Rental agent dirty tricks - help!

beingjdc

If it's empty it depends how much stuff you have to move, I always like to have a bit of an overlap to account for that taking longer than I ever budget for. I'd probably say I was happy to take it 2 weeks early but only prepared to pay for 1, splitting the difference.

ladymisswolfe

Ha! They totally backed down and I'm moving in on 3rd April! Yippee! Thanks all!

R4D5

Excellent news!

kunekune

Well done. It is almost impossible to avoid an overlap - LLs don't usually advertise a property until the previous tenancy has ended but any applicant who is already in rental has to give notice. It's too risky to wait until the last couple of weeks to go looking, so this is one of those extra costs that come with renting. You would remain liable to the end of the tenancy, regardless of the fact a new one had also started.

We're facing a possible 3 month overlap when the purchase we're making goes through. We are on an AST and want to move into our own place when it ends, but had to start looking early because you never know how long it'll take. But even if we were on periodic tenancy, we'd still have a 2 month overlap, because it isn't safe to give notice on the rental until the sale has completed (damages because it fell through after exchange of contract aren't much consolation if your entire family is homeless). It's useful time for getting things sorted - we have to buy wardrobes, for instance, and they will probably take a while to order/deliver/probably assemble - and we just built it into our costings for moving house.

anotherpaul_2

kunekune wrote: »

We're facing a possible 3 month overlap when the purchase we're making goes through. We are on an AST and want to move into our own place when it ends, but had to start looking early because you never know how long it'll take. But even if we were on periodic tenancy, we'd still have a 2 month overlap, because it isn't safe to give notice on the rental until the sale has completed (damages because it fell through after exchange of contract aren't much consolation if your entire family is homeless). It's useful time for getting things sorted - we have to buy wardrobes, for instance, and they will probably take a while to order/deliver/probably assemble - and we just built it into our costings for moving house.

I think a statutory periodic tenancy is 1 month notice for the tenant (irrespective of the notice period in the fixed term) - hopefully someone here can confirm or deny that?

In which case, could you arrange to complete a few days before the critical day of the month on your tenancy agreement, so you can give 1 months notice in time if completion goes OK?

kunekune

I think the last periodic we were on was two months, but it might not have been the statutory one, I vaguely recall us negotiating and deciding that on a longer than normal notice period. In any case, I'd rather have the relaxed move than a frantic one, and a little extra rent is a price worth playing. If our budget was so tight that it was stretching us to do it this way, it wouldn't be a good idea to be buying. I don't like throwing money away, but once we've actually fully moved out, we can let the agents know and they might manage to re-let sooner, there aren't many nice 4 beds around. I just don't want people coming to look/inspect until I've had time for a thorough clean, having carpets done, etc.