Tenancy agreement

[monkey78]

within my tenancy agreement, I cannot leave my flat empty for more than 30 days in any one period. My landlord refuses to let me rent rolling month on month, so I have had to agree to another 3 months tenancy, even though I may be leaving the area in 1-2 months. Other than being in the flat sporadically to make sure I don't break the 30 day agreement, do I have to show usuage of water and elecricity, or can I switch the heating off and leave lights off? Taking into ******* it will be winter and there is a risk of pipes freezing.

[Joowlie]

If you have not signed a new agreement, I suggest you take legal advice. I am pretty sure he cannot make you sign up and that you have a right as an existing tenant to go into whats called "a periodic tenancy". This means you have to give one months notice to quit and he would have to give you two months. I also am almost 100% certain that a 3 month tenancy agreement is not legally binding - it has to be a minimum of 6 months...................... I work for alettings agent. We are not allowed to issue tenancy agreements for less than 6 months and there is a legal reason for this but not sure what it is and we have to give the tenants the choice of being issued with a new agreement (6 or 12 months) or periodic. If a tenant chooses periodic, the landlord has to go along with it. Good luck................. dont be bullied by your landlord, you have more rights than he does believe me...

[deso]

What can he do if you leave it empty for 30 days?
By the way I was intrigued by the ****** and can only assume you spelled "account" incorrectly. A Freudian slip perhaps?

[Eve]

It's a protective measure to protect the property against problems which can occur with it being left vacant for long periods such as being a target for burglars or squatters and damage and such.

It's a common mortgage condition that lenders have to try and protect their property.

If it's cold I'd suggest putting the heating on timer so the pipes don't freeze and maybe getting a friend to look in. A former neighbour of mine left their property to go away for a long period at Christmas time. I noticed there was a problem but by the time damp patches appeared on the walls the ceiling had already collapsed. All we could do was turn the water off at the mains and wait for them to come back, the damage was huge, they had to live elsewhere for months and were even charged for the water which destroyed their property!

You can also get timer switches for lights and such.

I think the main reason is to protect the place so try and respect that and make sure it's looked after.

If you leave it for 30 days unoccupied it is a breach of your tenancy agreement (and possibly your landlord's mortgage conditions if he has one) and the Landlord could take action accordingly.