s21 Notice question - leaving early

Jazzyjeff_2

I’m currently in the process of moving rental properties; I was served a s21 notice on my current property as the landlord wishes to sell (which expires 24th August) and am moving into a new property on the 1st of August (we are out of our fixed term contact and into a rolling one for many years now).

We have been in our current rental property for 6 years and our landlord has been a real pain recently since he decided to sell. As we wants to sell to an investor (he owns most of our block) he first tried to raise our rent by £115 a month even though we have recently had an annual increase (to make the property more appealing to an investor). When we declined he issued the s21).

I asked our letting agent (before June 24th) if we could leave early (8th August) and they thought this would be fine….but have been unable to contact the landlord for over a month now – apparently he is often working abroad.

So my question is – as I have been served a s21 notice and have given plenty of notice that I’d like to leave on the 8th August – can I do this and not pay rent up until the 24th? I know normally you have to give a month’s notice ending in a rental end date – so for us the 24th of the month, but is this different if the landlord has issued a s21 as he specifically wishes to sell the property?

It seems very unfair that we have to pay rent when we don't need the property and when we have been model tentants for 6 years, it wasn't our wish to leave the property in the first place, and we have given loads of notice of when we wish to leave. Surely the rule around giving 1 month's notice ending in a rental end date should only apply if the tenant has indicated they wish to leave rather than when the landlord wants the property back and has issued a s21 notice...:mad:

BitterAndTwisted

You think it should apply but it doesn't.

You can only leave early and not pay the rent for a complete period with your landlord's explicit agreement IN WRITING, which you do not have. Consequently you are obliged to pay the rent until the 24th of August whether you choose to occupy the property or not.

G_M

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You think it should apply but it doesn't.

You can only leave early and not pay the rent for a complete period with your landlord's explicit agreement IN WRITING, which you do not have. Consequently you are obliged to pay the rent until the 24th of August whether you choose to occupy the property or not.

assuming the LL's S21 is valid of course....

did you pay a deposit and is it registered?
What are the dates of your rental periods?
What date was the S21 served on you?

More here on Periods and Notice.

If you wanted to leave early, you should have given the LL the appropriate written notice, rather than:

I asked our letting agent (before June 24th) if we could leave early (8th August) and they thought......

which of course has no legal significance.

Kynthia

Are you within a fixed term or are you on a rolling monthly contract?

Have you given written notice to expire on the last day of a tenancy period?

Jazzyjeff_2

- we are on a monthly rolling contract

- we didn't give notice before the 24th of June because this would have meant we'd have had to leave on the 24th of July (so we'd of had nowehere to live until the 1st of August...)
So we currently have not given written notice we have instead been in contact requesting to leave early (by phone and email) with the agent

- the deposit is protected and the s21 notice looks perfectly valid to me - it ends on the correct date, gives sufficient notice etc

- the BREAKING NEWS is that I have today been in contact with our landlord (details found online) who has confirmed that the agent has not been in contact with him at all regarding our request to leave early so they have lied to us for over a month (he is now going to consider whether to let us leave early)! I have email evidence with the agent confirming they cannot get in touch with our landlord. I believe this puts on a much better footing as we surely are in a position to claim that the agent is liable from the 8th - 24th of August due to their deliberate negligence in not passing on our request. I'm pretty sure a small claims court would not rule against us and I am making a formal complaint about our agent. So I will pay up until the 8th and state this formally by letter.

Yorkie1

Sorry, but the court will rule against you in the circumstances you describe if the LL decides not to let you leave early. And writing a letter such as you intend to, may only serve to inflame the position with the LL who may currently be tending towards being favourable to you.

Your tenancy does not expire until the 24th and it is entirely your choice to leave early. Irrespective of the LA's (in)action.

G_M

From what I can gather, you have not given written notice at all. Notice must be given to the LL at the" address for the serving of notices" which was provided to you (probobly on your tenancy agreement.)

All you did, apparantly, was "asked our letting agent (before June 24th) if we could leave early (8th August) "

Asking is not the same as giving notice. And if you did this in a phonecall/email it is not the same as written notice.

The letting agent's response/failure to respond/ failure to communicate with the LL, does not alter your lack of Notice.

So you are dependant on the LL agreeing to an Early Surrender, which he may or may not do.

We are assuming your rental periods run 25th to 24th of each month too. Is this correct?