Tenancy notice in NI

Paula202

Hi there, I have been renting a property for 4 1/2 years, we initially signed a contract for 6 months, when this was up I asked for a longer contract as we were really happy in the house, the LL agreed on the condition that we would give 2 months notice, which I agreed to.

Everything was fine, the LL has been great (although all communications through a letting agency) until 3 weeks ago when I was advised by the letting agency that someone had shown an interest in buying the property and they wanted to know if I would agree to them looking around, which I did. This came totally out of the blue and has really made me anxious about my position.

Due to this I decided to look around and see what other properties are available and typically enough I have found one I really love. The owners of the new property wouldn't be willing to wait the 2 month period so I asked the agency to see if the LL would be willing under the circumstances to accept 1 months notice, they have said no .

Sorry for the long post but I'm getting to the point now my contract was up for renewal at the end of August, the LL agreed to another 12 month contract, however, I have not yet signed this, simply because the agency's office is awkward to get to and I just forgot to be honest. Can this now work in my favour, does this mean I now have a periodic contract and therefore am only required legally to give 1 months notice? I would like to raise this only as a last resort as I really would like to leave on good terms.

Thanks in advance and again sorry for the long post.

PS I have posted this in the Renting thread also but I hope to get more responses here as its NI specific

Greentea

If you havent signed a new contract, its periodic and you only need to give 1 months notice by law. Does it say in your old contract about when the 12 months contract period ends that the contract reverts onto a periodic contract? Does this then specify one month?

Legalities aside its best to work with your landlord, I can see you have, they should hopefully be equally understanding and if you want to move they should accept 1 month notice, after all you have been a good tenant for 4 1/2 years which is a long time and for the landlord a long period with no voids.

Good Luck!

leftieM

You must give 28 days written notice. This does not need to coincide with when you pay the rent and you can pay the proportion of the rent that is owed for any month. Make sure that you receive written confirmation of receipt of the notice. Also ensure that you take photos of the house before you leave and get the landlord's agent to give you a written report on the condition of the house. Landlords retain deposits on a regular basis and they just hope you won't come after them. Make sure you have evidence if you need to go to court for your deposit.
Contact the Housing advice ni people if you need more help. I thought they were great when I wanted to extract myself from a rented house and the LL held on to the deposit.