Will we be liable for the rent!??! Please help!

Anne2

Hi
Following a long drawn out saga to do with stolen electricity meters (not us!!!!), our landlord served notice on us as we didn't agree to him taking over the electricity bill and sharing the bill and meter between us and the upstairs flat (how would we know how much each flat was using!??). We were very happy for him to serve notice and ignored the fact that the break clause they operated to give notice was not valid as it was only operable by the landlord.

We have found a house that will be ready to move in to 3 days after our notice date. I rang the agency and asked them if they could allow us to stay for a further 3 days. (Numerous people have come to view the flat but they have not found anyone to move in-we have by the way been very accommodating of all the viewings!). They said no, and said that if we stay even 1 day over the notice date, we will be liable for the rent for the whole month. (It does not say this in the contract although they said it did!) I sought advice and sent an e mail the next day asking again if we could stay 3 days, making our position clear; 3 young children, lots of belongings, no where to go etc. They replied yesterday saying again that we can not stay and if we do we will be entering a periodic tenancy and will be liable for the rent for a whole month.

We are in an impossible postition! We can't move out until our new house is ready but we most definitely can't afford to pay rent on 2 properties for a month. We have been advised that if they try to deduct a month's rent from our deposit, that we could take them to the small claim's court, where any judge would see that they had been unreasonable in refusing to allow us to stay for an extra 3 days.

We don't have any option but to stay here the extra 3 days however, for peace of mind if anybody could offer their advice/experience of the situation we would be very grateful.

Many thanks

Anne2

Thanks for your speedy response!

Wording is as follows:

RE Notice to vacate

Further to termination of the above tenancy, I am hereby serving you a section 21 notice.


On the next page it details names & addresses then says I give you notice that I require possession of the dwelling known as.....

Date of expiry of notice: then the date

THanks!

Anne2

PS Our new house will be ready a week from today, the notice date is 3 days before, so next wednesday.

The originial fixed term ran until the middle of January 2014, however the notice they served gave next wednesday as the date to vacate by.

pmlindyloo

If the landlord refuses to negotiate then please be aware that if the landlord succeeds in finding new tenants then he cannot charge both you and the new tenants rent.

PasturesNew

Move into a cheap hotel with your stuff in storage for the 3 days. Or a holiday caravan.

Anne2

Thanks for your replies!

Artful Dodger the exact start date was 19/01/2013 for 12 months and the specified "end of expiry of notice" was 18/01/2014. The landlord owns the agency! Unfortunately I think this is revenge for us opening the door to the electricity company; this opened a great big fat can of worms for them!

Pmlindyloo thank you! We were aware of this; however they are not finding it easy to find new tenants. The flat is very small and they are asking a lot for what it is. You can get far nicer for the same money in this area!

Anne2

Pastures new. We did consider staying somewhere else and putting our stuff in storage, however moving midweek would be a nightmare as we are working and we have lots of stuff. (and then doing it all again at the wkd!) If it comes to it I guess this is what we will have to do, however we are trying to avoid this. I don't think we are being unreasonable in asking for 3 days!!??!?!?

[Deleted User]

Anne2 wrote: »

We have been advised that if they try to deduct a month's rent from our deposit, that we could take them to the small claim's court, where any judge would see that they had been unreasonable in refusing to allow us to stay for an extra 3 days.

Who advised you of this? All the landlord has to say is that they had a tenant lined up (who could only move in on that date) and the tenancy had to be cancelled and they incurred significant losses. This is a completely plausible scenario and would not be difficult for the landlord to conjure up proof if they were that way inclined.

As others have said negotiation is where you need to be looking. The landlord is in the right (if you stay you will be liable for rent) however you do have leverage: they want you to leave and haven't served the correct notice, therefore you can (if you so desire) remain. Your options are either:

1. Remain for 3 days and sacrifice the deposit (and if there need to be deductions made at the end of the tenancy that exceed the remaining value of the deposit you risk being taken to small claims -- although unlikely)

2. Explain to the landlord that you can only move out on a specific date and if you can't move out until that date then you're going to have to cancel your new house and remain in the current property. Explain that you've not been served the correct notice and so they're going to have to go through the courts, which will take them many months.

3. Seek alternative accommodation and leave on time. Have you already arranged for the move to happen on that specific day? If so, does the company you're using allow you to change days?

This is not a good situation but unfortunately it's negligence all round, you've chosen not to understand how tenancies work and haven't planned your move around that and your landlord has chosen to issue notice that isn't technically valid (although if both parties agree a tenancy can be ended early, regardless of notice, it's just not legally enforceable). Accept defeat and be happy you'll never see that agent again? Plus you've got your revenge already with the can of worms you opened for them

pmlindyloo

Just a thought. Your deposit is protected isn't it and you have received the prescribed information? (Just thinking a little 'leverage' here, maybe.)

theartfullodger

Anne2 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies!

Artful Dodger the exact start date was 19/01/2013 for 12 months and the specified "end of expiry of notice" was 18/01/2014. ...

Lodger not dodger: I don't don't dodge..

So the expiry date was "18/01/2014" not "after 18/01/2014".

If you ain't moving out until 3 days later - so 21 Jan 2014 - 4 months away... that's a long time for your move in date to change thanks to the seller or whatever else.. I'd do nothing for a couple of months & see what happens 1st.

As it stands you strongest card is that without the "after.." before the date the S21 is invalid..so landlord wouldn;t be able to evict you when he wants... so you might point that out, does he want to go to all the time, trouble & costs etc etc & how about being flexible. However as it is 4 months he has he can simply issue a valid S21...

Anne2

Yes the deposit is protected pmlindyloo. Sorry artful lodger!!! The notice date is the 18th of SEPTEMBER!!! We are supposed to move by next wednesday! We are moving into other rented accommodation, not buying! (We're saving our pennies for that!).

Citricsquid we can't afford to sacrifice the deposit! Your second suggestion is out of the question for us! We are moving in with friends; they will be in trouble if we do not go ahead with the move. A part of me wonders if this was all an attempt to get us to agree to sharing the meter. Ie: serve notice and then we say oh please no, we don't want to leave we'll share our meter and give you the bill. We are good tenants and they are having trouble finding new tenants.
Your 3rd option is looking increasingly likely although will be a nightmare!