Tenant been given notice

moneybunny123

I gave my tenant her two months notice yesterday. She took it about as well as can be expected.

I have no doubts that she will leave without fuss - although, I imagine that she will no doubt leave the place in a mess (i.e. not return it to the condition it should be in as per the tenancy agreement) OR she will leave still owing rent (she's already 6 weeks in arrears).

My question is this......if she decides to leave BEFORE the two months is up, is she allowed? Is she allowed to leave, for example, in just a month? Or even less? Is she obliged to give ME any sort of notice if she doesn't intend to stay for the two months?

BitterAndTwisted

Your tenant is fully entitled to serve you one month's notice.

If she leaves the place in a mess presumably her deposit is protected so you can offset the cost of any cleaning and repairs plus her outstanding rent against it. Any balance will need to be collected via the courts in the usual way. If you can find the tenant.

Hump

Your tenant can leave at any stage now and just pay upto the day she leaves - clearly it makes sense for the tenant to liaise with you to make the exit as painless as possible for all involved.

You've effectively forfeited your right to contractural notice by the service of your own notice.

Also the tenant does not have to return your property to you in exactly the same condition as you let it to her - fair wear and tear is likely to be exhibited even after quite short lets.

N79

Hump wrote: »

Your tenant can leave at any stage now and just pay upto the day she leaves - clearly it makes sense for the tenant to liaise with you to make the exit as painless as possible for all involved.

You've effectively forfeited your right to contractural notice by the service of your own notice.

Morally you may be correct but I would love to see you provide a basis for the assertions you make.

N79

moneybunny123 wrote: »

I gave my tenant her two months notice yesterday. She took it about as well as can be expected.

I have no doubts that she will leave without fuss - although, I imagine that she will no doubt leave the place in a mess (i.e. not return it to the condition it should be in as per the tenancy agreement) OR she will leave still owing rent (she's already 6 weeks in arrears).

My question is this......if she decides to leave BEFORE the two months is up, is she allowed? Is she allowed to leave, for example, in just a month? Or even less? Is she obliged to give ME any sort of notice if she doesn't intend to stay for the two months?

The answer to your question depends on whether you have given notice during a fixed period or during a periodic tenancy.

If you have given notice to expire on the last day of the fixed period then your T can not leave early as they (and you) are still bound by the fixed period.

If the tenancy is a periodic tenancy then your T has more options. During a periodic tenancy, a T can end the tenancy by giving 1 months notice ending on the last day of a rental period. Nothing has changed by you serving notice so this option remains open to the T. Of course, if you gave your 2 months notice on the last day of a rental period then, in effect, your T is unable to give counter notice as their 1 month notice will expire on the same date as your 2 month notice (unless they immediately return the notice). If your notice was served before the last day of a rental period then, of course, the T can counter serve during the rest of the rental period to leave 1 month "early".

Personally, I would advocate that you allow the T to leave at any time provided they give you reasonable notice (say 1 month) rather than holding them to the last day of each rental period, but you have no legal obligation to do this. This helps you by ending the tenancy as early as possible and as amicably as possible. It is rarely worth a fight over a couple of weeks which just ends up with an annoyed T. Of course, I would make such an agreement conditional on reasonable facilitation of viewings, if you intend to re let (say 1 evening per week plus sat morning or afternoon).

Once the tenancy has ended you can address any issues related to outstanding rent or damage above the level of your deposit, assuming that it is worth pursuing the T.

BitterAndTwisted

The tenant can serve their own one month's notice but just like the landlord's it needs to coincide with the rent-due date.

Fair wear and tear is one thing but dirt and damage is another and is chargeable to the tenant. The difficulty will be how one collects it from a tenant who is already in rent-arrears and may be minded to not pay any further sums now that they've received notice.

Hump

I realise there's a huge debate about this on various websites but practically if your tenant wishes to leave after, say 6 weeks, - a little over 2 weeks before your own notice expires - then they having to give a month's notice (or slightly longer presumably to coincide with the rental period) would take them past the date you have asked them to leave by - that would make the arrangement a little unfair.

Ulfar

Hump wrote: »

Your tenant can leave at any stage now and just pay upto the day she leaves - clearly it makes sense for the tenant to liaise with you to make the exit as painless as possible for all involved.

You've effectively forfeited your right to contractural notice by the service of your own notice.

Also the tenant does not have to return your property to you in exactly the same condition as you let it to her - fair wear and tear is likely to be exhibited even after quite short lets.

This is incorrect, the tenant is due to pay up until the end of the contract which is when the notice expires.

They can give a counter notice of 1 month to coincide with the rental period.

Deposit should be protected and hopefully you have a check in inventory that has been signed by both of you.

moneybunny123

Yes, I have a signed inventory, and the tenancy agreement states that she is to return all painted walls into their previous, magnolia state (I doubt she will), that carpets are to be cleaned (again, I doubt she will), oven cleaned, etc, etc, etc.

There is already some disrepair that isn't wear and tear that I doubt she'll fix, and whilst her deposit IS protected, I bet it will only just cover any outstanding rent that she owes.

G_M

The tenant cannot leave early unless either
1) they give you one months notice or
2) you both mutually agree to earlier termination of the contract

Otherwise rent is due until the end of the tenancy (when your 2 months notice is up) or later if the tenant fails to leave at that point.

If the tenant physically leaves early without either telling you/giving you notice, be very careful about taking early posession or even entering. Even if there are rent arrears. Read this on 'abandonment'.

Aquatronixjenny

As far as I understand it, the deposit should only be used to pay for repairs to the property. Any overdue rent is a seperate matter and should be pursued via the small claims court?

Please correct me if I am wrong as I'm not sure.