Notice to landlord

joolsbfd

I'm currently renting and in process of buying. My tenancy agreement states I need to give at least ONE CALENDAR MONTHS WRITTEN NOTICE.

Does anyone know if this requires notice from my usual date of rental payment or can be given at any time? In previous rented property I have always had to synchronise moving with the day of usual rent payment.

Ideally I don't want to pay rent and mortgage at the same time which is causing me some concert s about when In the process I can actually hand in my notice - I know ideally not til exchange but my seller is keen to move fast. I am too, but mostly keen not to leave myself homeless if anything falls through ....

Thanks for any help folks

G_M

1) are you in Eng/Wales?
2) are you in a fixed term contract If yes, starting when and for how long?
3) If yes, is there a 'Break Clause'? What are the exact words?
4) Or was the tenancy periodic (rolling) from the beginning? if yes, quote the exact words about notice?
5) or was it a fixed term which has ended, so now is periodic?
6) if yes, did the original tenancy say what would happen when it ends? If yes, precise words?
7) or did the fixed term end, and there was nothing stated about what happens thereafter?

THEN we can advise!

edit: read also

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

joolsbfd

1) yes England
2) fixed term ended January 2014 so I've been on statutory periodic tenancy since then

Thank you G_M I was hoping you might answer:)

G_M

Then assuming your are right (you have not answered Q6 specifically) & it is a SPT, the clause you quote is meaningless.

One full tenancy period notice ending at the end of a tenancy period. To give precise date we'd need to know the exact date your fixed term ended in January.

See

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

However if it is a CPT then it may be different.

DandelionPatrol

joolsbfd wrote: »

1) yes England
2) fixed term ended January 2014 so I've been on statutory periodic tenancy since then

Thank you G_M I was hoping you might answer:)

I was hoping you might answer 3),4), 5), 6) and 7).

Generally, G_M and others do not ask loads of questions to make people jump through hoops, but in order to provide useful opinions.

justme111

3,4, and 5 were either answered or not applicable - 3 applies only if reply is yes to a fixed term contract , 4 ,5 and 6 already been replied.
Op , it does say that you have to give at least one calendar month notice. It does not say it can not be longer. So you can give a notice that you are moving out in 3 months. Or may be in 2 months and 4 days. I suppose if they don't let you pay just for 4 days you are not going to be keen to pay for the whole month if you live there only 4 days and will try to move out either on a payment day or a bit before as is usually recommended.
It does say you have to give "at least 1 month notice ", ie you can not say "I am moving out in a week and not going to pay any more rent as I am moving out ".
Resuming - you are not required by law to synchronise your moving out and moving in date , you may want to do it to minimise your expense. I would leave 2/3 days overlap as it allows for more relaxed moving .

G_M

justme111 wrote: »

3,4, and 5 were either answered or not applicable - 3 applies only if reply is yes to a fixed term contract , 4 ,5 and 6 already been replied.

Op , it does say that you have to give at least one calendar month notice. .

6 was implied but not answered. Since it is easy to get wrong, but makes a significant difference, I re-iterated the Q.

However, if "been on statutory periodic tenancy since then" is accurate, then what the contract says is completely irrelevant.

joolsbfd

Thank you for the interest and support all...

G_M - My apologies .. the exact wording is as follows:

"
5. This agreement may be brought to an end (but not earlier than the expiry of the term certain) by the Tenant(s) giving to the Landlord at least one Calendar Month's written notice.
6. One month before the end of the fixed term, it shall be the absolute duty of the tenant to notify the Landlord in writing if he intends to surrender the tenancy on the expiry of the term certain.
7. If no notice of surrender of tenancy is issued, then at the end of the FIXED TERM the tenancy automatically becomes a Statutory Periodic Tenancy, all terms/conditions being unchanged. "

Fixed term was the 10th day of month x to the 10th day of January 2014. Rent payable every 10th day of the month.

Thanks for the link to the Ending/Renewing AST. From my reading of this, I would need to pay rent to the 10th of each calendar month (whether or not I moved out earlier). Is my reading of this correct, or does the information above change anything in that respect?

Thanks all...

joolsbfd

justme111 wrote: »

3,4, and 5 were either answered or not applicable - 3 applies only if reply is yes to a fixed term contract , 4 ,5 and 6 already been replied.
Op , it does say that you have to give at least one calendar month notice. It does not say it can not be longer. So you can give a notice that you are moving out in 3 months. Or may be in 2 months and 4 days. I suppose if they don't let you pay just for 4 days you are not going to be keen to pay for the whole month if you live there only 4 days and will try to move out either on a payment day or a bit before as is usually recommended.
It does say you have to give "at least 1 month notice ", ie you can not say "I am moving out in a week and not going to pay any more rent as I am moving out ".
Resuming - you are not required by law to synchronise your moving out and moving in date , you may want to do it to minimise your expense. I would leave 2/3 days overlap as it allows for more relaxed moving .

That is what I am trying to clarify ... it seems from the link posted by G_M that I do actually have to synchronise moving dates to minimise expense, as you say. .. I was hoping that "calendar month" would mean I could give notice on any day of the month that I would be leaving the same day on the following month. Ach well.... seems not. And yes, agree a 2/3 day overlap perfect. Unfortunately for me, it looks like the pressure on me from sellers would now result in a huge overlap of 1 month and a week (they want to move on the 4th december, I can't give notice yet, as things are not clear enough for me to do so, meaning i will have to pay til january 10th - whether or not I live there until that time as I can't give a months' notice on 10th november). -- if any of that makes sense. Thanks for your support!

G_M

Clauses 5 & 7 present an interesting legal contradiction.

Bear in mind that a Statutory Periodic Tenancy can (by definition) only be created by Statute (not by contract). The relevant statute is the Housing Act 1988 S5. Section 5 para (4) states:

The (statutory) periodic tenancy referred to in subsection (2) above shall not arise if, on the coming to an end of the fixed term tenancy, the tenant is entitled, by virtue of the grant of another tenancy, to possession of the same or substantially the same dwelling-house as was let to him under the fixed term tenancy.

In this case, the contract (clause 7) grants the tenant another tenancy following the end of the fixed term, thus
1) it is the contract that creates the periodic tenancy, and therefore
2) S5 of the Housing Act can not create a Periodic tenancy

Thus (so far) it must be a Contractual Periodic Tenancy, not a Statutory Periodic Tenancy.

This is further borne out by clause 5, which specifies notice; If this were a SPT, notice could not be defined by the contract. The contract could only specify notice in a CPT.

So again, this looks like a CPT, in which case notice is as defined in the contract (clause 5) namely 1 calender month.

Against this is the wording of clause 7: "tenancy automatically becomes a Statutory Periodic Tenancy". This could be interpreted as being for information only, that is, the contract is not creating a periodic tenancy (CPT), it is simply advising the tenant that the Housing Act will create a periodic tenancy (SPT).

In that case, notice would be a full tenancy period, ending on the last day of a period, thus making clause 5 redundant.

So that sorts that out eh?!

pmlindyloo

Priority is not to give notice until you have signed the contract.

Since there seems to be some doubt as to what notice you have to give then why not ask the letting agent/landlord?