ot the other property which gives me greater long term security.

They said they'd get back to me in a few days - fair enough?