This is a question to the blog clinic from Paul (not his real name) who is a landlord in England.

I purchased a property with a tenant in situ and managed by an estate agent. Just before the completion of the purchase the tenancy agreement was due for renewal. The estate agents told me the tenant had originally agreed to renew and then instead opted for a statutory periodic rolling contract as they were looking to move and didn’t want to be committed to a fixed period. I decided to retain the estate agent to manage the property until the tenant left incase issues arose with rent payments.

After 4 months, the tenant is still looking, but happy to pay the increased rent with the rolling contract. After discussing with the tenant I decided I would take over the tenancy management and give notice to the agency.

But the agents are not willing to cancel the management contract until the tenant vacates pointing to a clause in the agency contract.

Period of Letting Service
Our Letting Service starts at the beginning of the first tenancy and lasts whilst a tenant we have introduced remains in residence

I’m arguing this doesn’t apply as the tenant was already in situ and not a new tenant I asked them to find.

Could you kindly advise how I should proceed?

Answer

As the agency agreement was signed with the original landlord not you, the rights the agents have against you will depend on the agreement reached between you when you took over the property. So I suggest you look back and see what exactly was agreed with them.

If it was agreed that you would take over the agency agreement from the old landlord, then your rights will depend on whether you can be classed as a ‘consumer’ landlord.

For example, if you are a professional full-time landlord and/or you bought the property through a limited company, then you will be classed as a ‘trader’ and will not be able to take advantage of the various consumer laws which exist to protect non-traders.

If you are classed as a trader, then you are probably bound by the clause in the agreement – assuming they can prove that you agreed to take over the agency contract.

However, if you are classed as a ‘consumer’, then it is arguable that the clause is unfair under the Unfair Terms rules in the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

There are also the ‘off-site’ contracts regulations, which provide that if you (if you are a consumer) sign a contract with a business outside their office, then they must give you proper notice of the regulations and a 14 day cancellation notice. Until this is done, you have the right to cancel.

There isn’t really enough information provided to advise fully, so I suggest you get some advice from a specialist landlord and tenant solicitor, for example, one of the firms on our telephone advice service panel.

We also have a fairly detailed guide for Landlord law members, written for landlords experiencing problems with their letting agents, which would be useful for you.

The post Can this agent force this landlord by purchase to continue with the previous landlord’s agency agreement? appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

Another week and another Newsround where the Renters Rights Bill is not hanging around.

Not only did it clear the House of Commons this week, it has also had it’s first reading in the House of Lords. The second reading is now confirmed to be the 4th February.

This means that it could in fact become law by Easter which is a lot sooner than everyone was anticipating.

You can read my summary and thoughts on the House of Commons reading on my Blog page here.. The Government has published a guide here.

Note that we have a Renters Rights Bill Online Conference 2025 on 11 and 12 March.

Courts to crumble with no additional resourcing – claim

A concern that has not been mentioned for a while is the over burdening of the courts once the Renters Rights Bill becomes law.

A property disputes lawyer, Gary Scott has bought this back into the headlines this week claiming that due to severe underfunding of the courts once the Bill becomes law, the courts will not be able to cope with the influx of claims.

He says that the government has ‘made clear that they have no intention of properly resourcing the courts and tribunal to deal with the inevitable influx of claims and additionally required court time in dealing with disputes over rent increases and possession’.

He added that Matthew Pennycook the housing minister would not comment on what the increase is expected to be and neither would the government say how that increase will be dealt with and managed in an already over burdened court system.

The current timescales under the existing workload is around 3-4 months for a claim to be dealt with. Gary Scott says

Adding to that workload burden without funding modernisation or increasing capacity is inviting significant problems ahead.

Council hits landlords with new law change

The Housing Secretary Angela Raynor announced last year that councils do not need to seek government approval to implement large licensing schemes.

Barking and Dagenham Council have wasted no time in introducing a new selective licensing scheme.  From April 6th this year all landlords regardless of size must obtain a licence to rent out their properties. This is the first of it’s kind with probably many more to follow.

A council person said

Property licensing is an important tool that allows us to ensure landlords in the borough provide good quality homes for their tenants and tackle unscrupulous practices. I’m really pleased that the scheme has been approved for the whole borough.

We would expect to see many more councils now following the same path. Landlords need to be keeping a very careful watch on their councils’ licensing laws in case they change, ignorance will not be an excuse as is seen here for an HMO landlord who did not license his property and the First Tier Tribunal ruled that ignorance was not a defence. Be warned!

Here at Landlord Law we have a developed a comprehensive Local Authority Directory with information about licensing fees, whether there are additional or selective licensing schemes along with contact details.

Surge in fraudulent tenant documents

Landlords have seen a sharp rise in forged documents where tenants are having to submit their bank statements. Homeppl a tenant referencing platform says London appears to be the hit the hardest with 60% of flagged fraudulent cases.

The average annual rent was for £37,598 where £85,945 was claimed in false incomes. The 2024 State of Lettings Fraud Report claims the rise in fraudulent paperwork highlights the financial challenges faced by tenants where rents have increased by 8.7% nationwide and 10.4% in London.

EPC revaluation be realistic for landlords

The government proposes to upgrade the metrics and methodology that drive the EPC ratings. But Osborne Clarke, a legal firm has voiced its concern that this consultation is not due to happen until the second half of 2026. They warn that landlords need to be given enough time to ‘prepare for and adjust to any proposed changes’.

The government is currently stating that all private rental property will need to be of an EPC rating of C or above by 2030. But they say

While this consultation focuses on measurement and enforcement, we are also expecting an update from the government on the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards that buildings need to achieve in order to be let.

The relationship between adjusting the metrics used to measure a building’s energy efficiency and the minimum standards that must be achieved before that building can be let must be taken into account by the government in connection with reform.

Snippets

Landlords hit with former owners’ massive council tax bills
Politicians propose landlords should pay compensation to tenants who are evicted
Tenant dies after illegal eviction – landlord fined, council seeks costs
Labour faces costs of £50bn to replenish affordable housing after right to buy, report says
BBC – MPs back one-month cap on advance rent payments

See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law

Newsround will be back again next week

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