Landlord states he requires months notice from me to leave property?

ilikewatchingtv

Hi,

I hope someone can help me out with some advice here. I've been renting a house for 2 and a half years, and have always had 6 month assured shorthold tenancy agreements. My current agreement was due to expire today (28/02) and a week or so ago I contacted my landlord and advised him that I didn't wish to renew my tenancy as I would be moving out on 28/02.

I have just met one of the landlords employees to return my keys, and he informed me that the landlord would be retaining 75% of my deposit as I hadn't given him a full months notice that I would be leaving, he stated that this is clearly stipulated in the tenancy agreement. I have now got home and I can see no mention of notice periods in the tenancy agreement, other than one line which states that the landlord can end the tenancy early by giving 2 months notice. Does anyone know if this is correct?, or is he merely trying to get a bit of extra money from me?

andyyorks

One month is the usual notice period of 6 month agreements, obviously I can't see what you signed. Go to your landlord with your agreement and ask them where it states a months notice is need.

thesaint

If you move out on the last day of your fixed term, it is not usually necessary to give a months notice. You have in effect already given notice by not renogiating another extension.

Go to the sheter website, or give them a call.
It ultimately boils down to your tenancy agreement and how it is worded.

scrummy_mummy_2

If you have/had an AST (a fixed term agreement) that expires today.....you should have told your LL that you did not intend to renew it, and probably given him a month or so's notice as a courtesy, but it is not a legal requirement whilst an AST is in force because by the nature of the agreement, you are agreeing to rent his property from him for a set period of time. To be fair, he should have given you a courtesy call to check your intentions as a good management practice, and not doing so was a bit slack on his part even if you have been in there 2 and a half years If you kept renewing AST's on a 6 month basis, you agreed to rent the house for a fixed period of 6 months at a time and, at the end of that period, you agreed to surrender possession of the property to the LL, unless a periodic agreement was entered into or, indeed, if a new AST was created.
It sounds like a breakdown of communication to me.
Technically, you are not required to give the LL notice because the agreement has expired and the dates are finite, but he should have checked what your intentions were so as not to be surprised! You should also have let him know you weren't going to ask for another AST as a courtesy....if a periodic agreement had been created (a month to month tenancy) you WOULD have been required to give a months' notice to reminate (and him 2 months)
Withholding your deposit is illegal and you can take him to small claims.

RabbitMad

No, I think your landlord is correct. An AST will automatically roll over into a different type of letting unless you give a month's notice.

jackieblue

I believe scrummy mummy is correct. The AST rolls over to a periodic agreement only if the tenant stays beyond the end date of the contract. The courtesies are one issue, but if the agreement ends on 28/2 and the tenant vacates on that date, then the landlord must accept that the tenant has met the terms of the AST with regard to commitment to rent. Deposit cannot be withheld in lieu of notice as none was due.

Gorgeous_George

ilikewatchingtv

If you had wanted to stay but new tenants turned up ready to move in on 28/02, would you have moved out?

Legally, I think you are within your rights but, the LL has your deposit and, I fear, you may struggle to get 100% of it back. Would you take him to court if necessary?

In future it would be better to let your LL know your intentions in good time so that he can make arrangements to get new tenants in.

Finally, your LL should have been more professional and should learn from this episode. He should not withhold deposit in lieu of rent.



GG

ilikewatchingtv

Thanks for all the replies,
In the past, my landlord has always phoned me up during the month preceeding the date my tenancy is due to expire to ask wether I wish to stay in the property, and to arrange for a date for me to travel to his office to sign the paperwork, although this month he didn't do so. I did try to inform them earlier in the month that I intended to leave, but the office phones were never answered and the voicemail was full, - though I realise that I should probably have written instead. I can't see that the short notice period will have any great effect on his business, - he's already got several viewings of the property arranged for today, it's been left in a clean state, and the only repairs which need to be carried out were already an issue when I rented the property. I have voiced my concerns to someone in the landlords office, and when the property has been fully inspected the landlord will get in touch to tell me how I stand regarding the deposit, if he does insist on retaining some deposit because of the period of notice I'll ask him to point out where in the contract it states I have to provide 1 months notice at the end of the fixed term.

Rewind_Bo

you do not have to give one months notice. The landlord should have contacted you and asked what you were doing. Let him keep the money and them take him to small claims court -the law is on your side.

RabbitMad

Having just read the regulation on landlordzone.co.uk I think that the LL is correct. If you do nothing to end an AST it is automatically converted to a periodic tenancy which has a one month notice period.

I think you should speak to the landlord and say that as you have been graceful enough to allow these viewings he should waive this - otherwise say you'll not let any more viewings take place and will keep the property until your notice expires (preventing him re-letting it).

zebulon

RabbitMad wrote:

Having just read the regulation on landlordzone.co.uk I think that the LL is correct. If you do nothing to end an AST it is automatically converted to a periodic tenancy which has a one month notice period.

But in this case something was done to stop it (even though only 2 weeks before).
It all depends I guess of what is the notice by law ?
As it seems that it is not mentionned in the lease
(that's strange btw! - but just my opinion)