Advice about moving out of rented accomodation please

debsue

Hi
My daughter rents a flat and after a great deal of harassement from the landlord she today received a notice to move out by the 9th July. Does that mean she has to wait until then to move out or can I move her out anytime? The rent is paid in advance and is due on Monday, if she moves out next weekend will she have to pay the full months rent or just 1 week?
Thanks in advance

Deb

BitterAndTwisted

Does your daughter have a current AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) agreement for the flat?

lynzpower

woah woah slow down!

What do you mean, harrassment? What has the landlord been doing?

She is protected you know she doesn't have to just "roll over"

Tell us the full story, im sure we can help :cool:

debsue

Hi, I think it is, it was a six month contract to start with and then it was monthly thing, she has been there eight months now.

thanks Deb

Fire_Fox

If your daughter is out of the fixed term she can counter serve her own notice to quit, which will be one month coinciding with a rental period. So if she pays rent on the 10th of the month she can serve notice to arrive with the landlord by the 10th May to vacate the property by 9th June. She can move out at any time but will still be liable for the rent for the full month unless the landlord agree (in writing) otherwise.

debsue

Ok here goes, long story. She moved in last October and was originally on statutory sick pay , the rent was £370 pcm. The landlady said if she got a job she would reduce it to £350 as her housing benefit would go down. In December, my daughter got a job in the local supermarket 24 hours per week, the landlady reduced the rent as agreed. This April my daughter turned 25, prior to her birthday the landlady started visiting her at work saying that when she was 25 the benefits will go up and she should reduce her hours to 16 so she would be entitled to full housing benefit and she would put the rent up to £400. My daughter was scared of her coming into the supermarket as she would go on and on every time she saw her, the landlady was also frequently going into the council offices asking if her benefit had been reasessed. I spoke to her as my daughter was very upset and she assured me the rent would be staying the same. However just after her birthday she received a hand written note through her door saying that the rent would increase to £400 as from 9th May. I spoke to the local fair rent people and they told me she had to issue a Section 13 paper and the letter was not legal. I wrote to her informing her of this and my daughter received the Section 13 paper with the rent increase today along with a two month notice to quit the property.

Thanks

pyueck

debsue wrote: »

Ok here goes, long story. She moved in last October and was originally on statutory sick pay , the rent was £370 pcm. The landlady said if she got a job she would reduce it to £350 as her housing benefit would go down. In December, my daughter got a job in the local supermarket 24 hours per week, the landlady reduced the rent as agreed. This April my daughter turned 25, prior to her birthday the landlady started visiting her at work saying that when she was 25 the benefits will go up and she should reduce her hours to 16 so she would be entitled to full housing benefit and she would put the rent up to £400. My daughter was scared of her coming into the supermarket as she would go on and on every time she saw her, the landlady was also frequently going into the council offices asking if her benefit had been reasessed. I spoke to her as my daughter was very upset and she assured me the rent would be staying the same. However just after her birthday she received a hand written note through her door saying that the rent would increase to £400 as from 9th May. I spoke to the local fair rent people and they told me she had to issue a Section 13 paper and the letter was not legal. I wrote to her informing her of this and my daughter received the Section 13 paper with the rent increase today along with a two month notice to quit the property.

Thanks

This sounds ridiculous, why is what job your daughter does influencing the rent? Your daughter can put her notice to leave on the next rent due day that falls a month from the date of the notice. I would leave, this landlord sounds very bad. Have you paid a deposit, has it been protected?

debsue

No, there was no deposit, the landlady was a "friend", I signed to say I would cover any damage done to the property (there has been none). I want her out ASAP

Fire_Fox

Dodgy landlord trying to take advantage of the LHA system, your daughter is best to serve one month's notice ASAP if she can. If your daughter does serve notice I would suggest she does so by more than one method: perhaps one copy recorded delivery and one hand delivered with an independent witness present if possible. If not two copies sent from different post offices by normal first class mail BUT get a (free) certificate of posting each time.

I am pretty sure the landlord has to give one month's notice of the rent increase so she cannot change the rent for the 9th May at this late stage. Is your daughter's damage deposit lodged with one of the three schemes? If so just pay the amount of rent in the AST, be sure to take photographs of the condition EVERYTHING on her last day and any disputes can be handled by the arbitrators.

ETA: cross post I see there was no deposit, the rest still stands.