Please help, what notice do I have to give to landlord?

Pookielydia

I was on a AST starting on the 29th of June 2009 for 6 months and when that agreement expired neither me nor the landlord signed another tenancy agreement so it automatically went onto a periodic tenancy which is how it's been ever since the original AST expired but I'm wondering what notice period am I required to give and how would I word the notice to quit letter?

The house we (me and my fiancee) are going to move into will only be held for us until the 15th of February so we have to move in on that date which is exactly 4 weeks from today.

The below would have shown a screenshot of the original AST which says when the rent is payable, how much the rent is per week and at what interval it's to be paid at but as I'm a new user of the site I can't post links yet, but if you change the hxxp to http with the rest of the link address to the picture you will see it.

hxxp://img28.imageshack.us/img28/8351/rentn.jpg

But anyway if you don't want to view the picture it shows a screenshot of the original AST which states,

Rent £90 per week in advance by equal 4 weekly payments.

First payment to be made on the 29th of June 2009 (date we moved in)

So am I on a week by week periodic tenancy or a 4 weekly periodic tenancy or neither of those?

I do pay the rent every 4 weeks and these are all the dates I've paid rent since I moved in,

29th June 2009
27th July 2009
24th August 2009
21st September 2009
19th October 2009
16th November 2009
14th December 2009

11th January 2010
8th February 2010
8th March 2010
5th April 2010
3rd May 2010
31st May 2010
28th June 2010
26th July 2010
23rd August 2010
20th September 2010
18th October 2010
15th November 2010
13th December 2010

10th January 2011
7th February 2011 (THE DATE THE NEXT RENT PAYMENT IS DUE)

I've always paid the rent 4 weeks in advance since I moved in so am never in arrears so will I be owed anything if I pay the rent on the 7th of February as that will cover the period from the 7th of February till the 7th of March (if I was still living in the current property this is the date the rent would be due again) but I won't be living there from the 15th of February due to moving into our new house.

G_M

Are you in England/Wales or Scotland? The rules are different.
If England, as you have a weekly tenancy you need to give 4 weeks notice. It needs to coincide with a rent period ie since you pay rent each Monday, the notice must be for a Sunday and must be served on the LL at least 4 weeks prior to the Sunday in question.

As you have missed Monday 17th Jan, your 4 weeks notice will commence 24th Jan (asuming you get the notice to LL by then), to take effect from 20th Feb (your final day).

Pookielydia

I'm in England,

And the tenancy agreement does state the rent is £90 per week but I don't pay it weekly on a Monday I pay it every 4 weeks on a Monday, does that make any difference?

Also if I serve 4 weeks notice commencing 24th January 2011 to take effect on the 20th of February 2011, we would still have to move out on the 15th of February to our new house but obviously we would still be liable for any damages etc at the old house until the 20th of February.

G_M

Pookielydia wrote: »

I'm in England,

And the tenancy agreement does state the rent is £90 per week but I don't pay it weekly on a Monday I pay it every 4 weeks on a Monday, does that make any difference?

Also if I serve 4 weeks notice commencing 24th January 2011 to take effect on the 20th of February 2011, we would still have to move out on the 15th of February to our new house but obviously we would still be liable for any damages etc at the old house until the 20th of February.

Rent £90 per week in advance by equal 4 weekly payments.

It's a weekly rent.

It is entirely up to you whether or not you live in a property you rent and/or whether you spend nights away.

But your tenancy continues until it ends.

sonastin

Might be wrong with this but I think if you surrender the property to the LL and hand over the keys, you won't be responsbile for any damage that occurs after that. I think the LL might have to agree to that though. Not sure what damage can happen between 15th and 20th that you could be held responsible for - especially if you don't go back there. Having a few days overlap means you can take your time moving from one to the next though - and leaves you plenty of time to give the place a good clean before you get your deposit back.

Pookielydia

Pookielydia wrote: »

I'm in England,

And the tenancy agreement does state the rent is £90 per week but I don't pay it weekly on a Monday I pay it every 4 weeks on a Monday, does that make any difference?

Also if I serve 4 weeks notice commencing 24th January 2011 to take effect on the 20th of February 2011, we would still have to move out on the 15th of February to our new house but obviously we would still be liable for any damages etc at the old house until the 20th of February.

Just one more thing, if I am able to leave on the 20th of February (we'll actually be leaving on the 15th) but the rent is due on the 7th of February and that would mean the rent would be fully paid up until the 7th of March so shouldn't I actually only pay 2 weeks rent from the 7th of February to the 20th of February?

As I'm sure I shouldn't have to pay the full months rent of £360 right? As I won't even be living there after the 20th (well 15th) of February.

sonastin wrote: »

Might be wrong with this but I think if you surrender the property to the LL and hand over the keys, you won't be responsbile for any damage that occurs after that. I think the LL might have to agree to that though. Not sure what damage can happen between 15th and 20th that you could be held responsible for - especially if you don't go back there. Having a few days overlap means you can take your time moving from one to the next though - and leaves you plenty of time to give the place a good clean before you get your deposit back.

Okay thanks,

And the area we currently live, well what can I say 5 days empty house = trouble

When we first moved in almost a month later 2 cars got set on fire (read as deliberately blown up outside our house) I found that out later on that the neighbours who lived next door at the time paid someone to do it for insurance purposes, they didn't give a sh*t that we had 2 kids in the house and if anything went wrong (apart from the obvious) anyone of us could have got hurt! And then sometime last year another car was set on fire in the alleyway behind the house.

Now you get a fair idea of why we want to get out of this area, as it's just not getting any better and even if it were I'd want to get out of here.

Pookielydia

Oops double post...

G_M

Pookielydia wrote: »

Just one more thing, if I am able to leave on the 20th of February (we'll actually be leaving on the 15th) but the rent is due on the 7th of February and that would mean the rent would be fully paid up until the 7th of March so shouldn't I actually only pay 2 weeks rent from the 7th of February to the 20th of February?

As I'm sure I shouldn't have to pay the full months rent of £360 right? As I won't even be living there after the 20th (well 15th) of February.

...

You pay rent at the weekly amount until the contract ends. So if you pay on 7th Feb and contract is ending on 20th Feb, that's 2x90 = £180