Landlord Help Please!

N79

So long as you can show that, on a balance of propabilities, you sent the letter then you should be OK if it eventually gets to court. You don't give the rental period in your postings - remember your months notice should end at the end of a rental period (the day before you pay rent if you pay rent monthly). However, it sounds like your LL is so laid back that he has passed through horizontal and is now hanging upside down so he may not worry about this.

terryw

N79 wrote: »

So long as you can show that, on a balance of propabilities, you sent the letter then you should be OK if it eventually gets to court. You don't give the rental period in your postings - remember your months notice should end at the end of a rental period (the day before you pay rent if you pay rent monthly). However, it sounds like your LL is so laid back that he has passed through horizontal and is now hanging upside down so he may not worry about this.

I agree with you absolutely. But on the balance of probabilities I fear that the judge will favour the LL over a tenant who has not paid his rent for many months and just did not realize that the rent had not been taken from his account! I agree that the LL in this case may not be too bothered about the lack of notice, but this is merely a guess - it is up to the LL to decide.

terryw

jimbraund

the rent is due to be paid on the 1st of each month and i sent the letter at the end of january, it was defo before the 1st of feb anyway. i did take a photocopy of the letter which prob doesn't help but i'll just ring the landlord next week and see what he wants to do, hopefully he'll just use the deposit as rent arrears. Is there any clauses i can be pointed to that shows the deposit can be used for arrears.

Planner

I note that no one has asked how long the fixed term was for?

Jim when did you sign the contract and how long was it for. This will be very important to whether you can up sticks or not at the end of Feb (will be 1st of March actually if thats the date the fixed term is due to end/ended - Not rent due date).

N79

Planner wrote: »

I note that no one has asked how long the fixed term was for?

An excellent questions - I'm afraid that I just assumed 6 months.

jimbraund

it was for a 6 month period, and then it's just rolled on from there. we signed the agreement last march 2008 and that was the last agreement we signed.

Planner

jimbraund wrote: »

it was for a 6 month period, and then it's just rolled on from there. we signed the agreement last march 2008 and that was the last agreement we signed.

Thats fine. Your months notice youve served should therefore be a full calander month, ending on the same date in the month as that original six month term ended. Thats the date in Feb/March you will need to move out by. Note that this could be different than the rent due date.

terryw

Careful though. The letter that you have sent may NOT be good service. "In Railtrack plc v Gojra [1998] 1 EGLR 63 (CA). Wilson J commented that "if it is proved.. that a notice was sent by recorded delivery, it does not matter that that recorded delivery letter may not have been received by the intended recipient. It does not matter, even if it were to be clearly established that it had gone astray in the post…. Since the primary methods of service do not depend on receipt, the date of receipt is irrelevant and … notice is served - and given - on the date when it is sent by registered post or recorded delivery." He went on to say that service by ordinary post was still good service if received, but the risk was that it may go astray and would not be deemed served."

Check with your landlord that he is quite happy with the date of leaving mentioned in your letter and he is accepting that the letter was received.
terryw

Robert_Sterling_3

SwissLe wrote: »

You also should've sent the letter by recorded delivery or dropped it in by hand. You now have no proof you sent the letter.

If you "drop it in yourself" that does NOT prove you dropped it in even though you did drop it in.

Robert_Sterling_3

terryw wrote: »

I agree with you absolutely. But on the balance of probabilities I fear that the judge will favour the LL over a tenant who has not paid his rent for many months and just did not realize that the rent had not been taken from his account! I agree that the LL in this case may not be too bothered about the lack of notice, but this is merely a guess - it is up to the LL to decide.
terryw

If the landlord says he did not receive a letter I would on the balance of probabilities believe that after all he had not received rent for six months so what is a missing letter compared to that?