Renting issues: LL needs to decorate, we want to move out.

shoegal26

Husband and I need some advice re our current renting situation. We have been renting our flat privately for just over 2 years, we have been saving up and plan on buying a house. While we have been here we have suffered from mould on/off as have the other flats that our LL owns. After hearing a horror story about mould I called the council for some cleaning mould advice. Unfortunately the council followed it up by requesting to inspect the property, after ignoring them it became apparent that we would have to let them inspect. We advised the LL immediately and apologised not realising what a mess it would turn into, the council followed it up with a letter outlining their requests and ordering him to make certain upgrades.

LL has told us to move all of our furniture to the centre of the rooms and that work would start on Monday for 3-4 days. I explained that we would have to move out (under advice from Dr) as I am pregnant and that we would be staying with friends but needed to let them know how long for. LL did not comment about this but would not commit to how long it would take to complete saying just somewhere between 3-4 days. This evening the decorator came over to measure up and we asked him directly, he told us that he had advised LL it would take 2 weeks (I am bemused as to why LL did not tell us this).

As I mentioned we are planning on buying a house and we have talked to my parents re moving in with them for a couple of months to save some extra cash beforehand. I’m not sure what type of contract we are on, it says ‘shorthold tenancy agreement’, we renewed our contract in July 10 and it says initial term is 6 months and expiry date is July 11. LL told us at the time that it would enable us to move out earlier if we wanted to. Do you know how much notice we have to give her? Our friends a few doors down are leaving and she told them that they have to give 2 months – is it the same for us? There is nothing in our contract about it.

Logistically what would be best? 1) to hand our notice in and let her decorate after we leave so that we can just go and then not worry about having 2 weeks not here in the middle of our notice period or 2) have them decorate and not have to worry about pristinely cleaning the place before we leave (you know the little smudges on the white walls that you get).

I feel that we have brought this on ourselves but we have also put up with an awful lot from LL since we have been here. Is it right for us to pay rent for 2 weeks that we are not here (due to me being pregnant, even decorator said I shouldn’t be here), surely LL should at least tell us that it will be 2 weeks?!

We want a fresh start as much as we sense LL wants rid of us!

G_M

we renewed our contract in July 10 and it says initial term is 6 months and expiry date is July 11.

This makes no sense. Please re-read and tell us.

July 10th. 6 month contract. = expiry January 9th.

If so, you are now on a periodic (monthly) contract and need to give one month notice aligned with the rental period ie you've missed March 10th so your one month notice, which you can give any time, would run from April 10th to May 9th.

Alternatively, if your fixed term was 12 months, not 6, then you are stuck till July (9th, not 11th.)

However, you can always reach an alternative arrangemnt by agreement with the landlord. If he agrees, you can end the tenancy at any time (though get his agreement in writing to be safe).

Alternatively, continue with the tenancy but insist that the landlord provide accomodation. You have a contract. You pay rent, he provides a place to live. If the property is uninhabitable during renovations, the landlord must provide somewhere else - another house, a hotel, whatever. (you still need to pay the same rent, he pays for any extra amount involved).

tbs624

G_M wrote:

...This makes no sense

Perhaps the new FT agreement was for 12 months but has a break clause ( with mutual 2 months notice requirement) which can be brought into play after 6 months?

OP - you need to properly re-read your tenancy agreement.

As G_M says, LL has to provide you with alternative accommodation if the property is uninhabitable.

shoegal26

Sorry what I had meant was that we renewed in July 2010 and it says initial term 6 months (January 2011) and that expiry date is July 2011. With all the things that have gone wrong with the flat I doubt very much that LL would want us to renew anyway but more to the point we want to leave now but don’t know how much notice we need to give?

DVardysShadow

shoegal26 wrote: »

Sorry what I had meant was that we renewed in July 2010 and it says initial term 6 months (January 2011) and that expiry date is July 2011. With all the things that have gone wrong with the flat I doubt very much that LL would want us to renew anyway but more to the point we want to leave now but don’t know how much notice we need to give?

Sadly, no one here can answer how much notice you need to give, it is entirely governed by the terms of your contract. If you are outside of a fixed period, you need to give 1 full month notice, to end at the end of a rent period. But whether you are still in a fixed period and how you may give notice if you are will be in the agreement which only you can see.

G_M

shoegal26 wrote: »

Sorry what I had meant was that we renewed in July 2010 and it says initial term 6 months (January 2011) and that expiry date is July 2011. With all the things that have gone wrong with the flat I doubt very much that LL would want us to renew anyway but more to the point we want to leave now but don’t know how much notice we need to give?

This continues not to make sense. There is no distinction between 'initial term' and 'expiry'.

A contract has a start date, and an end date. It starts, it ends.

The fixed term appears from what you say to start on July 10th and end on either Jan 9th or July 9th.

Without knowing if you are still in the fixed term it is impossible to advise you.

tbs is right that some contracts have a 'break clause', but you make no mention of this. If there IS a break clause, the wording is critical as it can vary. Some allow the tenancy to be terminated early at the 6 month point, some allow termination at any time after the 6 month point. Usually also there are conditions to this relating to notice.

Please provide:
Start date:
Term:
End date:
Wording regarding this 'initial term':
Break clause wording:
Any other wording related to dates, term, breaks etc

shoegal26

Right, the contract says word for word:

Initial TERM of the tenancy will be: 6 months
COMMENCEMENT date; from and including: 8 July 2010
EXPIRY date; to and including: 7 July 2011

Does that make any more sense? This is why I am so confused!!

corbyboy

shoegal26 wrote: »

Right, the contract says word for word:

Initial TERM of the tenancy will be: 6 months
COMMENCEMENT date; from and including: 8 July 2010
EXPIRY date; to and including: 7 July 2011

Does that make any more sense? This is why I am so confused!!

It seems somebody has made a mistake when drawing up the contract.

G_M

corbyboy wrote: »

It seems somebody has made a mistake when drawing up the contract.

Indeed. Who on earth wrote this contract? The (amateur) landlord? Some two-bit agency?

I think (note the word!) the legal position would be to take the first two statements (6 months AST from 8 July) and ignore the subsequent contradictory statement (end date).

So your 6 month fixed term ended after 6 months on 7th Jan and you now have a monthly (I assume you pay rent monthly not weekly?) periodic tenancy.

Provided you give notice in the next 3 weeks, your required ONE month notice will run from 8th April and your tenancy will end on 7th May.

Unless you reach a mutual agreement for something else.

shoegal26

I need some further advice please. The tenancy is a fixed term shorthold tenancy according to a letter we recieved today from the landlord association. A quick google tells me they are people who evict bad tennents (always thought we were wonderful tennants).When we moved in we paid 1 months rent in advance (as well as deposit) and yes we pay monthly. So does the above still apply.So onto this letter we recieved today, it basically says they won't be renewing our tennancy. As I said this is fine because we want to move our but due to our situation it's particulary distressing, especially as the LL was aware of our situation.Letter says that they are serving notice upon us under section 21 of the housing act 1988. The tennancy comes to an end on 7th July 2011. If we fail to leave by this date we will be evicted.However when we turn to the last page it also says "the length of notice must be at least two months and the notice may be given before or on the day which the fixed term comes to an end".Surely this contradicts when they say we should have left by 7th Jul?However - we want to go now - so I am trying to figure out how much notice WE need to give and I'm not sure if the above statement refers to her or us or both. Any advice for a distressed pg lady?!!Thanks x

G_M

shoegal26 wrote: »

I need some further advice please. The tenancy is a fixed term shorthold tenancy according to a letter we recieved today from the landlord association. No, as explained above it was a fixed term Assured Shorthold Tenancy, but this ended on 7th Jan (after 6 months since it was a 6 month term.) It is now a periodic AST. A quick google tells me they are people who evict bad tennents (always thought we were wonderful tennants).When we moved in we paid 1 months rent in advance (as well as deposit)this is normal and yes we pay monthly.so it is a monthly periodic AST now. So does the above still apply.Yes So onto this letter we recieved today, it basically says they won't be renewing our tennancy. As I said this is fine because we want to move our but due to our situation it's particulary distressing, especially as the LL was aware of our situation.Letter says that they are serving notice upon us under section 21 of the housing act 1988. The tennancy comes to an end on 7th July 2011.As explained above they are confused. The fixed term has already ended. The 'tenancy' ends when correct notice is given and the tenant leaves. If we fail to leave by this date we will be evicted.However when we turn to the last page it also says "the length of notice must be at least two monthsin a periodic tenancy, which I believe this now is, the landlord has to give two months notice, the tenant only has to give one month notice as above. This is law. If something different is written in the contract, it is irrelevant. and the notice may be given before or on the day which the fixed term comes to an end".Since they have misunderstood their own contract, and the fixed term has already ended, they have failed to give notice before it ends. The notice is probobly invalid if they have issued a S21 (1)b. As it is a periodic tenancy, they should be issuing a S21 (4) a Surely this contradicts when they say we should have left by 7th Jul?However - we want to go now - so I am trying to figure out how much notice WE need to give and I'm not sure if the above statement refers to her or us or both. Any advice for a distressed pg lady?!!Thanks x

Ignore their letter. It is
a) based on poor understanding of the tenancy, and the law and
b) irrelevant.

They appear to want you to leave on July 7th. Since you want to leave before then their letter is unimportant. Give them one months notice from 7th April, and leave on/before May 7th. Make sure your notice is received in good time.

1) Send it to the landlord at the address on the contract
2) As a belt and braces precaution you could send a copy to the agent/LL Association whoever
3) send two copies, from 2 separate post offices, and ask the PO for 'proof of posting'. This makes it impossible for the LL to claim it was not received
4) Make clear your tenancy is now periodic so they don't try to claim you have to stay till July:
" I refer you to my tenancy agreement, dated (date signed), which states the commencement date is July 7th and the term is 6 months.
Since the fixed term has now expired , please accept this letter as one months notice to end my monthly periodic tenancy, notice to run from April 8th to May 7th.

I shall be in touch nearer the time to request a check-out inspection, and for joint meter-reading."

(I assume your deposit is protected? If not I suggest you request this is done too.)