What do letting agencies all want six month ASTs?

[MitchT]

I'm looking for somewhere to rent at the moment and literally every letting agent I've spoken to insists on the agreement being a six month AST. Why? Surely they'd rather have someone sign for longer because it gives them a guarantee of a longer time elapsing before there's any danger of the place sitting empty? Given the amount of hassle it will cause me to move there's no way I'm signing for just six months and having the possibility of a load more imminent hassle hanging over me like a cloud. I'm an anxious person at the best of times and lying in bed on a night worrying that I might be turfed out of my home in a few months and whether I'll be able to find somewhere else that I can afford will not help things. In an ideal world my wage would be double what it is and then I'd just buy somewhere, but it isn't, so I can't.

[Paracetamol]

I think that landlords are expecting rents to increase...As a landlord I always go for 12 months-most of my places are abouve the AST threshold (ie over £25k per annum rent) so I use common law tenancies.. but the hassle of tenant swaps is a way too much to do it every six months!

[audidoody]

It's not for six months. It's for any period the landlord wants to offer, years probably

http://www.letlink.co.uk/letting-factsheets/factsh...

[MitchT]

Paracetamol said:

I think that landlords are expecting rents to increase...As a landlord I always go for 12 months-most of my places are abouve the AST threshold (ie over £25k per annum rent) so I use common law tenancies.. but the hassle of tenant swaps is a way too much to do it every six months!

That's one of the reasons I want a long agreement - so that I know what the rent is going to be. The idea that they could increase the rent to an amount that I can no longer afford after six months is another thing I don't want hanging over me.

audidoody said:

It's not for six months. It's for any period the landlord wants to offer, years probably

All of the ones I spoke to specifically said six months. There didn't seem to be any scope for negotiation at all.

[okgo]

Odd, would be lanlord who decides though, longer tenancy the bigger the fee for the agent..

[coolcatmaz]

I'm in rented though I deal direct with the landlords and not through an agency. My original let term was 6 months, then we signed again for a further 6 months, now we are on a rolling month to month arrangement.

I know they are highly unlikely to ask me to leave as I'm a good tenant and they would struggle to relet the property, however it does give a degree of unease as they technically can give me 1 months notice to leave at any time or keep putting the rent up whenever it suits them.

[skeggysteve]

I thought that the legal minimum length for a AST was 6 months.

Not doubt a real legal type person will be along soon!

[londonbabe]

It means they can let on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, which is the only type of tenancy that guarantee's the landlord's property rights over the tenant's.

[audidoody]

>All of the ones I spoke to specifically said six months. There didn't seem to be any scope for negotiation at all.

Which agencies gave you spoken to. Someone is spinning you a story. The landlords who instruct them would want a tenant in for as long as possible

No landlord with a brain wants a six-month tenant - the hassle of changing over , new inventories, cleaning etc would be ridiculous. I rent a place out. My tenancy agreements are for 12 months with two months notice after that.

[soprano]

skeggysteve said:

I thought that the legal minimum length for a AST was 6 months.

Not doubt a real legal type person will be along soon!

You have guarenteed security of tenure for a period of six months. If the property is let under an AST, for a period of say six months, after that six months has elapsed the tenacy still endures, but as a statutory periodic tenancy.

ETA thats not to say you can only get a six month AST, you can have 1 year etc, as others have said, its down to the landlords choice.

Edited by soprano on Sunday 17th August 21:01

[Gonad]

If the property is mortgaged it is often a condition of mortgage that you cannot offer a long tenancy as this would cause problems if they had to repossess