Notice Period?

ninjarambohd

Hi everyone. I have a question. I have a friend who has lived in the same house which he has rented with his wife and daughter for the past 16 or 17 years. Now since 2015 or 16 he no longer has a lease with his landlord. I was wondering would this still affect the notice period that his landlord might give him when he wants his house back? What if he signs a new lease again but this time in his wife's name would that still affect the notice period or because he has lived in this house for such a long time it doesn't affect him?

dennyk

Even without a fixed term lease he'll be in a Further Part 4 tenancy at this point, so he still has security of tenure for a period of time where the landlord can only terminate his tenancy for allowable reasons.

Landlords can terminate at the end of a Further Part 4 tenancy period for any reason provided they give notice before the end of the Further Part 4 term, otherwise a new Further Part 4 term begins when the old one ends; to figure out when his current Further Part 4 term is up, he'd have to calculate based on the actual start date of his tenancy and/or when the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act which created that system actually came into effect. Further Part 4 tenancies were four years long until December 24th 2016, and any new Further Part 4 tenancies starting after that date are six years long.

If the landlord does want to terminate (either at the end of the current further Part 4 or for an allowable reason), he'd have to provide 32 weeks of notice to the tenant, due to the length of the tenancy.

If the tenant and the landlord do agree to sign a new fixed term lease, generally the landlord would not be able to terminate the tenancy even for a reason allowable under Part 4 until after the fixed term has ended, so it actually provides more security of tenure than a Part 4 tenancy. However, Part 4 still applies, so unless it coincides with the end of his Further Part 4 tenancy, the landlord still can't end the tenancy simply because the fixed term is over without an allowable reason under Part 4.

As for his wife putting the tenancy in her name, under most circumstances she would retain the same Part 4 tenancy rights if the lease were put in her name, as she would either be a current tenant anyway (if her name is on the existing or most recent lease agreement), or she would be an existing sub-tenant of her husband, in which case as an existing sub-tenant she would assume the existing Part 4 tenancy rights if the tenancy were assigned to her. Note that you do need permission from the landlord to assign a tenancy to a new tenant. I'm not really sure what your friend would gain from transferring the tenancy to his wife, though; I can't think of any circumstances where doing so would improve their security of tenure.

ninjarambohd

dennyk wrote: »

Even without a fixed term lease he'll be in a Further Part 4 tenancy at this point, so he still has security of tenure for a period of time where the landlord can only terminate his tenancy for allowable reasons.

Landlords can terminate at the end of a Further Part 4 tenancy period for any reason provided they give notice before the end of the Further Part 4 term, otherwise a new Further Part 4 term begins when the old one ends; to figure out when his current Further Part 4 term is up, he'd have to calculate based on the actual start date of his tenancy and/or when the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act which created that system actually came into effect. Further Part 4 tenancies were four years long until December 24th 2016, and any new Further Part 4 tenancies starting after that date are six years long.

If the landlord does want to terminate (either at the end of the current further Part 4 or for an allowable reason), he'd have to provide 32 weeks of notice to the tenant, due to the length of the tenancy.

If the tenant and the landlord do agree to sign a new fixed term lease, generally the landlord would not be able to terminate the tenancy even for a reason allowable under Part 4 until after the fixed term has ended, so it actually provides more security of tenure than a Part 4 tenancy. However, Part 4 still applies, so unless it coincides with the end of his Further Part 4 tenancy, the landlord still can't end the tenancy simply because the fixed term is over without an allowable reason under Part 4.

As for his wife putting the tenancy in her name, under most circumstances she would retain the same Part 4 tenancy rights if the lease were put in her name, as she would either be a current tenant anyway (if her name is on the existing or most recent lease agreement), or she would be an existing sub-tenant of her husband, in which case as an existing sub-tenant she would assume the existing Part 4 tenancy rights if the tenancy were assigned to her. Note that you do need permission from the landlord to assign a tenancy to a new tenant. I'm not really sure what your friend would gain from transferring the tenancy to his wife, though; I can't think of any circumstances where doing so would improve their security of tenure.

Thank you for this in depth information, much appreciated.