Landlord not repaying owed rent.

Uberfaker

I was given notice by my landlord at the end of last year that I had to vacate the property by Dec 25th (I was given sufficient notice). I pay rent for a full calendar month so paid for the entirety of December. I ended up vacating on the 19th.

I have contacted the letting agent asking for a refund of the rent payment for the days I was not in residence. Originally they seemed quite helpful and said they would talk to the landlord, after a few weeks and some pestering I was told they were actively looking into it. Now they have stopped answering my emails altogether.

I'm not sure exactly where I stand or what my next move should be, hoping someone more knowledgeable could advise me?

Thank you.

Pixie5740

Are you in England or Wales?

Any notice your landlord gave was just notice that he might go to court to get an eviction order. The landlord's notice does not end end tenancy that can only be done by you (the tenant) or a court. Therefore you did not have to leave on or before 25th December and in fact should have served your own notice to end the tenancy. I think there's a good chance you are not due any refund.

What date did your tenancy start? That the important date not the date that you pay your rent.

G_M

You may, or may not, be owed the money. Please answer:

* country?
* tenancy in fixed term or periodic?
* if fixed term, start date and term (length) or end date
* if periodic, start date and end date of any preceeding fixed term
* how was the 'notice' served? S21 Notice? Date served and expiry date?
* did you serve any notice? If yes, service date and expiry date?
* was there any other agreement with the landlord or agent about ending the tenancy? Was it in writing and what was the agreement?

[Deleted User]

If your tenancy was dated from 25th of the month, then you have to pay until 25th of the month, regardless of any notice served by a LL. Unless an early leave and repayment of rent already paid was already agreed in writing with the LL.

I suspect you aren't due any return of rental money paid. You moving out earlier than the date on the S21 doesn't change the money that needs to be paid otherwise.

Besides which, unless you are paying £2k a month for rent, the money you are requesting is not a huge amount is it? 6 days? I assume it was your choice to leave on 19th rather than 25th?

G_M

deannatrois wrote: »

If your tenancy was dated from 25th of the month, then you have to pay until 24th of the month, regardless of any notice served by a LL. (more likely tenancy was dated 26th) Unless an early leave and repayment of rent already paid was already agreed in writing with the LL.or the tenancy started after 1st October 2015.

Unlikely to affect OP in this case, but worth pointing out for people since as time goes by, more 'post October 2015' tenancies will start being affected by the new law.

MrJB

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Are you in England or Wales?

Any notice your landlord gave was just notice that he might go to court to get an eviction order. The landlord's notice does not end end tenancy that can only be done by you (the tenant) or a court. Therefore you did not have to leave on or before 25th December and in fact should have served your own notice to end the tenancy. I think there's a good chance you are not due any refund.

What date did your tenancy start? That the important date not the date that you pay your rent.

What a load of nonsense, the parties can agree to terminate the tenancy by operation of law - ie surrender the lease. The landlord served a notice, tenant acted upon that notice and vacated in accordance with the notice, landlord accepted keys back - how can you say that the tenancy has continued in that case. The lease therefore came to an end. Furthermore a lease can end through effluxion of time ie at the expiration of the fixed term T can vacate without notice.

Whether the tenant is entitled to a refund is a different question. Answer, possibly - I would have only paid for the days in December that were due and no more and this issue would not have occurred.

Pixie5740

It's really not my day today.

The landlord's notice does not end the tenancy. It is just notice that the landlord might go to court to get an eviction notice. The tenancy can only be ended by a court or the tenant so really the tenant should serve their own notice, or at least get some mutual surrender in writing, in order to end the tenancy.

MrJB

Pixie5740 wrote: »

It's really not my day today.

The landlord's notice does not end the tenancy. It is just notice that the landlord might go to court to get an eviction notice. The tenancy can only be ended by a court or the tenant so really the tenant should serve their own notice, or at least get some mutual surrender in writing, in order to end the tenancy.

You're correct it does not end a tenancy. A surrender does, however, end the tenancy and need not be in writing. If a tenant acts upon a notice served on the tenant, and vacates returning the property to the Landlord, no court ever would find in favour of a Landlord who subsequently then asserts that the tenancy has not ended - to suggest they would is preposterous.

Going back to the original post. Was the notice served as a result of the Landlord approaching the end of the fixed term and notice therefore served for part of the month?

Pixie5740

So what I wrote wasn't in fact nonsense but correct. Whilst a surrender need not be in writing I always recommend that any agreed surrender is put in writing, verbal agreements just aren't worth the paper they are written on.

The OP hasn't indicated that there was some kind of early surrender agreement with his landlord just that the landlord served notice so I don't see how he can be due a pro-rata rent refund based on the information given.

Guest101

To be technical I believe a surrender needs to be executed as a 'deed' and therefore in writing and witnessed.


In practice this is rarely a requirement.

Guest101

To be technical on another point, pixie is totally correct a s.21 notice does not end the tenancy, and if the tenant does not serve their own counter notice, they will continue to be liable for the rent.