End of tenancy help

Imelda

Hi All,

I have read the sticky at the top of the page and found it very useful, thank you.

However I have a particular issue which I am hoping you can help with.

We have lived in our rental property for the past 2.5 yrs and are now looking to buy. We are part way through a purchase but at the moment we're not even sure if it's going to go through as some issues arose with the property and the Vendors are following up with some guarantees

Our fixed term ended on 18th August this year and so we are now on a periodic tenancy, under which I understand we have to give 1 month's notice and the LL 2 months.

The landlord contacted us this week asking us to sign for another 6 months and my husband explained our potential plans. (I should add the LL has been more than reasonable over the past few years, even agreeing to a rent reduction!).

Yesterday he brought round 4 EAs who have told him he can rent the flat for huge sums (seriously- 40% more than we pay) and that he should really rent it out in October as the rental market drops in November.

So, he wants us to:
a) sign for another 6 months (at a higher rent, but not the full 40% rise as we have been such good tenants)
b) be out at the end of October.

I have looked at our agreement and it states that it "falls outside the scope of the Housing Act 1988". Does that mean the usual s.21/ dates etc do not apply and he can in fact have us out at the end of October? Working on the s.21 principle I believe the earliest he could ask us to leave is 18th November (rent is paid on the 18th of the month).

The only thing our agreement says about notice periods is regarding the end of the 6 month break clause where 2 months have to be given by either side.

I don't want to mess the LL around but at the same time I do think he has been somewhat led by the EAs who, of course, are going to want us out as soon as possible to they get their new fees!

Thanks in advance.

Imelda

ok, I think I understand now, the agreement is a "common law tenancy" and the HA 1988 does apply because our rent is more than £25k per annum- does anyone know if this level has changed I am pretty certain I saw somewhere it is now £75k per annum....

Thanks.

silvercar

Don't think its changed yet.

If it is not an AST then you are bound by contract law; basically anything it says in the contract applies unless it is an unfair term. So you need to read what is written regarding notice etc.

Don't sign for 6 months if you want to be out in November.

N79

Imelda wrote: »

Hi All,

I have read the sticky at the top of the page and found it very useful, thank you.

However I have a particular issue which I am hoping you can help with.

We have lived in our rental property for the past 2.5 yrs and are now looking to buy. We are part way through a purchase but at the moment we're not even sure if it's going to go through as some issues arose with the property and the Vendors are following up with some guarantees

Our fixed term ended on 18th August this year and so we are now on a periodic tenancy, under which I understand we have to give 1 month's notice and the LL 2 months.

The landlord contacted us this week asking us to sign for another 6 months and my husband explained our potential plans. (I should add the LL has been more than reasonable over the past few years, even agreeing to a rent reduction!).

Yesterday he brought round 4 EAs who have told him he can rent the flat for huge sums (seriously- 40% more than we pay) and that he should really rent it out in October as the rental market drops in November.

So, he wants us to:
a) sign for another 6 months (at a higher rent, but not the full 40% rise as we have been such good tenants)
b) be out at the end of October.

I have looked at our agreement and it states that it "falls outside the scope of the Housing Act 1988". Does that mean the usual s.21/ dates etc do not apply and he can in fact have us out at the end of October? Working on the s.21 principle I believe the earliest he could ask us to leave is 18th November (rent is paid on the 18th of the month).

The only thing our agreement says about notice periods is regarding the end of the 6 month break clause where 2 months have to be given by either side.

I don't want to mess the LL around but at the same time I do think he has been somewhat led by the EAs who, of course, are going to want us out as soon as possible to they get their new fees!

Thanks in advance.

Its a common law tenancy so notice is either as stated in the contract (but at least one full rental period) or else, if the contract is silent, then it will be at least one full rental period (but the notice can not expire during the tenancy fixed period).

As you are aware, the provision of S21 of the housing act do not apply. Is there any provision for notice within the tenancy agreement?

Imelda

Thanks Silvercar,

I have been doing some research and found that it IS changing, to £100k but on 1st October 2010! However, our deposit is protected- I thought only ASTs used protection? And it couldn't be done for common law tenancies...

No, we won't be signing anything new at the moment, however if we do not proceed with the purchase we will sign again for 6 months.

I'm now just wondering how much notice we/ the landlord have to give. In the agreement it just states that if we want to end the tenancy at the end of 6 months fixed time we have to give 2 months' notice.... nothing about it being periodic.

Also, it says "written notice" would that include email?

N79

Imelda wrote: »

Thanks Silvercar,

I have been doing some research and found that it IS changing, to £100k but on 1st October 2010! However, our deposit is protected- I thought only ASTs used protection? And it couldn't be done for common law tenancies...

Oops, I suspect that no one (LL or scheme) checked to see if the deposit was eligible for protection. Still no problem for you as you are now benefiting from the protection.

No, we won't be signing anything new at the moment, however if we do not proceed with the purchase we will sign again for 6 months.

I'm now just wondering how much notice we/ the landlord have to give. In the agreement it just states that if we want to end the tenancy at the end of 6 months fixed time we have to give 2 months' notice.... nothing about it being periodic.

In the absence of anything in the tenancy agreement to the contrary, when the tenancy is periodic you will have to give notice of at least one rental period (a calender month if that is how often you pay the rent) to end on the last day of a rental period. Your rental period will start the day after the last day of the fixed period.

Also, it says "written notice" would that include email?

No.

Imelda

great, thanks.

In short, our rent is paid on the 18th of the month. So unless we get a letter in the next couple of days we can (if push comes to shove) argue to stay until 18th November.

That's a relief, thanks for your help.

N79

Imelda wrote: »

great, thanks.

In short, our rent is paid on the 18th of the month. So unless we get a letter in the next couple of days we can (if push comes to shove) argue to stay until 18th November.

That's a relief, thanks for your help.

The date your rent is paid is not relevant (only rental periods matter - this is a common error made by MSE posters as the rent due date and the tenancy period may be the same but are, in fact, independent). What is the last date of your fixed period?

Imelda

18th August 2010

Imelda

:mad: :mad: :mad:

I now realise how INCREDIBILY stupid we have been.

We thought it was only right to give our LL as much info as possible about our plans to prepare him, after 2.5yrs, to re let his property.

He is going to serve our 1mth notice today so we have to leave 17th October.

IF our purchase goes ahead the Vendors want to complete around the half term at the end of October.

Brilliant.

If only we had kept our mouths shut for a week or two we could have easily managed to move from one to the other and even have a decent overlap to get some works done.

I am so frustrated by all of this. I wanna move home to my mum

Now: practicalities. I am so pished off by our LL, we thought we were doing the right thing giving him the heads up and so, I guess, expected some kind of leeway back :rotfl:
Well, the gloves are now off.

Can someone enlighten me on the rules regarding allowing viewings etc? ie, the following:

• notice periods
• can I insist on being present (after all, all our things are here)
• can we restrict times of day ie meal times/ evenings? my DH works long hours and the last thing he needs at 9pm is a trail of people poking around.

Thanks

nembot

The landlord must give two months notice to end a tenancy (even if outside of AST, i.e. rolling) if he tries to evict you in one month - he will be commiting a criminal offence.

The law is the law, no matter what the agreement suggests.

He must also give notice in advance of the regular monthly payment date or it'll be 3 months (minus a day or so).

They're trying it on, be calm but make sure they understand.