tenancy agreement up on 11th July but estate agents refuse to budge what should I do

markymark10_2

Hi there

Any advice greatly appreciated, I gave notice on my rented property on May 22nd & was advised by my ea that I would have to pay rent on the property until July 22nd as there is a 2 months notice break in the tenancy. However as the tenancy agreement expires on the 11th July I informed the estate agent that we would be handing the keys back then & would expect no further rent to be charged as the agreement has expired.

Recieved another letter from them today & they will not budge &
are still maintaining that they want rent until 22nd july. They are not prepared to accept the keys before then & will not do a checkout until 22nd July (which happens to coincide with my summer holiday) I have already cancelled this months standing order for rent but what can I do? Should I return the keys to them by recorded mail for the 11th not pay & see them in court. I believe I am within my rights to leave on the 11th when the tenancy expires but I am not sure how a court would see this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Incisor

What does your contract say?

Usually, tenant gives 1 month notice and LL 2 months, coinciding with a rent due day.

terryw

markymark10 wrote: »

Hi there

Any advice greatly appreciated, I gave notice on my rented property on May 22nd & was advised by my ea that I would have to pay rent on the property until July 22nd as there is a 2 months notice break in the tenancy. However as the tenancy agreement expires on the 11th July I informed the estate agent that we would be handing the keys back then & would expect no further rent to be charged as the agreement has expired.

Recieved another letter from them today & they will not budge &
are still maintaining that they want rent until 22nd july. They are not prepared to accept the keys before then & will not do a checkout until 22nd July (which happens to coincide with my summer holiday) I have already cancelled this months standing order for rent but what can I do? Should I return the keys to them by recorded mail for the 11th not pay & see them in court. I believe I am within my rights to leave on the 11th when the tenancy expires but I am not sure how a court would see this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I assume that your shorthold tenancy expires on 11th......if so that is the end of the contract. Your main concerns are getting your deposit back and the EA checking the property in your absence in case spurious damage etc has been caused and claimed against your deposit.

terryw

terryw

Incisor wrote: »

What does your contract say?

Usually, tenant gives 1 month notice and LL 2 months, coinciding with a rent due day.

Yes, but this looks to be the end of a shorthold not a statutory tenancy.

terryw

markymark10_2

Many thanks for the speedy replies. Essentially I have been in the property for 3 years & the tenancy always required 1 months notice in writing, the tenancy actually lapsed in september of last year but in December the ea came back to us with a new 6 month ast which they claimed needed signing due to the need for our deposit to be placed in one of the new schemes. We signed this due to us having no plans to move at that time, it was on this new ast that the notice moved for us from one month to two.

Incisor

markymark10 wrote: »

... the tenancy actually lapsed in september of last year but in December the ea came back to us with a new 6 month ast which they claimed needed signing due to the need for our deposit to be placed in one of the new schemes. We signed this due to us having no plans to move at that time, it was on this new ast that the notice moved for us from one month to two.

OK as terryw says. Just double check for any clauses which relate to termination of the assured shorthold and for transition to periodic. If something turns up there, someone will advise, I'm sure.

guppy

If you're on a six month AST then as others have said, you can just hand back the keys at the end without giving notice (best to make arrangements though).

If you were on a periodic tenancy then you only have to give the same amount of notice as the rental period. E.g. if you pay your rent monthly, then you'd have to give a full month. If you paid weekly, only a week.

If you're unsure, double check with the CAB or Shelter, and then ask to speak to someone at the estate agency that actually knows what they are talking about (assuming such a person exists, of course )

Strapped

Check your contract carefully. It sounds as though the 6 month ast automatically rolled into a periodic tenancy if you didn't give the required 2 month notice by 11th April. (In which case, the EA are correct and you owe rent until 22nd July, in fact depending on the day that your rent is due, you may technically owe it for longer, eg if you paid monthly on 11th then you owe rent until 10th Aug as the tenancy must end on the last day of a period). However, most EA these days would have got you to sign a section 21 (the notice that the LL requires possesion of the property back) at the beginning of a 6 month ast (to make sure they get their fee again when it gets renewed). Do you remember signing one of these - it would've been an additional piece of paper stating that the LL requires possession back on 11th July - in which case your tenancy would cease without you giving notice (because the LL has given YOU notice), and you are correct that you only owe rent to 11th July.

ETA: Actually, if you rolled onto a periodic tenancy, I think that you would only need to give 1 month's notice (it's the LL who needs to give two), which you would've satisfied, so you are right in that you only owe to 11th July. But maybe someone more knowledable than me will be along!

Strapped

Hmmm, I thought I'd check my somewhat hazy memory, and you might want to have a look at what Shelter have to say - but again, I'd say check your contract carefully first:

http://shelter.dev.squiz.co.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/renting_and_leasehold/ending_a_tenancy_or_licence

Premier_2

markymark10 wrote: »

Many thanks for the speedy replies. Essentially I have been in the property for 3 years & the tenancy always required 1 months notice in writing, the tenancy actually lapsed in september of last year but in December the ea came back to us with a new 6 month ast which they claimed needed signing due to the need for our deposit to be placed in one of the new schemes. We signed this due to us having no plans to move at that time, it was on this new ast that the notice moved for us from one month to two.

A few things not quite adding up here.

If you signed a new ASTA in December, then a 6 month fixed period would have expired June.

Is is correct that the current ASTA actually commenced on 12 January 2008 and had a 6 month fixed term? If so you can legally walk away from the property on 11 July 2008 and owe no more rent, irrespective of any other terms in the TA. It's normally not advisable to do this, but in this case you have given about 6 weeks notice so it seems entirely reasonable if the LA wants to cause problems. As your deposit is held under a DPS, you should have no problem getting it refunded (so far as any claim to unpaid rent/lack of notice is concerned).

If the above assumption on dates is not 100% correct, please clarify because you won't be able to do this unless it is.

markymark10_2

Many thanks for the feedback, Although we actually signed on the 17th December when the ast was sent through it stated that the tenancy period was from for the period 12th Jan to 11th July, we didnt query this at the time as we had no intention of moving, one thing that is certain is that this tenancy expires on the 11/7/08