Notice from Landlady to move out

Fire_Fox

100% behind the advice given so far - communicate only by recorded delivery and don't show your hand too soon - if your landlord doesn't lodge your deposit AND serve correct S21 notice by 7th of April you won't have to be out in June, it will be July. If the landlord rings you, politely ask her to reply to your letter by post.

Are you on a separate tenancy agreement to your flatmate? If you are on a joint tenancy (both signed same AST, sounds unlikely) you *may* be liable for his rent if he moves out before you. If you have signed two separate AST and are only each liable for your share of the rent.

Mongy

OK i've been doing some more reading on Section 21 and am a bit confused.

From what i can understand because I have been in the flat since 7th October i have only been there five months and therefore on an AST.

If I received a Section 21 tomorrow for example dated 12th March would that then mean I had two months from 12th March therfore needing to move 12th May. Because after reading about it on google it seems that the notice can be served at any time before the end of tenancy and it just has to give a full 2 months.

I had previously thought that even if i received the notice tomorrow it was two months starting from the six month date therefore 7th June.

aaargh i thought i had it sussed but im confused again on the dates!

My flatmate is on a separate agreement, he has been in flat for about 11 months now and pays his rent on the 1st of each month.

Alex_LS

The notice has to give two full months but they must be from rental date to rental date, not any arbitrary date. So it can be given now, but the two months won't start until the next 7th of the month (April) giving you until 6th June.

It's important when the rental date is - it's not necessarily the same as the payment date. Assuming your flatmate's rental date is the same as his payment date, his notice will start on 1st April and expire on 31st May.

Mongy

OK cool, sorry for being thick!

So to be 100% clear -

1. Assuming that the deposit is held in a scheme then the landlady can serve a Section 21 on me. The absolute earliest I could be required to leave (if for example i received the section 21 tomorrow) would be 7th June, as this is a full two months the April payment date.

or in the other instance:

2. If after I send a letter to her and find that the deposit is not in a scheme, the Section 21 would not be valid and I would also potentially be entitled to compensation. If however I spoke to her we could probably come to an agreement to leave in June and have the full deposit back without further action.

If she did not agree to this she would have to provide me with some sort of different notice other than the 21 as the 21 would not be valid.

Alex_LS

1. 6th June.
2. Correct.

I'm not sure what else she could do to get you out. Her best bet would be to protect the deposit and serve the s21 notice.

Mongy

Ok thanks everyone for your help, been stressing a bit over it, even though it's not me thats in the wrong in anyway, so much appreciated and hopefully you wont need to hear much more from me on it (unless she doesnt have the deposit scheme lol)

Fire_Fox

Mongy wrote: »

2. If after I send a letter to her and find that the deposit is not in a scheme, the Section 21 would not be valid and I would also potentially be entitled to compensation. If however I spoke to her we could probably come to an agreement to leave in June and have the full deposit back without further action.

If she did not agree to this she would have to provide me with some sort of different notice other than the 21 as the 21 would not be valid.

Don't speak to her, deal with everything in writing. You are currently in a legally binding contract, there should be NO misunderstandings about what date you move out on and when you cease being liable for the rent. If your landlords notice to quit is invalid and you still vacate you are technically still liable for the rent as you are still in contract. One party must serve valid notice or you can opt for a documented agreement to terminate the contract at a mutually agreed date.

There are no other forms of no fault notice to quit, it's an S21 or nothing. Once she finds out what she has done wrong, the landlord will need to lodge the deposit and then serve you with a valid S21. She could try to trump up breaches of the lease or rent arrears but it isn't any quicker than an S21 AFAIK.

BitterAndTwisted

Erm, the OP is still in the first six months of the tenancy and that six months expires on the 15th of April so the LL still has time to give ONE MONTH'S notice if she serves the S21 in writing between now and the 16th of this month. That's right, isn't it, that it's only on a periodic tenancy that the LL has to give two month's notice or have I misunderstood?

tbs624

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

.....so the LL still has time to give ONE MONTH'S notice if she serves the S21 in writing between now and the 16th of this month. That's right, isn't it, that it's only on a periodic tenancy that the LL has to give two month's notice or have I misunderstood?

No, and then yes. If a LL wants a T to give up possession they have to give two months notice.

teeni

Alex_LS wrote: »

The notice has to give two full months but they must be from rental date to rental date, not any arbitrary date. So it can be given now, but the two months won't start until the next 7th of the month (April) giving you until 6th June.

It's important when the rental date is - it's not necessarily the same as the payment date. Assuming your flatmate's rental date is the same as his payment date, his notice will start on 1st April and expire on 31st May.

Not so if the 2 months is given within the fixed term it ends on the last day of the 6 month tenancy period if two months left or if issued anytime up to the expiry date ofthe tenancy 2 months after issue even if that runs past the tenancy expiry date..

However in this case the op states that there was never a fixed term so the tenancy is periodic from the start and so 2 months notice ending on the last day of a tenancy period means that a notice issued correctly now would end AFTER the 6th june, very important word AFTER as if the notice says on the 6th it is not valid.

If deposit not protected and ll protects it after a notice has been issued that notice would be invalid and new notice would have to be issued after the deposit has been protected.

Ring Shelter if you want specific advice