Notice letter help

missusd

Hello All,

Following on from an earlier post, I need some help please if possible.

We are currently in a SPT, our fixed term ended on 06/11/12. We rang the landlord on Saturday and requested an early surrender, with a leaving date of 08/12/2012. (4 weeks notice)
The landlord said he would come up to see us on Saturday and never arrived.
Yesterday he came but my husband was at work and I was shopping..(he didn't tell us he was coming). He spoke to my daughter who told him when we would be home and he politely snubbed her and walked off.
I have been wanting to confirm everything in writing ie. our notice and our early surrender, however I am aware he can refuse our early surrender and can hold us to for rent up to 05/01/13.
He never came back to see us yesterday and I am concerned that time is ticking on and we have to give the correct notice..I will be honest and say I am pained to put into writing that we will pay rent up to the 05/01/13...with good reason - he has failed to protect our deposit, failed to conform with Gas Safety Certificates and a few other minor misdemeanour's.
I am also doubtful he will suddenly become the model landlord and aware he may also refuse to give us our deposit back and I want to cover all angles so that I am not left out of pocket.
I need to write a letter that is making it clear we are giving 4 weeks notice but does not indicate we are willing to pay beyond that..just in-case he denies he has agreed to early surrender and decides to hold us to January...

Any advice on what to write and do would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Thanks

Fire_Fox

Those misdemeanors are not that minor, you have your landlord over a barrel! IMO write to the landlord at the address at which to service notices - two copies from different Post Offices with proof of posting for each - ask which of the three schemes your deposit is lodged and for a copy of the landlord's gas safety certificate. Then in the second section formally request an early surrender.

He can hold you to January and you can take him to the county court for up to three times your deposit, also report him to the HSE for the lack of safety certificates.

G_M

You have until 5th Dec to give your formal Notice to leave on 6th Jan. So you have a bit of time (though you need to POST it 1st class on/before 3rd Dec).

As Fire Fox says, you have good bargaining chips: non-registered deposit = a penalty of up to 3 times the deposit .

No gas certificate =

What if I break the regulations?
You are putting lives at risk and breaking the law. HSE gives gas safety a high priority and will take the appropriate action to ensure compliance with the regulations; this could result in a substantial fine and/or a custodial sentence.

samtoby

If the deposit is not protected your tenancy is not valid.

Yorkie1

samtoby wrote: »

If the deposit is not protected your tenancy is not valid.

Ignore this completely erroneous opinion.

missusd

Thank you all so much...I have just posted off two letters, both had to be from the same post office though because there was little chance of reaching our other nearest in rush hour traffic..I have separate receipts for both though.

In the letters I put that as discussed during our telephone conversation on 10/11/12, we give notice on (PROPERTY ADDRESS), vacating on 09/12/12.

Kind Regards,

Me and Hubby.

Will this be sufficient? I intend to follow this up with the request for the Deposit details and Gas Saferty Cert request tomorrow (printer ran out of ink grrr).

Again huge thanks to all.

samtoby

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Ignore this completely erroneous opinion.

It isn't. If a person asked for assistance in housing and the deposit was not in a scheme the tenancy is not valid. It's a legal requirement to place it in the scheme.

It should say in the Agreement that the deposit is with in a scheme the reference is bla bla bla. If its written in there and it's not in a scheme the tenancy is worth as much as a blank piece of paper.

tbs624

samtoby wrote: »

It isn't. If a person asked for assistance in housing and the deposit was not in a scheme the tenancy is not valid. It's a legal requirement to place it in the scheme.

It should say in the Agreement that the deposit is with in a scheme the reference is bla bla bla. If its written in there and it's not in a scheme the tenancy is worth as much as a blank piece of paper.

You are right that it is a legal requirement that LLs scheme register a tenancy deposit ( where the tenancy is an assured shorthold) and the LL must also provide T with the scheme's prescribed information in full.

Unfortunately samtoby - Yorkie is absolutely right - your assertion that failure to deal with the deposit correctly renders the tenancy itself invalid *is* erroneous.

Any s21 Notice served prior to the deposit being dealt with properly will however be invalid. Perhaps this is what you were thinking of?

G_M

samtoby wrote: »

It isn't. If a person asked for assistance in housing and the deposit was not in a scheme the tenancy is not valid. It's a legal requirement to place it in the scheme.
Correct
It should say in the Agreement that the deposit is with in a scheme the reference is bla bla bla.
Incorrect - it does not need to say this in the Agreement.
If its written in there and it's not in a scheme the tenancy is worth as much as a blank piece of paper.

The tenancy remains valid. The rent must still be paid. All other obligations under the Tenancy Agreement, by both tenant and landlord, remain enforcible.

Whether the deposit is in a scheme or not does not alter the validity of the tenancy. But yes, there is a penalty if the landlord does not place it in a scheme.

Whether the Agreement mentions a scheme is irrelevant. What matters is
a) that the depsoit is registered and
b) that the 'prescribed information' is given to the tenant. This is totally seperate from the Tenancy Agreement.

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

As Fire Fox says, you have good bargaining chips: non-registered deposit = a penalty of up to 3 times the deposit .
.

Your link needs fixing G_M

Fire_Fox

missusd wrote: »

Thank you all so much...I have just posted off two letters, both had to be from the same post office though because there was little chance of reaching our other nearest in rush hour traffic..I have separate receipts for both though.

In the letters I put that as discussed during our telephone conversation on 10/11/12, we give notice on (PROPERTY ADDRESS), vacating on 09/12/12.

Kind Regards,

Me and Hubby.

Will this be sufficient? I intend to follow this up with the request for the Deposit details and Gas Saferty Cert request tomorrow (printer ran out of ink grrr).

Again huge thanks to all.

I would have put the two on the same letter, the request for information about the deposit and safety certificate before the request for early surrender. The subtext is that you know they have broken the law so wouldn't they like to be nice to you. As you have done it all you have is a request which can easily be refused. You now can't use the breaches of the legislation as leverage without virtually threatening the landlord which is a very unwise move.

Please use two Post Offices next time, the point is that one whole sack of mail could go astray or one post box burn down or the one counter assistant could be incompetent or suchlike.