Notice to LL 3 days late?

aceface1981

Hi all,

I hope someone can advise me. Im currently renting through a private landlord and property management agency and need to hand in my notice...

Ive been here over a year and the contract stipulates that i can give 1 months notice and my LL can give me 2 months... BUT the notice must be served at the end of a rental period which i hadn realised.

I want to contact my LL tomorrow (4th April) and give one months notice.... problem is I pay my rent on the 1st of every month...

So does this mean i have to now wait until May 1st before i can hand i my notice to leave??? meaning i have to pay the rent until the end of May?!

Basically im 3 days late handing it in... :(:( ???

G_M

I assume this is Eng/Wales?
And the fixed term of your original contract has ended?

The date you pay rent is irrelevant. What matters is the dates of each rental period. If your original fixed term ended on, say 31st Jan, then your rental periods are 1st of each month to last of the following month. This may or may not be the same as the dates you pay rent.

But yes, if rental periods start on the 1st, you've missed April and will hav to give notice on/before 31st April to leave on 31st May.

You can, of course, discuss any other date with the landlord - As long as he agrees (get it in writing) you can leave any day at all!

aceface1981

Looks like i could well be screwed then...

Ive a new tenancy starting May 1st and have already put down the deposit. I was under the impression i could just pay the odd 4 days to make up the full month.

Ive always been a good tennent, paid the rent always on time and didnt complain at all when the boiler broke and we had no hot water for 3 weeks while the LL faffed around getting the best price...

Whatever happens im going to have to move out on the 1st May....but it makes me sick to think the LL if she wants can just kick back and enjoy my deposit money until the end of May.. :(:(

Guess all I can do is call her...

franklee

Assuming you are on a periodic tenancy, you can request of your LL that she takes a straight months notice but she can say no and enforce you giving notice till the end of a period. However she can't use the property during that time and expect to get rent from you as well. If for example she moves another tenant in you should pay rent pro-rata till the date the new tenant moves in although I'm not sure if you are entitled to a rebate.

Also you should serve your notice in good time or you will miss it again.

If OTOH you are leaving at the end of a fixed term then you do not need to give notice and you pay rent just to the end of the fixed term - regardless of what the tenancy agreement says - so long as you vacate before the end of the fixed term.

Kynthia

It's not the LL's fault you missed giving notice in time for when you want to leave. It's also likely that your landlord would need to receive the notice in writing at the address on the AST before it begins.

Why don't you negotiate if you have a good relationship. It's only a few days short so suggest that you pay for a month from tomorrow or Thursday, allow frequent viewings, keep the place presentable for these viewings, sing the LL's praises to prospective tenants, etc. There's usually a way to make everyone happy.

mr_fishbulb

This may sound like a crazy idea, but why don't you phone up your LL and see what they have to say? They might be fine with it.

aceface1981

Kynthia wrote: »

It's not the LL's fault you missed giving notice in time for when you want to leave. It's also likely that your landlord would need to receive the notice in writing at the address on the AST before it begins.

Why don't you negotiate if you have a good relationship. It's only a few days short so suggest that you pay for a month from tomorrow or Thursday, allow frequent viewings, keep the place presentable for these viewings, sing the LL's praises to prospective tenants, etc. There's usually a way to make everyone happy.

I know its not the LL fault and we do have a good relationship. Ill speak to her tomorrow and hopefully itll just be a case of finding someone else to take it over... whats annoying though is that following a boiler breakdown in freezing january the new boiler had to be relocated and installed on the exterior wall in the second (my) bedroom which a) wakes me up when it fires up in the night b) makes the room really hot whenever its on and c) means theres now 4 sets of copper piping running around the room which really needs covering up as looks so unsightly. The rooms expensive enough and i really think we'll struggle to fill it...