Converting Assured to Assured Shorthold

[jghomer]

Not a question as such, but some information i've recently discovered which may be of use to landlords with assured tenants.

I recently purchased a block of flats with a number of assured tenants. Keen to alter this situation I asked the tenants to fill out & sign Statutory Instrument 1997 Number 194 Form Number 8 which is 'Tenants notice proposing that an assured tenancy be replaced by an assured shorthold tenancy', which was introduced by the 1997 Housing Act.

Once it dawned on one of these tenants what he had actually done he tried to challenge it, claiming that it would not be valid for his tenancy as the tenancy was originally agreed BEFORE the SI came into force.

During the course of my investigation, I called the ODPM and spoke to the actual person who wrote this SI (What a lucky find!). He confirmed that it is valid for pre and post 1997 assured tenancies, although may in certain circumstances be subject to interpretation by the courts.

Anyway, unless he's wrong, anyone with an assured tenant should download this form now and get it signed. And people are surprisingly cooperative. All 5 of my tenants filled out the form when asked, and only 2 questioned it AFTER.

Hope this is of help to someone, and apologies if you all already knew about it.

[dazalock]

Thanks for the info

[davidjohnbutton]

And you have only to get one person who claims they did not understand the significance of the form in that they were converting their tenancy from a "lifetime tenancy" to one that they could be kicked out of at the landlord's behest and you will have a legal case on your hands which could cost the legal aid assistged tenant nothing and the non-legal aid assisted landlord thousands.

The winners will of course be........................ the solicitors/barristers, not to mention the court service whose fees are now bordering on the astronomical!!!

[jghomer]

I here what you are saying. Fortunately there are 4 plain english cautionary notes on the front of the SI which are difficult to plead ignorance against. It even advises legal advice be sought. They would have a very diffucult time indeed!

[Paul_f]

Clever? - Yes! Valid? - Don't bet on it! Unless the tenant in question has actually taken legal advice rather than been just advised to seek it I would say any action would fail! The ODPM is not the Judiciary!

[oliver_antenbring]

Hi,
I read with interest the comments on changing an assured tenancy to an assured shorthold tenancy. I let a property in 1991 but did not serve the notice to quit to the tenant. The tenant soon realised they had an assured tenancy and have stayed there ever since despite knowing I wish to sell the property (the tenant i believe takes legal advice before answering the phone!) . The tenant will not sign any paperwork or reveal the number of people living in the property. I spoke to a solicitor the other day and there was mention that the tenant could pass on the property to the son.

My questions are simply;

A - Are there any methods available for me to evict the tenant? rent etc are not more than 3 month in arrears.

B - Can the tenancy be converted to an assured shorthold tenanct agreement without the signature of the tenant.

C - Is the only option to sell the property going to be one of these investment companies that offer less that 50% of the property value

D - Could the property be left to the tenents son :mad:

Thank you in advance

[davidjohnbutton]

For tenancies starting on or after 28 February 1997
There is no special procedure for creating a shorthold tenancy. A tenancy will automatically be a shorthold tenancy unless the landlord follows the procedure described in section 3.3

For tenancies which started or were agreed before 28 February 1997
A tenancy will be a shorthold tenancy only if your landlord informed you before the tenancy began, using a special form - a Section 20 notice - that the tenancy was to be a shorthold tenancy.


You can answer your own question as to whether or not you created a shorthold tenancy. If you served a S20 notice beforehand, then its an AST, if not, then you created an indefinite AT.

Answering your questions:-

A. Serve a S8 notice based on 2 months/8 weeks rent arrears - if not brought below 2 months, issue summons claiming possession.

B. See my reply earlier on in this thread. Short answer is NO (unless of course it is really an AST to begin with and you have only just realised this because of my reply above.

C. Apart from waiting till either you get an eviction order through rent arrears, or tenant moves/dies - you could sell to another landlord - raise a mortgage on property, or do as you suggest - but see * below.

D. If the son lives there and has done so for two years, then there is a potential right of succession which can be exercised only once.

*Note that if you have in fact created an AST in 1991 and never renewed the agreement, then you could give the tenant two months notice to leave what is now a statutory periodic tenancy. You would have to show the court that you served a S20 notice before signing the agreement to an AST. Only your paperwork will show what you actually did in 1991.

[oliver_antenbring]

John,
Very many thanks for you taking the trouble to reply and addressing my specific qiestions. I did not indeed serve the S20 form in 1991 so I do have an assured tenancy on my hands.
Many thanks again for your time and effort.

Kind regards
Oliver Antenbring.

[Tax Accountant]

Is it just not possible that you did actually serve the S20 notice in 1991? The notice could have been misfiled. You should check all your old paperwork to see if it is buried in there somewhere. I believe that the notice did not require the tenant's acknowledgement or even a signature and therefore, it may not be readily apparent from the S20 notice in your file that this was indeed the notice that was served on the tenant.No harm in checking and running it past your solicitor to see what he advises. Of course if your tenancy agreement states that it is an AST, this may lend support to the fact that you created the AST in the first place and that you did indeed serve the S20 notice.