When Shall I Give Notice?

Odie_Schmodie

I am a FTB with an offer agreed and mortgage offered pending valuation, searches under way and enquiries raised by solicitor etc. The house I am buying is empty and there is no chain further up. Unfortunately the wait for valuation surveys is very long at the moment and this is only happening on Jan 2nd. Countrywide's formal documentation says they will get back with a report within 7 days. I am currently renting, on a rolling contract, and my landlady needs 1 month's notice. Everyone here always says you shouldn't give notice until exchange but then how do you do that? Does that mean you should give notice only AFTER exchanging and so wait for a full month between exchange and completion? How come then everyone talks about the time between exchange and completion is about 2 weeks. Or should I give notice once the valuation is back and we agree on an exchange date? Sorry, I am confused and would appreciate all feedback.

PasturesNew

Some people can afford to do it as they earn so much.

You do need to check if it's "one month's notice", or "one month from a rent date".

What I'd TRY to do is exchange 2 days before the rent date, to complete 2-3 weeks later.... then immediately run round to give formal/written notice on where I'm renting.

Get it wrong and you can end up paying 2 months' rent on an empty place you're moving out of!

Odie_Schmodie

Thank you for the reply! Landlady told me that it is one month's notice from whenever, and not the monthly rent date. What I don't understand is, do most people who are moving from renting take a month between exchange and completion? Or would that be weirdly too long to ask for? I mean I do want to overlap for a few days just to be on the safeside but overlapping for even 2 weeks means 500 pounds in my case and that's a new fridge and/or furniture I could buy ;-)

ValHaller

What PasturesNew says above.

Digest that, work out the optimum completion date, giving you about a week's overlap and tell your solicitor, the agent and the vendor what is required. And tell them that if the exchange date is not met, it will all have to be delayed for a further month.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Get it wrong and you can end up paying 2 months' rent on an empty place you're moving out of!

The worst case of getting it wrong is missing the exchange date by a day or 2 so that the earliest date you can give notice for on your rental is a whole month later

G_M

Odie_Schmodie wrote: »

Landlady told me that it is one month's notice from whenever, and not the monthly rent date. )

If that is all the notice the LL wants, then you and she can agree to end the tenancy a month after you give notice.

However, I should ask her to confirm this in writing, as she could,if she wished, insist on you giving the notice eriod required by law where no 'mutual agreement' takes place. Might she change her mind?

Year ago it was normalto have a months gap between Exchange and Completion, but things have got faster now, and people expect to Complete sooner. But you can agree any period you want with your sellers (and their sellers etc).

But I urge you NOT to give Notice till you have Exchanged. There are so many things that can go wrong with a purchase and delay,or even cancel it.

And then you could end up homeless, or paying double rent for failing to leave.