Giving notice when buying

lul_2

Hello!

Apologies if this has come up before, I searched and couln't find anything specific to my situation.

I'm planning on buying a house in the next few months but have an issue with giving notice on my rental property. I've been told I should only give notice when the exchange of contracts has happened, however, my notice period in 2 months. Does that mean that I will need to pay over a month's mortgage payment and rent? I've heard it only takes around 2 weeks from exchange to completion.

Thanks in advance!

jozbo

We're in the same boat, some way into a flat purchase, hoping to get an exchange date in the next few weeks. Our notice period is also 2 months. As the mortgage lender required a reference from our landlord, we had to let them know that we were buying something - which I wasn't comfortable about - however now I'm wondering if she may be generous and let us leave in a month's notice. Suspect they'll need to do some work to the place before finding new tenants and upping the rent (we've been here 4 years at a low price, and area has come up a lot in that time).

As for exchange to completion, I've heard it's more likely to be 5 days although this is negotiable.

N79

Assuming English law:

Are you in a fixed period of your tenancy (in which case I assume you have a 2 month break clause) or are you on a month by month tenancy (in which case, irrespective of the term in your contract, you can give one months notice to end on the last day of a rental period)?

The time between exchange and completion is fully negotiable between buyer and seller (although with mortgages involved it is unlikely to be longer than 2 months).

lul_2

I'm in a fixed 2 year tenancy with a 2 month's notice break clause. I've only been in the property since December.

N79

In which case you must give 2 months notice. You could try to extend the period between exchange and completion a bit , you could take a risk and give notice before exchanging or you could pay the rent a mortgage overlap for security.

Catherine_Johnson_2

lul wrote: »

I'm in a fixed 2 year tenancy with a 2 month break clause. I've only been in the property since December.

You probably need to check your Agreement to see whether you can use the break clause at any time, which would be unusual, or at a specific time (e.g. at 1 year) or maybe after the first year. Worth checking. It would be odd to have a break clause which allowed the tenant to leave after, say, 1 month (I know this isn't relative in your case, but I'm just pointing out why a completely open break clause during a fixed term would be unusual).

jntm

Until you exchange contracts either party could just walk away - so do not serve notice until you have exchanged. Worst case scenario is that you could serve notice before exchanging, the seller changes their mind / sells to someone else and you end up homeless.

On a practical note, it is worth having a friendly word with your landlord and letting them know the situation - although the lease strictly provides for 2 months they might agree to a shorter term, if you are upfront with them.

Good luck!

lul_2

I think I'll take the hit and pay both for security. Hopefully I can negotiate a shorter notice period with the landlord. Thanks for all your help!

girl_withno_name

We're in the same situation, although we only need to give one months' notice... so we should be giving our notice before 13th August to end contract on 13th September, but (fingers crossed) moving on 8th August!

I'd be tempted to ask for longer between exchange and completion to avoid paying both mortgage and rent for the same time period, but I just want to be out of here now... especially since mid-September is in the middle of my exams!

GDB2222

Catherine_Johnson wrote: »

You probably need to check your Agreement to see whether you can use the break clause at any time, which would be unusual, or at a specific time (e.g. at 1 year) or maybe after the first year. Worth checking. It would be odd to have a break clause which allowed the tenant to leave after, say, 1 month (I know this isn't relative in your case, but I'm just pointing out why a completely open break clause during a fixed term would be unusual).

I'll just second this.