Why is one months notice more than one month?

thepeachyone

I have rented this house for 2 yrs and the last time I renewed it was with a break clause of 1 month. I understood this to be one months notice if I want to leave. I clarified this with the agent and was told yes I have to give one months notice. I phoned on Friday saying I was about to give notice, but it turns out that they meant one month from the next rent due date which actually means I will be giving them 6-7 weeks notice.

I have resigned myself to doing this but Im not happy. Why isnt a month a month??

Jowo_2

What's the exact wording of the clause? Post it on this thread.

lizzielou

tenancy agreements usually have a 28 day notice period as standard, you need to 'dig out' what you signed, it should be clear.

G_M

Why isnt a month a month??

A months notice is a month. But needs to be given on a rent day. This is normal.

the last time I renewed it was with a break clause of 1 month.

A break clause is not the same thing as the notice period.
When you 'renewed', was it for a fixed term (eg a year), or did you transfer to a rolling (periodic) tenancy?

clutton_2

tenancy agreements have a fixed period (usually 6 or 12 months) - those are the dates of the beginning and end of the rental period - and it is those dates which you must abide by when you give notice - its just how the law is.... but any decent landlord might be open to flexibility in the dates... talk to your landlord

franklee

When it comes to a break clause it depends on what the contract says and many break clauses are badly worded. OP, post the break clause, without that it's just speculation of what it might say. There is no need for a break clause to specify the notice end to match any date, some do some don't. If you don't want to post the break clause then at least read it.

N79

thepeachyone wrote: »

I have rented this house for 2 yrs and the last time I renewed it was with a break clause of 1 month. I understood this to be one months notice if I want to leave. I clarified this with the agent and was told yes I have to give one months notice. I phoned on Friday saying I was about to give notice, but it turns out that they meant one month from the next rent due date which actually means I will be giving them 6-7 weeks notice.

I have resigned myself to doing this but Im not happy. Why isnt a month a month??

All tenancies run from period to period. This is how they are legally set up. For a monthly tenancy the period is a calendar month. This leads to the T having to give 1 months notice. But because tenancies run in periods this notice needs to finish at the end of a period. So depending on the date you issue notice it could be a minimum of 1 month or a maximum or 2 months less 1 day. The point is that a tenancy can not just finish on any day - it has to finish on the last day of a rental period (legally speaking).

Of course, reasonable LL's don't worry about enforcing this rule for good Ts so it is always worth negotiating.

franklee

N79 wrote: »

All tenancies run from period to period. This is how they are legally set up. For a monthly tenancy the period is a calendar month. This leads to the T having to give 1 months notice. But because tenancies run in periods this notice needs to finish at the end of a period. So depending on the date you issue notice it could be a minimum of 1 month or a maximum or 2 months less 1 day. The point is that a tenancy can not just finish on any day - it has to finish on the last day of a rental period (legally speaking).

Of course, reasonable LL's don't worry about enforcing this rule for good Ts so it is always worth negotiating.

Nope, not for a break clause that is breaking the tenancy during the fixed term. In that case the notice required is what the break clause states.

Also if a landlord serves a section 21 during the fixed term then end date does not have to coincide with a period, so long as the notice ends after the fixed term it can be any date the landlord likes.

If the tenant or landlord serve notice once the tenancy has gone periodic then notice needs to end at the end of a period.

poppysarah

Some landlords get quite reasonable about notice if you're going to be leaving their property obviosuly empty and keep the keys until your rental period is up properly.