How long is the wait? When to give notice?

dagnyjuel

I am buying my first property. Got the offer accepted, mortgage offer received and survey done. My solicitor received paperwork from the vendor's solicitor last Friday. All searches will be ordered today. There is no chain, the vendor has a second house where he is moving - does anyone know how long I will be waiting approximately from now? I have a 2-month notice on the property I'm renting now and not sure when is a good moment to hand it on. Thank you!!

G_M

1) could be a week or 2. Could be a month or 2. Could be 6 months.

2) do not give notice till you Exchange contracts. You can ask for a gap between Exchange and Completion. A week? a month? Up to you.

3) 2 months notice? Sure?
Please advise:

a) type of tenancy: fixed term (dates?) or periodic (monthly/weekly/rolling)

b) if periodic, did the original tenancy agreement say anything about what happens after the fixed term. If yes, please quote in full.

c) please quote in full any other terms relating to notice.

[Deleted User]

Do not hand in your notice until you exchange. House purchase can fall apart, either party can pull out up to the point of exchange for no reason at all, and if that were to happen you would be homeless.

dagnyjuel

Thank you, G_M! I'm afraid it is a two month notice

It says: 'Two months Notice can be given on or after the fourth month, by either party, in writing and on the rent due date.'

And then in Special Conditions:

'Should the Tenant/s wish to vacate the property prior to expiry of this agreement, they may only do so with prior agreement of the Landlord or their Agents. Where the Landlord or Agents agrees to such early vacation, the Tenants will be liable to continue to pay rent at the same rate until such time as suitable new Tenants take possession of the property. In addition to this, the Tenants must bear any out of pocket expenses borne by the Landlord and his Agents including without limitation commission which would equate to the monthly rent x 10% number of remaining months in the contract plus VAT.'

The renewal was signed end of Nov 2015 and it is a fixed term contract.

[Deleted User]

How long is the fixed term? Surely you're still within it if you signed a new one in November?

dagnyjuel

It is for a year...

MrJB

So you can give 2 months notice at the end of march to break? So you can give notice to vacate by the end of May? You will probably be in a position to purchase your new house before May, and indeed probably before the date in march where you can serve notice.

dagnyjuel

I am not sure how to understand it (and yes, I know, should have asked before signing!) - is there anyway I can get out of this contract earlier in case things go well with buying my own property? I won't be able to keep paying both - mortgage and rent for more than 1-2 months.

[Deleted User]

You can ask your landlord, they have no obligation to agree though. Legally you owe them rent money until the contract expires. Why on earth did you decide to buy a property a couple of months after signing a new 12 month rental contract, without checking with your landlord first?

mrginge

Lol. So you can give notice and move out, but the LL is under no obligation to get a new tenant for the remainder of your fixed term as you remain on the hook for the entire rent.
Oh and you have to pay extra on top as well.

Nice.

G_M

So you signed a 12 month contract in November, subject to a Break Clause allowing you to end the tenancy early. However

dagnyjuel wrote: »

It says: 'Two months Notice can be given on or after the fourth month, by either party, in writing and on the rent due date.'
Where does it say this? This appears to be a 'Break Clause' which permits you to end the tenancy early. ie in May if you give notice in March. There would be no costs or conditions attached to doing this despite what follows.

And then in Special Conditions:

'Should the Tenant/s wish to vacate the property prior to expiry of this agreement, they may only do so with prior agreement of the Landlord or their Agents. Where the Landlord or Agents agrees to such early vacation, the Tenants will be liable to continue to pay rent at the same rate until such time as suitable new Tenants take possession of the property. In addition to this, the Tenants must bear any out of pocket expenses borne by the Landlord and his Agents including without limitation commission which would equate to the monthly rent x 10% number of remaining months in the contract plus VAT.'

The renewal was signed end of Nov 2015 and it is a fixed term contract.

The Special Condition quoted above is unrelated to the Break Clause at the top.

a) a 'Break Clause', as quoted at the top, is a clause to end the tenancy. So if you give notice according to the BC, the tenancy ends. It canot be conditional on 'prior agreement'. Either it is a Break Clause or it is not. In this case, it clearly is, so no 'prior agreement' can be required to implement it.

b) A BC must also apply equally to both landlord and tenant. It would be unfair (and unenforcible) if a BC allowed the LL to give 2 months notice to the tenant (as in this case) with no conditions (prior agreement, costs etc), but required the tenant to request 'prior agreement', and pay unspecified 'out of pocket expenses'.

c) furthermore, the BC makes clear the tenancy ends after 2 months notice, whereas the Special Condition requires the tenancy to continue for an indeterminate period until "suitable new Tenants take possession". This is a clear contradiction. Where 2 clauses contradict each other
i) the primary condition takes precedence &/or
ii) interpretation should be to the advantage of the party who did not draft the contract - in this case the tenant

So my reading is that the tenancy has 3 possible outcomes:

1) it continues for 12 months as per contract OR
2) it can be ended by the Break Clause, following 2 months notice (with no conditions attached) OR
3) it can be ended at some other time subject to the Special Condition

3 above of course is redundant since any contract can be ended at any time subject to 'prior agreement', which may be granted, with-held, or granted subject to conditions/costs etc.