Moving out - tenancy agreement - ?

thriftymanc

A friend of mine is in the process of buying a house and moving out of his rented flat. He's looked at his tenancy agreement and it has absolutely nothing in it about giving notice when moving out. It's an assured shorthold tenancy and he's renewed for six months at a time since he moved in, the current agreement runs out at the start of June.

He was expecting the house-buying process to take longer but he's been quite lucky and seems to have something lined up already, so he wasn't expecting to need to move out before his tenancy was up but now it looks like he might be ready before then.

As his tenancy doesn't mention anything about notice - what is standard? Does he have to give notice and stay (or if not physically stay in the flat then at least 'pay up') until the end of the tenancy, or can he give notice and move out sooner? And if the process happens to take longer, can he stay in his flat on a monthly basis (e.g. if he needed to move out in July or August instead) or would he have to renew for another six months?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, he's checked his agreement over and over and it doesn't mention anything about this, and I know nothing about this sort of thing either.

tbs624

thriftymanc wrote: »

... It's an assured shorthold tenancy and he's renewed for six months at a time since he moved in, the current agreement runs out at the start of June. ...........As his tenancy doesn't mention anything about notice - what is standard? Does he have to give notice and stay (or if not physically stay in the flat then at least 'pay up') until the end of the tenancy, or can he give notice and move out sooner? ...

If he was to leave at the end of the Fixed Term then he doesn't have to give notice, just move out on time, although it is courteous to let the LL know and tends to speed up a prompt return of the tenancy deposit as it allows there to be discussion of any likely issues.

If your friend wants to move out sooner then he need to understand that he is committed to meeting all his tenancy obligations until the end of the Fixed Term including paying the rent, unless the LL will agree to an acceptable new T being found to take on the tenancy. Your friend would be obliged to pay the LL's reasonable costs for doing this, for advertising etc.

thriftymanc wrote: »

...And if the process happens to take longer, can he stay in his flat on a monthly basis (e.g. if he needed to move out in July or August instead) or would he have to renew for another six months?

Your friend should talk to the LL about continuing under a statutory periodic agreement which would run from month to month (assuming rent paid monthly) - T has to give 1 month's notice, the LL has to give 2 months to tie in with the rental period.

Sharon87

Either that or he agree with the LL that he could find a new person to move into the place? Then that way the LL won't have to pay for advertising (why would you anyway when there's gumtree and other websites).

Whatever he chooses to do he should keep his LL informed.