It has been a source of concern for letting agents, whether on renewal, a SAT must become a Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) or whether it can continue indefinitely and whether a new contract can be issued and if so, how many times it can be renewed.
In the opinion of Advocate Adrian Stalker, a respected authority in housing law, existing SAT’s that were created prior to the 1 December 2017 remain as an SAT. New SAT’s can be created as often as required as long as the following parameters have been met.
Which are:
- it must “come into being” at the end of an existing short assured tenancy;
- it must be “of the same or substantially the same premises”
- the new tenancy must have the same landlord and tenant.
For some landlords, this is a preferred option, providing additional flexibility. We are aware that some groups have been advising to the contrary or speculating that a Private Residential Tenancy can only be renewed once. The opinion of legal counsel firmly contradicts this.