How much notice does landlord need to give to vacate rented property

spaced1981

Hi.
We (my wife, 2 kids and I) have been renting a house for the last five and a half years, originally signing a 3 year tenancy on 2nd March 2011. Once this expired we have had a small rent increase but have signed no further contracts. I imagine we have what is essentially a basic monthly rolling contract. The rent is paid monthly, on the 1st of every month.
We have had a good relationship with the landlord until they decided they wanted to sell the house this month and issued us an email (on the 4th of August) stating this intent and giving us 30 days notice to vacate the property.

We have no problem finding somewhere else to live and have been vigorously looking but there is a distinct lack of available properties that are close to schools/work.

I have seen several conflicting threads and articles relating to the notice that needs to be given.

My question, is the 30 day notice period correct, some reports say 2 months should be given but I am not sure if this is only after a distinct period (e.g. 6 months, 3 years, etc...) has come to an end.

Many thanks for anyone who takes the time to read or reply to this thread.

danslenoir

Your landlord needs to give you two month's written notice.

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-tenancy-agreements/your-landlord-wants-to-end-your-tenancy

If you want to stay for the full two months tell him so and do so. He has no legal basis on which to argue against you.

Guest101

You are on a Statutory Periodic Tenancy by the sounds of it, the notice is 2 months, the notice is not to vacate the property. It is simply that the LL may begin formal legal proceedings to evict after that point.


Say nothing and then when 30 days expires they will need to issue a further 2 months notice

casperlarue

bascially, no - 30 days notice on an email is not a valid way to give notice. It needs to be a S21 notice, in the correct format, giving you 2 months notice.

However - that doesn't mean that you have to leave on that date, only the tenant or a court order can legally end a tenancy.

GM has some stickies regarding correct procedure for ending a tenancy, such as correctly protected deposit etc

fairy_lights

Is your deposit correctly protected?

danslenoir

Guest101 wrote: »

You are on a Statutory Periodic Tenancy by the sounds of it, the notice is 2 months, the notice is not to vacate the property. It is simply that the LL may begin formal legal proceedings to evict after that point.


Say nothing

Is this good advice?

OP may be in the right legally speaking but shutting down communication completely does not seem a fair way to treat the landlord, particularly if landlord has been decent over the years until now and may have sent this notice to quit in ignorance of his/her legal obligations (not an excuse, I know).

Surely better for OP to acknowledge receipt of the notice, highlight that it is not legally valid/enforceable, highlight they are actively looking for places to move to but it is difficult and they may need at least the full two months they are legally entitled to find somewhere adequate?

thesaint

Guest101 wrote: »

Say nothing and then when 30 days expires they will need to issue a further 2 months notice

That's an option, but maybe the OP doesn't want to be an bumhole.

danslenoir

thesaint wrote: »

How long are the rental periods(they are usually a month)?
Without at least that information, everyone is making an educated guess.

I guess you are incapable of reading.

Legislation requires at least two month's written notice:

'In some circumstances, your landlord can take back their property without giving any reason. To do this, all of the following must apply:

they’ve protected your deposit in a deposit protection scheme
they’ve given you at least 2 months’ written notice that they want the property back (‘notice to quit’) and the date you must leave
the date you must leave is at least 6 months after your original tenancy began (the one you had on first moving in)
you have a periodic tenancy – or you have a fixed-term tenancy and your landlord isn’t asking you to leave before the end of the fixed term
you haven’t made a complaint to the council about the living conditions in the property that resulted in the council serving a notice to the landlord (for tenancies starting after 30 September 2015)'

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-tenancy-agreements/your-landlord-wants-to-end-your-tenancy

spaced1981

Thanks for all the replies. The deposit is protected in a scheme setup when we moved in. I agree that the way forwards is to:

highlight that it is not legally valid/enforceable, highlight they are actively looking for places to move to but it is difficult and they may need at least the full two months they are legally entitled to find somewhere adequate?

We are not looking to be difficult, only want to know what our legal right are so we are afforded enough time to find a suitable property.

Guest101

thesaint wrote: »

That's an option, but maybe the OP doesn't want to be an bumhole.

All the LL had to do was some very basic research, it's hardly asking the world to get correct notice.

Guest101

danslenoir wrote: »

Is this good advice?

OP may be in the right legally speaking but shutting down communication completely does not seem a fair way to treat the landlord, particularly if landlord has been decent over the years until now and may have sent this notice to quit in ignorance of his/her legal obligations (not an excuse, I know).

Surely better for OP to acknowledge receipt of the notice, highlight that it is not legally valid/enforceable, highlight they are actively looking for places to move to but it is difficult and they may need at least the full two months they are legally entitled to find somewhere adequate?

The LL literally had to do the most basic research possible.


Google: How to end a tenancy in England...


(I am presuming England by the way, if Scotland its slightly different)


I'm sorry but if you're running a business it's up to you to get this stuff right.