End of tenancy issues

Trickyuk

I am currently a landlord but I am in the process of selling the property. I still have tenants in situ but they have been made aware of what my plans are.

I placed the house on the market and got a decent offer which I have accepted. I gave my tenants 2 months notice on 1st June stating teh agreement would end on 31st July. So far so good.

The tenants how now messaged saying they are giving me 1 months notice and as such they are ending the contract on 7th July Can they do this?

cattie

I'd have thought as a landlord that you'd have been happy to get your tenants out well before the agreed date as you then know that your sale with vacant possession will go ahead. Better a couple of weeks of missed rent surely than tenants who refuse to move out & force you to take legal action.

Guest101

Trickyuk wrote: »

I am currently a landlord but I am in the process of selling the property. I still have tenants in situ but they have been made aware of what my plans are.

I placed the house on the market and got a decent offer which I have accepted. I gave my tenants 2 months notice on 1st June stating teh agreement would end on 31st July. So far so good.

The tenants how now messaged saying they are giving me 1 months notice and as such they are ending the contract on 7th July Can they do this?

I don't know, but it's certainly possible. They can serve 1 months notice inline with the rental period. If that is the 8th-7th, then absolutely they can.


Of course if you refuse, they could then not move out, you spend 3 months evicting them (probably longer since you seem to have no knowledge of tenancy law) and your sale falls through...

fishpond

Of course they can.
Better you lose a few weeks rent than if they stayed and you had to have them evicted in a few months time thereby losing the house sale.
Presumably they have found somewhere else to live.

dgtazzman

To me your original post makes it sound as if the rental period runs from the first of the month. If this is the case, then they have served notice too late and their 1 month notice is valid from the 1st of July, so they would have to be out on or before the 31st of July.

If the rental period runs from the 7th, the notice you served is incorrect and you might have to serve it again, with all related consequences.

Of course, you could just come to a friendly agreement with the tenants if it's in your mutual interest.

Guest101

dgtazzman wrote: »

To me your original post makes it sound as if the rental period runs from the first of the month. If this is the case, then they have served notice too late and their 1 month notice is valid from the 1st of July, so they would have to be out on or before the 31st of July.

If the rental period runs from the 7th, the notice you served is incorrect and you might have to serve it again, with all related consequences.

Of course, you could just come to a friendly agreement with the tenants if it's in your mutual interest.

The LLs notice is valid as it does not need to be inline with rental periods.

Fosterdog

As above it would depend on when your rental period starts but try to look at it from their side. They possibly had no intention for moving for a long time but you have asked them to leave by 31st July. They have had to sort out somewhere else to live and will have associated moving costs, getting a second deposit to pay before their get theirs back from you etc.

They have found somewhere they can move into on 7th July, they obviously won't want to pay rent on two properties at the same time and could possibly miss out on the other place if they wait any longer to move. That hen leaves them with potentially nowhere to go and them staying in your property while you go through the full eviction process and possibly lose your buyers.

Under the circumstances you would be better off just accepting their notice and thanking them for leaving early enough for you to sell without issues.

thesaint

When did their tenancy begin, and how long are the rental periods?
How was their "message" sent, and have you responded to it?

Trickyuk

It just doesn't seem right to me I give a longer notice so they can prepare to move only to move early. I take all your points about just getting them out it is just annoying.

Thanks for the replies.

Trickyuk

thesaint wrote: »

When did their tenancy begin, and how long are the rental periods?
How was their "message" sent, and have you responded to it?

The tenancy has been in place for 2 years and is on a rolling month by month. Their message was sent via text which under the contract they can do. I have this although I have replied.

thesaint

Trickyuk wrote: »

The tenancy has been in place for 2 years and is on a rolling month by month. Their message was sent via text which under the contract they can do. I have this although I have replied.

If you want to know your rights, then you need to answer my questions fully. If you want opinions then you will get those in abundance.

When did the tenancy start(date), and how long are the rental periods?

If you ever let properties again, do not allow notices to be served by text.