Call of the Week: Extending six month AST

A member gave us a call recently with a question about a tenancy agreement.

Our member said that one of their tenants has a six month AST, which is due to end in December.

The tenant had been in touch with the landlord to ask if she can extend the contract for a month, which our landlord is happy to do. He gave us a call to clarify whether there are any steps he now needs to take given the tenant wishes to stay for an extra month.

Our adviser informed the landlord that there is nothing that they would need to do to extend the agreement.

This is because the agreement will automatically result in a periodic tenancy, where rent will be due on the same basis as it was in the fixed term. In this instance, our member’s contract requires the rent to be paid monthly, and this means that the periodic tenancy will also run month to month.

However, our adviser suggested it could be a good idea for this landlord to double check that the deposit protection updates correctly, as most of the time the scheme will update to reflect that the tenancy has entered into a periodic state, but all the same it is worth double checking.

The tenancy will continue until notice is served by either party. Our member thanked the adviser for their time.

• To provide as much flexibility as possible for landlords, NRLA members have access to four different variations of the assured shorthold tenancy agreement. These are available to download for free for NRLA members, or can be purchased online.
• Creating a tenancy? Read our online resources for landlords
• Want to learn more about which tenancy agreement to use? Check out this recent call of the week