Reread my post, I think you misunderstood it, at least thats all I hope it was.
I wasn't comparing here to there, just saying that "sitting tennants" were the bane of landlords lives. Hence we have 6 month ASTs now.
But thanks for knowing better Greebo... another +1 to the post count.
All we were saying is that the rental market here is less secure (from a tenant's perspective) than in Germany, etc.
You seem to be agreeing with this?
In Germany, according to what I've read, for example, if a landlord gives notice a tenant can legally refuse and demand continuation of the tenancy agreement. And in any case, the notice period can be up to 9 months depending on how long the tenant has lived there. And the agreements aren't 6-month fixed term but can be 10 year+ terms.
And the tenant does not have to agree to live in the property for 10+ years, and can move out with 2 months notice. The landlord however must commit to rent the property to the tenant for 10+ years if the tenant wishes to remain.
So you can see, tenants in Europe have much greater rights than here.
And that's before even considering that rents are strictly capped, and cannot be increased far beyond the average, or increased more than 20% in a year, etc...