Two weeks notice to vacate from Land Lady

jjlandlord

NinaSwiss wrote: »

The exact figures: rent is 80/wk and I pay £347(plus separate extra towards a house kitty) on the 23rd of each month. The contract says the original fixed term was for 3 months.

But does it say that it is payable monthly?
Why would there be a "house kitty"?

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I think you will find that since you were sharing the house with a close family member of the owner and one other person, you are classed as a lodger.

I don't think so.

Guest101

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I think you will find that since you were sharing the house with a close family member of the owner and one other person, you are classed as a lodger. That means that there was no obligation to protect the tenancy; you do not have the various rights that you have mentioned; she has acted correctly.

However, anyone who imagines that by getting a couple she can increase the market value of a room in a shared property by that much is living in cloud-cuckoo land.

Can you provide evidence that what you said has any legal standing?

G_M

NinaSwiss wrote: »

The exact figures: rent is 80/wk and I pay £347(plus separate extra towards a house kitty) on the 23rd of each month. The contract says the original fixed term was for 3 months.

Interesting maths!

£80 pw = £320 per 4 weeks.

£80 pw = £354.28 per month of 31 days

£80 pw = £342.858 per month of 30 days

etc

What does the TA say exactly? Weekly or monthly payment?

Is the 'extra' written into the tenancy agreement, or an informal arrangements between the occupants?

NinaSwiss

Please ignore the extra kitty (apologies for confusion). I was merely trying to indicate why I approximated to 350 in earlier posts. It does not form part of my contract but more an informal arrangement with flatmates.

First 2 paragraphs in contract (Word for Word):
The Landlord will let and Tenant will occupy 1 room in the property of 'the address' from 24 september 2011 at a rental of £347 on 24th of each month in advance. A two week deposit has been received of £173.50. Please see 4C below, deposit will be forefeited if 2wks vacating notice was not given to Landlord in writing.

Note: This rent has been based on a rental period of 3 months. The period of time if required can be extended for longer by both parties in agreement by the landlord.

jjlandlord

Now you're quoting your tenancy that states that rent is £347 per month, not £80 pw.
(£80 pw is £347.62 pcm, though, so that matches).

If there is a kitty with your flatmates (for whatever purpose) then it means that you pay £347 as rent to your landlord, and £x into the kitty, not that you pay £350 to your landlord.

NinaSwiss

G_M wrote: »

Interesting maths!

£80 pw = £320 per 4 weeks.

£80 pw = £354.28 per month of 31 days

£80 pw = £342.858 per month of 30 days

etc

What does the TA say exactly? Weekly or monthly payment?

Is the 'extra' written into the tenancy agreement, or an informal arrangements between the occupants?

The original rental was was advertised at £80/wk which works out to be about 347 PCM . Eg (80*52 weeks)/12 months.

NinaSwiss

jjlandlord wrote: »

Now you're quoting your tenancy that states that rent is £347 per month, not £80 pw.
(£80 pw is £347.62 pcm, though, so that matches).

If there is a kitty with your flatmates (for whatever purpose) then it means that you pay £347 as rent to your landlord, and £x into the kitty, not that you pay £350 to your landlord.

The place was explicitly advertised at £80/wk. I was then asked for 173.5 as 2wks deposit (yes I know that's more than 2wks but half 347) and given a contract that said 347 PCM. I did the maths ( works out to be 346.66 PCM) and was happy it was close enough. I was not trying to mislead by £3 and have hopefully cleared that up.Its towards a house kitty and LL does not live in the house. The money was never the issue here as I'm happy to forfeit some money... just need more time to find somewhere else to live.

Guest101

NinaSwiss wrote: »

The place was explicitly advertised at £80/wk. I was then asked for 173.5 as 2wks deposit (yes I know that's more than 2wks but half 347) and given a contract that said 347 PCM. I did the maths ( works out to be 346.66 PCM) and was happy it was close enough. I was not trying to mislead by £3 and have hopefully cleared that up.Its towards a house kitty and LL does not live in the house. The money was never the issue here as I'm happy to forfeit some money... just need more time to find somewhere else to live.

So what actions have u taken?

Have u told the LL she is wrong and pointed out the protection from eviction legislation?

Has ur deposit been protected?

NinaSwiss

Guest101 wrote: »

So what actions have u taken?

Have u told the LL she is wrong and pointed out the protection from eviction legislation?

Has ur deposit been protected?

Deposit was not protected.

I sent her this by text:
"ok.I'll look elsewhere as £675/pcm is unrealistic for me. Unfortunately 2wks isn't enough time for me to find somewhere suitable and I have broadband services tied to here for the next few months.

I propose we revert to statutory notice requirements for Landlords. Under this, I'll require at least 2 months notice ending the last day of a tenancy period e.g 24/sep to 23/Nov.

Please don't take this as an aggressive response as if I find somewhere sooner, I'd be happy to move ASAP, but in the meantime I need to be practical. Happy to discuss in the weekend if you are free."

Her response:
"Your contract says 2wks notice. You agreed and signed. That's why I only took 2wks deposit from you."

Tried contacting shelter but no one is available to speak so will try later. I just needed to know if I have a leg to stand on legally. If not then I'll have to move to any where in the interim till I find somewhere more suitable.

As she comes over whenever and knocks at my door without prior notice, It'd be good for me to have my information straight if she does so this weekend. If I have a leg to stand on then then I'll give one month notice when I find a place (ending before a new rental period).

Mrs_pbradley936

G_M wrote: »

Thanks for signposting my link which may be helpful to the OP.

However S Vs T clarified the way a landlord can give notice.

A tenant must always give notice to align with the (periodic) tenancy period.

Whilst it seems fairly clear the OP is a tenant, I suspect the LL is treating them as a lodger, probobly because the LL has family (son) residing in the property.

Whilst this is unlikely to cut any ice with a judge if it came to that, courts can be unpredictable at times......

That was my take on it too - I have some experience of this because when my son was student he lived in a house share with other students one of which was the brother of the legal owner. He treated them all as lodgers but when push came to shove he settled out of court only because the Council housing dept stepped in and said he could not to evict at a weeks notice and was issuing sham tenancies.