Completion date a month before tenancy ends on rented apartment.

PixarFan

I live in a rented apartment at the moment but I am currently buying my first house, with an expected competition date of early February. However, my tenancy does not run out on my flat until the end of February. I will be moving out of the flat straight away. My question is, what happens to bills such as council tax, electric and water? Can I cancel these and from the day I move out or do I have to pay for council tax etc. until the day my tenancy ends, even though I will not be living there?

Thank you for any advice!

da_rule

You will still be responsible for water and electric and council tax until your tenancy ends.

Your local council may decide to not charge you if the property is empty but you'd have to approach them and tell them.

You also need to check your lease as there are often clauses about how long you can leave rented property vacant for and you may find yourself in breach of contract.

Have you approached your landlord/agent to see if they can start marketing the property early and then if they find someone to take it over release you from your lease?

sparky130a

Of course you do.

Who else would pay? Your fairy godmother?

Be wary about dates. An attempt to seamlessly move without overlap rarely ends well.

kinger101

You'd give meter readings to the utility companies on the day your tenancy ended. Until the tenancy ends, you should keep the heating on sufficiently to prevent pipes freezing.

As for council tax, you'd tell the local council the date you moved out. Many of them have temporary exemptions for properties which are empty.

You could ask the LL is you could surrender the tenancy early...in which case you'd not be responsible for heating it in winter. It would save you a few pounds, but you don't really hold enough cards to get a partial rent return. It's too short a period.

ThePants999

Specifically, you'd tell the council two dates - the date at which you cease to be liable for council tax at the property (the end of your tenancy), and the date at which the property becomes empty and unfurnished.

You'll be liable for electric/gas/water on both properties, but for at least electric/gas (and water too if metered), you won't pay much on a property you're not actually using.

Note, though, that having an overlap period can be fantastic. We had about three weeks between completing and actually moving in, and it made it so much easier - we could ensure that Virgin Media was installed before we moved in, we could decorate without any furniture in the way, etc.

Our home insurance company were great too - covered both properties from exchange until we moved in at no extra cost.

kinger101

^^great for cleaning as well. If you're buying, there's a good chance the vacating owners left it grotty, and cleaning your rental property is much easier once you've left it.

Sarahlovesshoes

I agree with the above.
Moving is stressful enough as it is without the added strain of cleaning your rental property. I purposely kept my rental on for an extra month to allow me time to move everything, sort the new house out and then clean my old rental property.
Good luck with the move!

Pixie5740

Have you exchanged yet?

martindow

PixarFan wrote: »

an expected competition date of early February.

If you have not exchanged there is no completion date set and the date may well be later than the one someone has suggested. Or are you buying a newbuild? If so dates often slip and you may find your moving in date ends up much later.

G_M

1) Dates have a habit of slipping.

Unless you have actually Exchanged Contracts and so have a fixed Completion date, you cannot be sure.

2) You also have part control over the Completion date. You could discuss with th seller, via your solicitor and/or EA, a Completion date closer to your tenancy end date.

That does not stop you Exchanging Contracts (so that both you and the seller have certainty that the sale will go ahead) with a longer gap between Exchange and Completion.

3) If you have a good relationship with your landlord, you ould discuss the possibility of flexibility over the tenancy end date. With good tenants who are open /upfront about their plans, I have no problem with agreeing to a slightly shorter notice period (in a periodic tenancy) or in bring forward an end date a week or two.

For me, the key is communication. If a tenant says nothing and then suddenly announces "I'm leaving next week as I've bought a house" I'd enforce the proper notice period etc.

If they had told me of their plan to purchase a month or two earlier, and kept me informed of progress, I'd be flexible.

Of course with an absentee LL and an agent to deal with (or where the tenant/LL relationship is already poor) this is unlikely to work.

CIS

The rented one depends on your tenancy type - whether you're on a fixed term/contractual tenancy or whether you're in a periodic tenancy makes a difference as to whether you remain liable or not for the council tax from the date of vacation to the end of the tenancy (the rent of course is a different matter) - see Leeds CC v Broadley

Craig