advise on section 21 please!

worriedtenant

Hi,

my partner and I have just been issued a section 21a by our landlord (we are on a rolling contract) for no specified reason (i know by law he is allowed to do this - i'm presuming its his own financial problems though)...

however, I am approaching my finals exams in 3 months, exactly the time i do NOT want the rigmorol of having to find somehwere to live and move all my stuff out. The stress will really get to me. what makes it more frustrating is we have always been prompt with our rent and clean tenants.

His notice was served 5th march asking for the property to be vacant by 5th May... HOWEVER... we only received it by recorded delivery today (ie the 6th March)... does this mean that, through their own minor mistake, they have not given us the required 2 months (one day under) and therefore their claim will be dismissed in court? also, if we ignore the notice and get proceedings from court, I undertand we then have 14 days to submit our reasons for ignoring the notice, particulary hardship... would their admin error and the fact that it is the most important year/term of my studies count as valid reasons for the judge to throw it out?!..

If this is so, I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me, because buying that extra 2 months will give me just enough time to get my undergrad finals done and then if we have to move the timing would be far better...

please can someone shed some light on this! thanks!

phlash

The first question is.....

What day of the month do you pay rent? i.e. what is your tenancy payment period? I'm guessing monthly.

The reason for asking.....the 2 month notice requires two full tenancy payment periods (assuming they're monthly here). So if you paid rent on 1 March, the two full tenancy payment periods are April and May. Your move out date would be 31 May.

worriedtenant

well we moved in on 7th of the month... and money has been taken from our account for rent on 5th 6th and 7th of the last few months according to my bank statements... so i'm not sure... it appears to depend on the month!

eithern way, surely by posting it so it arrived yesterday (6th), not promptly on the 5th March, and asking for vacancy by 5th may, they're not giving us 2 months, so they're not fulfilling their part of the bargain and we could ignore it?!

worriedtenant

... what i mean is, by the form not being absolutely 100% correct, I have read elsewhere that the court just dismisses it as invalid..

oh, and yes our contract is monthly, it was fixed for 6 months but then that lapsed and now it's monthly...

Blacksheep1979

you say you don't want stress yet are talking about trying to fight this in court? Seriously, the easier option here is to move.

worriedtenant

its not a case of fighting anything in court, its just a case of moving before important exam vs. moving after important exam. a no brainer to me.... I just think if the agency haven't issued the section 21 exactly as they should have, it would be silly not to take advantage of that. I cannot afford to be moving my entire flat full of possessions to somewhere else, on a student budget, at least not until I was planning to move later in the summer when my studies take me elsewhere anyway...

BitterAndTwisted

Your own personal circumstances are not material here. Read your original rental agreement, the dates your rent was debited to your bank account are completely irrelevant. Until you can confirm the exact date your rental agreement started no-one on here can advise you

worriedtenant

tenancy agreement was from 7th July for 6 months, and now that is rolling each month, the rent due date being the '7th of each month'

thank you

Blacksheep1979

Therefore they have given the two months notice - just a warning though, if you start to play the 'letter of the law' game then expect the same in return and be wary of what deductions may be taken from your deposit etc whereas before a would have been friendly landlord may have turned a blind eye if you play silly beggars they won't be so nice either.

franklee

worriedtenant wrote: »

well we moved in on 7th of the month... and money has been taken from our account for rent on 5th 6th and 7th of the last few months according to my bank statements... so i'm not sure... it appears to depend on the month!

eithern way, surely by posting it so it arrived yesterday (6th), not promptly on the 5th March, and asking for vacancy by 5th may, they're not giving us 2 months, so they're not fulfilling their part of the bargain and we could ignore it?!

worriedtenant wrote: »

tenancy agreement was from 7th July for 6 months, and now that is rolling each month, the rent due date being the '7th of each month'

Do ignore the day the money is taken from you account, the relevant date is determined from when the fixed term started and finished.

So your fixed term was 7th July to 6th January inclusive? So after that the tenancy became periodic the first period starting on 7th January and ending on 6th February. Therefore for a notice recently served the landlord would need to have served you a 21(4)a notice giving you a minimum of two months notice and asking for possession "after 6th May". It reads like he asked for possession "after 5th May" which is a mistake as it doesn't tally with the end of a period. From reading various forums it does seem that judges are very picky about S21 dates so I reckon you've a good chance of getting it struck out thus causing the delay you want. I can't quite figure where the 5th May comes in but it's late at night so perhaps someone else will double check the dates.

Of course if your landlord is in financial difficulties and doesn't have consent to let you may have to move in a rush regardless, so worth checking that aspect.

I see nothing wrong with expecting things to be done to the letter of the law as asking someone to move from their home is a serious business. If the tenant was giving notice during a periodic tenancy they have to comply with giving notice to the end of a period too.

Blacksheep1979

franklee wrote: »

I see nothing wrong with expecting things to be done to the letter of the law as asking someone to move from their home is a serious business. If the tenant was giving notice during a periodic tenancy they have to comply with giving notice to the end of a period too.

Maybe not - but then, as said, don't be surprised if the landlord does exactly the same thing in return. Also will you be needing a reference for the next property...