Query of Notice Period - 8 weeks

poppysocks1

I hopefully will be moving out the flat soon - my agreement which is a shorthold tenancy says the following:

"That you must tell the landlord or agent in writing at least 8 weeks before you want to end tenancy. This notice must end on a Sunday and you must return your keys to the agent on the day you leave or on the day the notice period ends whichever is sooner.

Within the last 2 months to allow the landlord at reasonable hours in daytime to enter and view the property with prospective tenants".

My problem is this = do we HAVE to give 8 weeks or can we give one month if we discussed with our agent do you think? It was an initial 12 month tenancy and seems to now roll on a month by month basis. We moved into this flat 24 Dec 04, and we dont have a protected deposit scheme either. Also, does the landlord have to give us notice of viewings rather than just turn up as mentioned above?

The rent is paid on the 1st of each month. It doesnt mention that we have to give notice on the 1st, and i dont know when we will know for sure exactly when we will move out but I really cannot see it coinciding with 1st of month, so the 8 weeks notice may have to be part way through the month.

Any advice welcome, I really do not wish to pay more rent than we have to as will be buying a house so will have an overlap in paying both high rent and a mortgage. We rent privately from a large housing association if this makes any difference.

Thanks in advance.

clutton_2

tenants only have to give one months notice (ending on the rent day) once they are into periodic tenancies - you are also not obliged to have prospective viewers around

N79

clutton wrote: »

tenants only have to give one months notice (ending on the rent day) once they are into periodic tenancies - you are also not obliged to have prospective viewers around

Clutton - I assume that this was a slip of the finger - I know you meant rental period and not rent day! In this case they appear to be different.

Edit

Oh - final thought just to check that your agreement is subject to English law and not Scottish law?


Poppysocks you only have to give 1 months notice but it should end at the end of rental period. (The day your rent is due is not relevent) The waffle in your agreement is rubbish! Since your tenancy started on the 24th of Dec this would suggest that you rental period runs from the 24th of the month to the 23rd of the following month. This means your notice should be served before the 23rd of a month and run until the 23rd of the following month.

Eg. If you give notice today it would be for the 23rd August, which would be the final day of your tenancy. It is now too late to give notice for the 23rd July. Of course many LL's are happy to take a straight 1 months notice irrespective of the rental period so you can always negotiate with your LL if you want different dates.

poppysocks1

Its english law.

Just looking as well at the housing association website, of which we privately rent through (via a letting agent, its complicated!), they say this:

Give 28 days' notice in writing and include your new address.
<LI class=" onhover">Allow us to inspect the property before you move out and carry out any repairs that are identified as being your responsibility before you leave. If you do not do this, we will charge you for the work.At the end of the notice period you must return the keys by noon on the Monday.

So that contradicts what the letting agent says. Its really frustrating to have to sort this out, and what i have in writing is what i signed, so i hope that they cannot enforce that. I will call the housing association directly in the morning to confirm that the above is correct and not the contract that i was given years ago, and I suppose I need to get it in writing that hopefully the above is fine, but my deposit is with the letting agent not the housing association.

Thanks for your replies so far, I really want to get this sorted out! I will also ask them if they are ok with a months notice from the day I advise, i.e. date of completion of house purchase I assume (not exchange date?) as cant see that i can pin it down to the 23rd of the month really.

N79

With this obsession with weeks of notice just a quick check - do you pay rent monthly (in which case my previous post stands) or some other frequency?

clutton_2

N - yes you are right - but i always have the rent period starting on the same date in teh month as the rental due date on my ASTs

poppysocks1

The agreement was dated 22nd Dec and we must have part paid to then bring it up to a rental date of 1st of the month, and this is then paid on a monthly basis each 1st of the month, so have no idea now when I would be expected to give notice. Im just composing the email to send, and then will follow up with a phone call, but what i think i need is clarification of a) notice period - is it 28 days, and if so, can it be given ANY time of the month? Shall i not mention the 8 weeks notice to them and just hope that the email reply I get is enough?

I am also clarifying that they hold the deposit. Oddly it doesnt mention the letting agent at all on the tenancy, only the housing association, but I am sure we paid the letting agent the deposit. They have not been any help at all, they make us deal directly with the Housing association.

Do you think there is anything else i need to ask? Thank you.

N79

No the notice period is one calendar month - not 28 days, 4 weeks or 8 weeks. It must end at the end of a rental period. See my pervious post. The only question I have now is what was the original end date of the fixed period of the tenancy? The relevent period of the tenancy will be monthly starting the day after this day.

The day you signed the agreement and the day you pay rent are irrelevant. Only the end of the tenancy period matters. They can not enforce this 8 weeks in your agreement. Your notice must be at least 1 month and should end on the last day of a rental period.

poppysocks1

The contract says:

Term - For the term of 6 months commencing on 22nd December 2004.

Thanks

N79

clutton wrote: »

N - yes you are right - but i always have the rent period starting on the same date in teh month as the rental due date on my ASTs

So do I - it makes it easier to avoid exactly this so of misunderstanding at the end of the tenancy! Sorry for being a smart !!!! but this was clearly an example with confused dates.