Giving notice on a periodical lease?

polkadot

At least I think its periodical.We moved in to our current private 2BR rental in May 2009 on a 6 month lease.We re signed for 12 months in December 2009 and again in 2010.

When the 12 months was up in December 2011,I was due to give birth to DC3 in January.As a result of this,we wanted to sign for only 6 months-with the intention o quit in June this year to look for 3 bed. It was a high risk pregnancy and I was in and out of hospital.I couldnt get to the agency to sign the lease and they refused to let DH bring it home for me.

After seeking advice here, we notified the agency again of our wishes and suggested they allow DH to bring the contract home, allow a member of staff to bring the contract to us (possibly at one of the now bimonthly inspections) or we would allow the contract to go periodical.We have not signed the contract and so assume its gone periodical-but I know what assume can do-so is his correct?

Had we signed,it would have expired on 11 June this year. We are now looking to move and have seen a few properties on rightmove that we'd like to pursue and I have sent requests to view.

I dont want to be caught offside,so wanted to confirm what notice we need to give here-or would we be best waiting until June? DHs family are coming from SA in May for a visit and moving over that period would be fantastic as we'll have access to a few strapping brothers for the heavy lifting and a sister with a child to occupy children at the local soft play or whatever-rather than us trying to do it all on our own.

mellonicoley

It sounds like you have a periodic lease, so you need to give a months' notice.

polkadot

mellonicoley wrote: »

It sounds like you have a periodic lease, so you need to give a months' notice.

Would the date have any relevance (as it is in a section 21)?So if I found a property on Tuesday for example,could I had my notice in for this place-meaning my one month would expire on the 10th of May?

polkadot

DH just mentioned something else.The agency increased our rent (not by much) when we were negotiating the new lease as they were pushing for 12 months.We were not given notice of this prior to these conversations and only received written confirmation after the fact.

Are they likely to refuse notice saying that paying the increased rate amounted to agreeing to the new contract?

G_M

1) on a Periodic tenancy you have to give one months notice ending on the last day of a tenancy Period. Whate date in Dec 2011 did your fixed term end? If it ended on, say, 14th Dec, then your rental periods run from 15th to 14th of each month, so if you gave notice today, your notice would end on 14th May. If you gave notice on, say 16th April, it would end on 14th June.

2) The fact that you agreed the increased rent could be construed as acceptance of the new fixed term, but the fact that you never signed /returned it creates ambiguity - was it a new 12 month fixed term renewal, or a 6 month as offered. The uncertainty could be argued to say it was neither. As soes the fact that you never signed.

My interpretation is that you have a Periodic tenancy, but that you made a separate agreement (for reasons I don't understand!) to pay an increased rent.

As for them 'refusing notice', you ignore that and move out in the normal way. return keys, request deposit. If they attempt deductions from deposit on the grounds the notice was inadequate (get those dates right!) you use the deposit dispute scheme and I anticipate you have a 95% chance of winning.

polkadot

Thank you GM the last contract we signed was dated 11 December 2010. We agreed to the increase because the agency had said they woud need to put it in place in order to allow for a 6 month lease instead of 12.We only wanted 6 months as the house was already too small for the 4 of us-but we didnt want to have to move in December as it was so close to my due date.

I normally handle the admin but as I was in hospital DH handled this and the agent that handled it asked DH to change the amount of the standing order so that the next rent payment reflected the change.The standing order was taken before he went to the office to sign the contract.

We then got the letter saying the new contract was ready to sign so DH went in after seeing me at the hospital one day.He intended to sign it and bring it to the hospital (or wait till I came home) for me to sign. They would not allow him to leave the premises with the document until bot our signatures were on it and suggested he sign it and leave it there until I could go in.

I think he stood on principle when he said he wouldnt sign it without me incase there were terms I might not agree with-I never got down there as I had an emergency c-section 3 weeks early and just getting my head around 3 children was enough to keep me busy.It would just have been heaps easier if they would have emailed it or something of that nature and he could have dropped it back (he passes the office en route to and from the train station every day).

bmar71n

the tenant is only required to give one months notice on periodical assured short hold lease, but can always give more notice to ensure there will be no problems