Contract extension sent 2 and a half months before my contract ends

[Tractor Trace]

Technically it's a new piece of work above and beyond that already agreed/done so new contract.

So by accepting a new contract before the current one has ended, will I be legal bound to start the new contract from January 11th and give 1 month's notice meaning an end date in February, even if I changed my mind and decided to give notice on say the 10th December to terminate my current contract to leave on the 10th January?

[northernladuk]

So by accepting a new contract before the current one has ended, will I be legal bound to start the new contract from January 11th and give 1 month's notice meaning an end date in February, even if I changed my mind and decided to give notice on say the 10th December to terminate my current contract to leave on the 10th January?

You are making this very complicated for some reason.

Yes you are now bound by a contract and it's terms, which is what a contract is. If you want to terminate the contract you have to give notice as per the terms. Treat each as a separate contract.
So take your current contract. You can either give notice and leave early, or you can work until it ends in which case you don't need to give notice.
Your new contract. You can give 1 month notice to get out of it at any time after signing. It doesn't have to be after the work has started. You will be bound to it when you sign it regardless of the time you start.

So yes, you have to make your decision before 10th Dec. They won't be happy whatever you do though. More work for them so they are going to be a bit dischuffed but shoulder it and move on.

[psychocandy]

Now I agree if its the agent doing this without the clients knowledge then thats bad news.....

If its the client then they are being quite clever. My last one did this all the time. A month before they offered me a renewal.
OK I was happy to renew anyway, but it didn't even give me a chance to look at the market "just in case" and be tempted by something else. Fair play to the client.....

On the flip side, I had a client I'd remind every week then we'd get to the last week it was every day. Most times it got sorted at 4pm the last day. Couple of times had my stuff in a box ready to go. Only once did they not bother at all, then were surprised when I didn't turn up the next day. It did focus attention mind they sorted it within the hour.

Now that is really annoying though....