Served Eviction Notice

rectangle

Our Landlord via our Letting Agency has served us a 'Section 21 Notice Requiring Possession'. The date of expiry is the 10th September.
Upon enquiring with the LA, the LL wants to redecorate throughout and market the property for £100 more than we are paying now.
My first question is:
Are they allowed to serve an eviction notice because the want to redecorate and market at a higher price?

We have found another house to let, and as my wife is 15 weeks off giving birth, we want to move out of this house and into our new one as soon as possible.
I have enquired with the LA as to what date is the soonest we can move out. The LA say that we have to give 30 days notice, which if given today would take us up to (around) 14th August. Our rent payment comes out on the 11th of every month. So as the 30 day notice period extends into the next months rent, the earliest we can move out is the 10th September, which is the date the eviction notice expires.

My second question is:
Are we within our rights to give 30 days notice, so our move out date would be 14th August, and just pay the LA the rent for the 11th to the 14th August?

Needless to say the whole experience is very stressful, and if we are forced to pay rent up till the 10th September we will have no choice to stay till the 10th September as we can not afford to have two properties rented at the same time. My wife feels that the stress of physically moving, and then having to sort out a new house, will cause undue stress on our unborn child, which could possibly result in damage to the baby or worse still, a miscarriage.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PasturesNew

1] Are they allowed .... yes, they can do it for any reason they want. They don't have to give a reason, they can just do it.

2] No, unless you can negotiate an early release date with the landlord (get it all in writing as phone calls/texts won't be much use if he denies agreeing).... but, at the moment you are obliged to pay the rent right up to the end date. To negotiate an early release date, with no further rent due .... ask them.

rectangle

Many thanks for the swift reply.

JasX

PasturesNew wrote: »

2] No, unless you can negotiate an early release date with the landlord (get it all in writing as phone calls/texts won't be much use if he denies agreeing).... but, at the moment you are obliged to pay the rent right up to the end date. To negotiate an early release date, with no further rent due .... ask them.

I'm pretty sure this is incorrect, you can do whatever your tennancy agreement allows you to do and if your agreement explicitly allows you to give 30 days notice and terminate the agreement at that point then I have no idea why the person posting above thinks you'd be unable to do so?

Pixie5740

The tenancy agreement doesn't say that 30 days notice is required. This is information coming from the LA who don't know what the're talking about. The rent is paid monthly for this tenancy on the 11th of each month. The OP has to give 1 full rental period of notice to terminate the tenancy. If the OP gives notice now then the tenancy will end 10th September as they have missed the cut off point for 10th August which was 10th July.

FireWyrm

You will get a much more detailed response and assistance if you repost your question here : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=16

That is the House Buying, Renting and Selling Board which is frequented by landlords, property solicitors and tenants. Some extremely knowledgeable people over there.

Before you go and ask your question, you will need a copy of your tenancy agreement, the exact dates that the tenancy commenced, the exact date it is due to expire, any break clauses and explicit notice period information. You will be asked much more detailed questions over there in order to help you.

JasX

Pixie5740 wrote: »

The tenancy agreement doesn't say that 30 days notice is required. This is information coming from the LA who don't know what the're talking about. The rent is paid monthly for this tenancy on the 11th of each month. The OP has to give 1 full rental period of notice to terminate the tenancy. If the OP gives notice now then the tenancy will end 10th September as they have missed the cut off point for 10th August which was 10th July.

As Pixie5740 seems to have read the signed copy of the OPs tenancy agreement and I have not I must bow to their first hand knowledge of the agreement

These things will always come down to exactly what the signed tenancy agreement says and these things can vary wildly -different leasing agents will have different 'standard' ones. Even the same leasing agent revamps their Ts & Cs from time to time so different arrangements thru the same company can vary if taken out in different years. On top of this individual landlords may well have requested particular terms and when a professional leasing agent isn't involved anything could be in there (particularly if the landlord grabbed a a tenancy template from god knows where on the web).

Some may specify a notice period in days, some may or may not tie this to the date you pay the rent, some may have additional break clauses on either side. It all comes down to what the signed piece of paper says (hence always good to give it a thorough reading before signing and refer back to the original paperwork when unsure of your rights!)

FireWyrm

JasX wrote: »

These things will always come down to exactly what the signed tenancy agreement says

Sort of but not necessarily. No 'contract' that a LL swiped off the internet can override statute and tenancy law.

JasX wrote: »

On top of this individual landlords may well have requested particular terms and when a professional leasing agent isn't involved anything could be in there (particularly if the landlord grabbed a a tenancy template from god knows where on the web).

Exactly. Not necessarily enforceable or legal either.

JasX wrote: »

Some may specify a notice period in days,

They can specify whatever they like, but tenancy agreements are pretty tightly regulated and these clauses may not be allowable or fair.

McKneff

And remember, babies are pretty resilient. I wouldn't worry too much about that side of things as long as
your wife takes things as they come.....

JasX

FireWyrm wrote: »

They can specify whatever they like, but tenancy agreements are pretty tightly regulated and these clauses may not be allowable or fair.

So, what you're saying is if the OP has signed a tenancy agreement provided by the LL that gives them certain explicit termination rights. When the OP then tries to exercise those stipulated rights they may find they can't because the rights documented in the agreement *provided by the other party* are not exactly as the regulations prescribe?


I'm sorry but bearing in mind all this discussion here is relating to question 2 where the OP is asking what rights they *as the tenant* has to cancel I'm finding the above somewhat absurd advice

OP should read their own tenancy agreement and if it's provision are more generous than the regulations state they should try to exercise them, submit their own notice and ask for written confirmation from the LL.

FireWyrm

JasX wrote: »

I'm sorry but bearing in mind all this discussion here is relating to question 2 where the OP is asking what rights they *as the tenant* has to cancel I'm finding the above somewhat absurd advice

What is absurd about it? Tenancy agreements can have all sorts of weird and whacky clauses...doesnt make them enforceable. Usually the people who write these 'contracts' have a dubious grasp of the law anyway. Letting Agents are not required to have any legal training and usually manage to screw something up and contravene some immutable right that the tenant has. I've seen 'contracts' that state the LL can evict the tenant with little less than a months' notice...absolutely illegal. Eviction process is quite specific, as is the methods of gaining possession of the property and nothing the letting agent puts in that contract will change it. Also, what is allowed in that contract depends very much on where in the UK you are. There are significant differences between Scotland and England when it comes to tenancies. For instance, Scotish LAs cannot charge fees which they do with abandon south of the border. Section 21 rules are also different as are Section 8's. Likewise the tenancy agreement may 'say' that the LL can let himself in and have a look through your sock draw any time he wants...doesnt make it legal or enforceable.