This poses a few problems - namely, where the tenants remain in the property and you don't renew the contract. So in order to protect landlords and tenants, this isn't compatible with our contract.
If, for instance, the tenants stayed in the property once the fixed term ends and didn't renew, the tenancy would turn periodic. Under the Housing Act, the length of the rental period for these periodic tenancies will be equal to the original rental period.
So if we took 12 months rent in advance and the tenant paid nothing further, the rental period for the periodic tenancy would also be 12 months - rather than the normal one month rental period.
This makes it harder for you to reclaim possession of the property and results in a far longer notice period, once the tenancy turns periodic.
If you want to take a chunk of rent in advance, there are still three options available:
i) Increase the length of the fixed term by e.g. 1 month so that the last payment of rent before the tenancy turns periodic will be for one month only.
ii) Decrease the number of months' advance rent taken by e.g. 1 month so that, again, the tenants will make at least one monthly rental payment before the fixed term ends.
iii) Take further months' rent from the tenants directly and use custom clauses to make the arrangement clear. Please note though that adding custom clauses to the contract is always at your own risk and leaves you open to the issues mentioned above, so we recommend one of the first two options.