Giving notice on short assured tenancy

snagglepuss16

HI. Looking for advice. We have rented a property(in scotland) since 2009, in the last month or so we have had a mortgage agreed on another property. We received confirmation of this on 21/10/15. Our tenancy agreement requires 30 days notice. So we let our landlord know that day. We calculated that took us til the 19th Nov. Is that correct?
I also sent a recorded letter to her address telling her of our intentions and our move out date(19/11/15)which is also the day before our next month's rent is due. However we have just had the letter returned to sender. After a quick Google she sold her house a few months ago and hasn't informed us her new address.
I would just like to know if my notice period looks ok, and where I stand with dates as obviously she hasn't received written confirmation yet?

Dird

You have to pay for the whole month of November. Full calendar month notice.

Do you have a contact number for LL? If not then when is your SO to pay rent? If it's soon then you can cancel it...she'll contact you soon after I guess and you can warn her of the leaving

Pixie5740

Dird wrote: »

You have to pay for the whole month of November. Full calendar month notice.

Do you have a contact number for LL? If not then when is your SO to pay rent? If it's soon then you can cancel it...she'll contact you soon after I guess and you can warn her of the leaving

The OP is in Scotland with a Short Assured Tenancy, not an Assured Shorthold Tenancy as you find in England and Wales.

snagglepuss16

My agreement says 30 days notice tho? So why would I pay for whole of November. My rent is always due on the 20th of the month?
Yes I have her number etc. I hope getting her new address would not be a problem, however by the time she receives written confirmation some of my 30 days have passed, however obv it's her at fault for not forwarding her address?

Pixie5740

OP, when was the last time you signed a tenancy agreement? Back in 2009 or since then? Did you receive an AT5 form before signing your tenancy agreement?

What is the exact wording in your tenancy agreement.

As for where you send notice I wouldn't worry too much about it at the moment. You will have an address for the serving of notices in your tenancy agreement and it's up to your landlord to tell you if she has moved.

Have you searched the Scottish Landlord Register for your address? That might bring up some contact details for your landlord.

snagglepuss16

No we haven't signed since 2009. It's on a month to month basis after the first 6 months. Everytime I've searched for her on registry I can't find any details.

The agreement says after expiration of leasing period this agreement is automatically renewed from month to month.but may be terminated by either party giving to the other a 30 day written notice of intention to terminate.
Not sure about an at5, would I have a copy? If so no ��

Pixie5740

1) If she isn't registered with the local council as a landlord she is committing a criminal offence by letting out that property.

2) If you don't have an AT5 form then you have an Assured Tenancy rather than a Short Assured Tenancy. Good for you, not so good for your landlord.

I only mention these things in case your landlord becomes uncooperative.

The issue you've got is that by sending your notice "Signed For" it was never delivered and therefore notice was never served. Whereas if you'd sent it 1st Class (and got proof of postage) through the letter box it would have gone and notice would be served regardless of whether or not your landlord lives there any more.

In the first instance I would phone your landlord and discuss your notice. In your final month you'll probably end up paying a pro rata amount of rent since 30 days isn't the same length of time as a rental period.

snagglepuss16

Thanks, not sure if it makes any difference but lease says short assured rental agreement on it. I only sent recorded incase she would be difficult haha. When husband spoke to her on the phone she did sound peeved!

Pixie5740

It doesn't matter what is written on the tenancy agreement, it's the AT5 form that makes a tenancy Short Assured rather than just Assured.

She sounds like a fly-by-night landlord and if she is uncooperative you could make life difficult for her by say reporting her to the local council. So I wouldn't worry much about her being peeved.

Is your deposit protected?

snagglepuss16

I've had a look at the at5 document and can't remember ever seeing one. We have written confirmation that she has our deposit but at the time didn't know about the need of having it protected. ��

Pixie5740

Back in 2009 Scotland didn't have deposit protection legislation. It was introduced in March 2011 however all deposits received prior to March 2011 should now have been registered with one of the deposit schemes by 15th May 2013.

This might not be important but then again it might be if you have any issued getting your deposit back once you've moved out.