Notice when leaving a rental property?

trrk

If we have been given 2 months notice to vacate a rental property do we still have to give 1 month notice when we find somewhere new to live? It is a shorthold tenency agreement in England.

Also if our current rental period runs from the 28th of each month and we can't move out until the 10th of the following month are we liable to pay a whole month's rent? We are loathe to pay a penny more in rent than we have to, not least of all because our current landlady has delayed us from being able to move through not responding to reference requests and then giving what we thought was an unfairly negative reference. At minimum this has cost us £100 in reference checking fees and if we have to pay an extra months rent she will have cost us an additional £750 in rent.

Some further information about the situation here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5176022

Pixie5740

That notice from your LL doesn't actually end the tenancy, that can only be done by you (the tenant) or a court.

See G_M's guide on How to End an AST.

Notice should be for full rental periods, so if you pay your rent monthly and your tenancy period goes from 28th to 27th then even if you move out on the 10th you will be liable for rent up to the 27th unless you can negotiate something with your landlady.

fishpond

As Pixie has written above above.

trrk

Thanks both of you for clarifying the situation.

I don't see much chance of negotiating anything with our landlady at the moment so I guess we will just have to fork out the extra months rent.

G_M

Give notice before 27th Feb at latest to end the tenancy on 27th March (earliest).

Or give notice any time before 27th March to end tenancy on 27th April.

Move out any time you like, subject to any tenancy clause relating to leaving the property 'unoccupied' (an insurance requirement).

Alternatively, reach whatever agreement you can with the LL.

trrk

Yes, we intend to give notice as soon as the contract on the new place is signed and confirmed (hopefully tomorrow, the 19th). The new place wants rent from 10 March and we will move on the weekend following this. Then we are paying double rent for 2 weeks but I guess this can't be helped.

ognum

G_M wrote: »

Give notice before 27th Feb at latest to end the tenancy on 27th March (earliest).

Or give notice any time before 27th March to end tenancy on 27th April.

Move out any time you like, subject to any tenancy clause relating to leaving the property 'unoccupied' (an insurance requirement).

Alternatively, reach whatever agreement you can with the LL.

You are also responsible for council tax until the end of your tenancy!

trrk

Conveniently council tax is already paid up until the end of the financial year (end of March) so this corresponds perfectly with the period of the intended end of tenency.

In the new flat the landlord intends to pay the council tax. This seems to be because the house is split into 2 flats but listed as 1 property for council tax. Should we be concerned about this?

ognum

trrk wrote: »

Conveniently council tax is already paid up until the end of the financial year (end of March) so this corresponds perfectly with the period of the intended end of tenency.

In the new flat the landlord intends to pay the council tax. This seems to be because the house is split into 2 flats but listed as 1 property for council tax. Should we be concerned about this?

Well I would be worried, it probably means there is no planning permission to convert to two properties and possibly doesn't meet building regs!

CIS

In the new flat the landlord intends to pay the council tax. This seems to be because the house is split into 2 flats but listed as 1 property for council tax. Should we be concerned about this?

If they are self contained properties then they should be listed individually for council tax purposes. The landlord cannot decide who is responsible for paying the council tax, the liability for council tax is determined in legislation. Any agreements for a 3rd party to pay a person's council tax charge on their behalf often ends in a large mess.

trrk

I checked again and actually I made a dyslexic type mistake with a the house numbers so it seems OK (the properties are listed individually for council tax) - apologies! The landlord still wants to pay the council tax and other bills on our behalf which seems unusual but I guess it saves us some hassle. I don't know if it could cause any other problems further down the line.