Q to Landlords about reference and giving notice.

LADYXXMACBETH

I am thinking of leaving my rented accommodation as I have been offered a HA property. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on my new house and no time scale for it to be completed.
My question is. As landlords would you rather want to know that your tenant was moving out in the future but not know the date or wait to know for definite what date? I need a reference from LL which I have no reason to believe will be bad, I am concerned about bad feelings with my landlord as when we took the tenancy last year I was certain I would be a long term renter. The house has proved difficult to rent in the past.
Do I contact my LL now or wait and just give my month when I know for sure. It may be that I have very little notice that I can move in and thus be paying on a place I don't need.
I hope that makes sense.

Pixie5740

I wouldn't say anything until you've got a definite move in date for the new place. If you give a vague timescale and then keep changing the move in date it will just cause confusion.

HappyMJ

If the HA is doing the work I would wait until you get a date for it's completion. I would tell the landlord you've been offered a property but not actually hand in notice yet. If the work overruns and you're forced to stay after the date you've given then that could be costly.

Guest101

LADYXXMACBETH wrote: »

I am thinking of leaving my rented accommodation as I have been offered a HA property. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on my new house and no time scale for it to be completed.
My question is. As landlords would you rather want to know that your tenant was moving out in the future but not know the date or wait to know for definite what date? I need a reference from LL which I have no reason to believe will be bad, I am concerned about bad feelings with my landlord as when we took the tenancy last year I was certain I would be a long term renter. The house has proved difficult to rent in the past.
Do I contact my LL now or wait and just give my month when I know for sure. It may be that I have very little notice that I can move in and thus be paying on a place I don't need.
I hope that makes sense.

Assuming you are out of Fixed Term (usually 6 or 12 months) then you need to give 1 rental period notice, this could be upto 1 month + 30 days if the timing is really bad.

Just be aware that telling the LL you'll be leaving but dont know when will cause more anxiety then not knowing at all.

1 months notice is considered acceptable, i would stick with that

LADYXXMACBETH

Thank you very much. I will hold off for now. my tenacy runs 17th -17th so I imagine I will be giving notice in August then just to be on the safe side.
Still not sure what to do about asking for a refernce though.

Pixie5740

If you pay your rent monthly then your tenancy periods run from 17th to 16th.

See Ending/Renewing an AST for more information.

When do you have to give the HA the reference?

HappyMJ

LADYXXMACBETH wrote: »

Thank you very much. I will hold off for now. my tenacy runs 17th -17th so I imagine I will be giving notice in August then just to be on the safe side.
Still not sure what to do about asking for a refernce though.

I don't see why not...as long as you've been a good tenant and all that really means is do you pay the rent on time, report problems promptly and haven't been a nuisance. You need to move on or before the 16th. A new rental period starts on the 17th.

G_M

I disagree with the above.

I would prefer to have a 'heads up' in advance. Whether I start doing anything (marketing etc) would depend on other factors, but at least I'd know.

I understand the timescale uncertainty when tenants are buying property, or as here have uncertainty about when their new rental/Council House etc will be ready.

If a tenant is honest/upfront, I'll be flexible. I won't insist on the legal timescales for notice if the tenant has been honest/reliable, and given me early warning (though taking the mick like then suddenly saying "I'm leaving tomorrow" would be a step too far!)

I'd expect the tenant to recipricate by cooperating with viewings in return, but to me the key is communication, honesty and compromise.

Of course none of the above applies if the tenant has been a pain in the ****, irregular payer, treated the property badly etc.....

thesaint

I agree with G_M.

I have just written an e-mail to a tenant who was going to leave at the end of his fixed term.

He needs an extra week. I could've insisted that he gave me an extra month(possibly two), so I have compromised, and said that he needs to pay for an extra two weeks. Whether he stays for the two weeks is up to him.

He had no obligation to let me know he was leaving at the end of the fixed term, so because of that, I was willing to give him a deal.

If he had not told me, and then he called up to say he was leaving a week into the periodic, I wouldn't give him any leeway.