Renewing Your Tenancy

The usual length of a fixed term tenancy is 6-12 months which offers you and your landlord a guarantee that the conditions of your tenancy, e.g. your rent, will stay the same throughout this period. In other words, no changes can be made to your tenancy during the fixed term.

If your landlord wants to increase your rent or end your tenancy, they must wait for the fixed term to end. 

However, it also means that you cannot end your tenancy early and that you agree to pay the rent up until the end of the fixed term, whether you are living at the property or not. 

That said, there can be some exceptions to making changes or ending your tenancy early, however both you and your landlord must agree and you maybe charged a fee for any changes made. 

If both you and your landlord agree to renew your tenancy for another fixed term, you will need to sign a new tenancy agreement. 

The ‘period’ in a periodic tenancy is the same as that for which you pay your rent, e.g. if you pay your rent monthly, the period will run from month to month. In some cases, periodic tenancies can continue for many years.

A periodic tenancy will offer you more flexibility to end your tenancy when needed, but bear in mind that it also gives your landlord more flexibility as well, to either end your tenancy or increase your rent at any time, so it's important to consider how much flexibility you want or need.

You will still need to give each other the required notice periods for any changes though:

• You ending your tenancy - learn more here. 
• Landlord ending your tenancy - learn more here. 
• Rent increases - learn more here. 

If you wish to continue on a periodic tenancy, your tenancy agreement will usually have a clause in it to automatically switch from a fixed term tenancy to a periodic tenancy once the fixed term has ended, therefore there is nothing you or your landlord needs to do.