Tenancy agreement - exact length of a contract

Tenancy Types and Management

I just had a rather fruitless exchange with a member of the NRLA advice team and think the matter worth pursuing further. The NRLA contracts no longer have an end date on them, which I believe to be a mistake.

If you issue a twelve month contract to a tenant on say the 10th March 2020, is the end date the 10th March or the 9th March 2021?

According to mydeposits it is the 9th March. According to Council Tax fees it is the 9th March, but the advice that Shelter gives is the 10th March and the NRLA representative told me it didn't matter!

It does matter and I warn my tenants that if they leave on the same date they may incur a charge for one night's rent. The only reference I can give is the deposit protection certificate which is the only place where the end date is specified.

It is obviously a grey area as no landlord is going to a property at midnight, however this would be avoided if the tenancy agreement end date was defined. I shall include it in additional clauses from now on as I have tenants, already in arrears who are arguing that they can stay this extra night as part of their agreement. Trivial I know, but the overnight costs mount up.

I hope that the NRLA will change their agreements. The NLA used to include it, whereas the RLA never did - to my knowledge and I was a member of both, for no particularly good reason....