Periodic Tenancy - When do I have to give notice?

ArchThorpe

I am currently on a periodic tenancy, which was originally an AST that started on February 7th 2009.

Therefore, I normally pay rent on the 7th of the month and so the last day of each rent period is the 6th.

If I want to give notice to vacate on 6th January 2011, do I have to give notice by 23:59 on the 6th December (today) or the 7th December.

Also, the landlord has said that he will accept an email as written proof. If I send it in an email, will that be sufficient?

Would really appreciate it, if somebody could clear this up for me.

EDIT: BTW I pay rent monthly

N79

ArchThorpe wrote: »

I am currently on a periodic tenancy, which was originally an AST that started on February 7th 2009.

Therefore, I normally pay rent on the 7th of the month and so the last day of each rent period is the 6th.

If I want to give notice to vacate on 6th January 2011, do I have to give notice by 23:59 on the 6th December (today) or the 7th December.

Also, the landlord has said that he will accept an email as written proof. If I send it in an email, will that be sufficient?

Would really appreciate it, if somebody could clear this up for me.

EDIT: BTW I pay rent monthly

Legally, you would have to serve (not give) notice in writing today (6th December) - which clearly is not going to happen.

Anything else (by email, a day late, etc) is between you and your LL - and they have no legal obligation to accept it (despite any verbal comments they may have made).

ArchThorpe

N79 wrote: »

Legally, you would have to serve (not give) notice in writing today (6th December) - which clearly is not going to happen.

Anything else (by email, a day late, etc) is between you and your LL - and they have no legal obligation to accept it (despite any verbal comments they may have made).

Oh. So does an email not count as in writing? What if I put a letter in the post tonight, or if I put it through the LA's door tonight?

N79

ArchThorpe wrote: »

Oh. So does an email not count as in writing?

No, because the notice must be served (ie received) and it is impossible to tell if email has been delivered.

ArchThorpe wrote: »

What if I put a letter in the post tonight,

Too late, first class post is considered served 2 working days after posting (posting would be tomorrow as today's post has already gone) ie your notice would be served on Thursday

ArchThorpe wrote: »

or if I put it through the LA's door tonight?

In my opinion still to late as, in the normal course of business, a business would not receive a letter put through their door at 2200 until the following day. Hence your notice would be served a day late.

However, all of the above only matters if your LL actually cares. So send your email, follow up in writing (through the door tonight if you like) and see as you only need to worry about the legalities if your LL choses to be difficult (which you have already indicated that they wont be).

At the risk of sounding patronising, or indeed like my mother, could I suggest that you plan things a little bit further ahead in future!

ArchThorpe

N79 wrote: »

However, all of the above only matters if your LL actually cares. So send your email, follow up in writing (through the door tonight if you like) and see as you only need to worry about the legalities if your LL choses to be difficult (which you have already indicated that they wont be).

At the risk of sounding patronising, or indeed like my mother, could I suggest that you plan things a little bit further ahead in future!

Thanks. If they email me back and say that they accept the notice, am I then OK? I wouldn't like a situation where he could turn around on January 7th, say that he didn't accept the notice and ask where the next rent payment is - I would ideally like closure one way or the other.

I take onboard what you say about planning. The problem is that I have not yet secured the next property (should be signing the tenancy agreement tomorrow) so I was concerned that if I gave notice, and for some reason the other property fell through, me and my family might be homeless. Still, not good planning on my part.

I did give the LL plenty of verbal notice, so hopefully he will consider that I have been reasonable.

N79

ArchThorpe wrote: »

Thanks. If they email me back and say that they accept the notice, am I then OK? I wouldn't like a situation where he could turn around on January 7th, say that he didn't accept the notice and ask where the next rent payment is - I would ideally like closure one way or the other.

If they reply tonight before midnight, unequivocally accepting then it would make it very hard for the LL to argue that they had not received your notice. If they reply after midnight then that would help you not at all.

ArchThorpe wrote: »

I take onboard what you say about planning. The problem is that I have not yet secured the next property (should be signing the tenancy agreement tomorrow) so I was concerned that if I gave notice, and for some reason the other property fell through, me and my family might be homeless. Still, not good planning on my part.

I did give the LL plenty of verbal notice, so hopefully he will consider that I have been reasonable.

The other option is, of course, to have an overlap between the two properties. There is no law that says that you can not hold two tenancies and having a good overlap makes moving much easier!

As with all LL and T matters good communication will avoid any unpleasant surprises.

ArchThorpe

N79 wrote: »

If they reply tonight before midnight, unequivocally accepting then it would make it very hard for the LL to argue that they had not received your notice. If they reply after midnight then that would help you not at all.

Thanks again. So, does that mean that if they instead reply tomorrow morning and say that they accept the notice, then on Jan 7th they could still turn around and say that they no longer accept it?

G_M

N79 wrote: »

If they reply tonight before midnight, unequivocally accepting then it would make it very hard for the LL to argue that they had not received your notice. If they reply after midnight then that would help you not at all.

Don't quite see the logic here N79. If they reply AFTER midight "unequivocally accepting " then that is fine too.

LL and tenant can make any arrangement they wish provided it is mutually agreed. It is only in the absence of agreement that statuory rights and obligations become critical, and hence dates become critical.

tbs624

ArchThorpe wrote: »

Thanks again. So, does that mean that if they instead reply tomorrow morning and say that they accept the notice, then on Jan 7th they could still turn around and say that they no longer accept it?

No , if they have definitely *accepted* your notice then they have to run with that - you just need proof of their acceptance.

The point is though that if they didn't reply until today you wouldn't know whether or not proceed with your new tenancy agreement, without perhaps having to pay virtually a whole month's overlap.

N79

G_M wrote: »

Don't quite see the logic here N79. If they reply AFTER midight "unequivocally accepting " then that is fine too.

LL and tenant can make any arrangement they wish provided it is mutually agreed. It is only in the absence of agreement that statuory rights and obligations become critical, and hence dates become critical.

Poor wording on my part. I meant what you have said.

ArchThorpe

Even though I have emailed him a couple of times the LL has failed to respond saying whether or not he accepts the notice.

He has mentioned in other emails that I gave notice on the 7th (sent on the 6th as you can see above) with a move out date of Jan 6th, and then mentioned things that he wants done between now and then - but there is nothing definitive.

As he has yet to let the place, I am a little concerned that he is keeping his options open, and might just turn around on Jan 6th and say that he doesn't accept it (I wouldn't put it past this LL or his LA).

Would it be considered reasonable for him to just ignore the requests to confirm whether he accepts or not and then just reject it on Jan 6th?

Also, if I emailed the LA and asked them to confirm the move out date and time, and then replied that it was Jan 6th at noon, would that be sufficient evidence to show that they have accepted the notice?

Incidentally I spoke with the local council's tenants advice line and they said that if I sent it on the 6th it's OK, but having read the advice above, I seriously doubt she was right.