Help! Section 21 notice and tenant rights

Ashleighjeeves

Hi all,

I am currently on a rolling contract with my landlord as my original agreement expired on the 3rd of October.

I pay my rent on the 3rd of every month and on the 8 of this month (a couple of days after paying my advanced rental payment) I was served with a section 31 notice that detailed I was required to leave by the 14th of May.

I have found somewhere else to live and tried to give my one months notice (as per my tenancy agreement) on the 12th of this month and offered to pay rent owed for the 3rd to the 12th of April. However my landlord first off told my lettings agent it was out of order and I should honour his two months and leave bang on the 14th... then he came back to the lettings agent and said because I hadn’t given my notice on the rent payment day it wasn’t valid. Basically snookering me into staying for his two months as I now can’t give notice until the 3rd of April, taking me through to the 3rd of may. I have tried to be reasonable with him and explained that I have found somewhere else to live but he is adamant that I am to stay for two months. Can anyone help me? It point me in the right direction? If I can’t move into the new place within a month I lose it. I also have a two week holiday booked for the end of April to the beginning of May which is unfortunate timing as, if I am unable to uphold my notice then I will be essentially coming back from holiday to no where to live.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

anselld

You can still give notice to leave on 3rd May.
You can still move into the new place 12th April if you can afford the overlap.
Anything else is down to negotiation, bearing in mind the current L will presumably wish some co-operation for viewings or may find a T wishing to move in quickly.

conavar1903

Ashleighjeeves wrote: »

Hi all,

I am currently on a rolling contract with my landlord as my original agreement expired on the 3rd of October.

I pay my rent on the 3rd of every month and on the 8 of this month (a couple of days after paying my advanced rental payment) I was served with a section 31 notice that detailed I was required to leave by the 14th of May.

I have found somewhere else to live and tried to give my one months notice (as per my tenancy agreement) on the 12th of this month and offered to pay rent owed for the 3rd to the 12th of April. However my landlord first off told my lettings agent it was out of order and I should honour his two months and leave bang on the 14th... then he came back to the lettings agent and said because I hadn’t given my notice on the rent payment day it wasn’t valid. Basically snookering me into staying for his two months as I now can’t give notice until the 3rd of April, taking me through to the 3rd of may. I have tried to be reasonable with him and explained that I have found somewhere else to live but he is adamant that I am to stay for two months. Can anyone help me? It point me in the right direction? If I can’t move into the new place within a month I lose it. I also have a two week holiday booked for the end of April to the beginning of May which is unfortunate timing as, if I am unable to uphold my notice then I will be essentially coming back from holiday to no where to live.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Tell the LL to get lost. You have given your notice. Move into your new place when you have agreed and let him chase you for anything outstanding.
It's time this country started to properly protect tenants. Everything is stacked in the property owners favour.

Pixie5740

Your landlord is talking rubbish. 1) His notice does not end the tenancy. 2) You are perfectly within your rights to serve your own notice. In fact as his notice doesn't end the tenancy you should serve your own notice.

Your notice must align with your tenancy periods, assuming it's a statutory periodic tenancy that you have, which means it's the date your tenancy started that's important and not the date you pay rent.

See G_M's guide to Ending/Renewing an AST for further information.

kev25v6

I!!!8217;d tell him to agree to your date amicably or he can see you in court in around 6 months time to have you removed by bayliffs.

Ashleighjeeves

I just worry that because he has rejected my notice, that he will then withhold my deposit? Is he allowed to reject a notice to leave?

Ashleighjeeves

The date my tenancy started is the same day as my rent is due. It started on the 3rd of October 2016 and I pay my rent every month on the 3rd

G_M

Ashleighjeeves wrote: »

The date my tenancy started is the same day as my rent is due. It started on the 3rd of October 2016 and I pay my rent every month on the 3rd

1) your tenancy periods run from 3rd to 2nd of each month

2) you now have either a SPT or a CPT - see the link in pixie's post 4 above. Which? It makes a difference!

3) you must serve valid notice before you leave, whether on the LL's preferred date or your own

4) Until you answer 2) above, no one here can tell you if your notice is valid or not.

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

bowlhead99

Ashleighjeeves wrote: »

The date my tenancy started is the same day as my rent is due. It started on the 3rd of October 2016 and I pay my rent every month on the 3rd

So, your rental periods start on the third of a month. And you need to give one full rental period's notice if you're in a rolling statutory periodic tenancy after the end of your assured tenancy. If you don't know if you're in a statutory periodic tenancy or a contractual periodic tenancy, follow the link.

So, unfortunately, if you're on a rolling statutory periodic tenancy you can't just decide you want to tell him in the middle of March that you want to leave in the middle of April. That doesn't give one full clear rental period. It gives a bit of the March period and a bit of the April period.

As you don't have the ability to give notice of less than one full rental period, and you've already started the March rental period, the quickest you can stop paying rent is to give notice before the April rent period starts, to say that April will be your last full rental period.

So as someone up the thread said, you can certainly serve notice to say that you want the tenancy to stop before 3 May (paying for the whole rental period which commences 3 April).

You obviously don't have to physically be in the property until early May. If you found somewhere you like, you could just move into it tomorrow. As in, you could physically do it. But you would still be bound by the current contract which you can't get out of until you've gone through the full next rental period after serving notice. He's right that he can reject your notice which doesn't give a full rental period of notice.

Pixie above is right that the landlord notice doesn't stop the tenancy. It's just notice to say that if you don't vacate by the date he picked in May, he might start court proceedings to get you out. Which might take another six months. So you're totally within your rights to say, ok, you want me out by mid may, I'll give you *my* notice saying I'm ending the tenancy before 3 May, I do not want to be in the property for any part of the rental period commencing 3 May, and an giving you the full required notice of the full rental period commencing 3 April.

But what you can't do is say in mid March, ok I'm leaving in mid April and not paying beyond that. You can physically leave in mid April, but you can't stop paying for the days after that unless both you and the landlord consent to end the tenancy earlier than the contract (your month to month contract, in "one month chunks which always start on 3rd of a month") allows.

Ashleighjeeves

Hi, my contract is currently an SPT, there was no additional paperwork after the initial agreement expired. Is it fair of the landlord to issue notice two days after I’ve paid my rent then? Because that essentially would mean that you can’t give your one month notice during a section 21 if the landlord waits until just after your rent payment?

I’ve also found online that his sections 21 notice should have an end date that is reflective of the current rent schedule. So if my notice to him would be say April 3rd to May 3rd, should his section 21 not end on the 3rd of a month as opposed to the 14th, which is what it states?

The letting agent has said that for whatever reason, the landlord is intentionally making this more difficult than it has to be for all parties involved. I appreciate the help and advice given here.

G_M

Ashleighjeeves wrote: »

Hi, my contract is currently an SPT, there was no additional paperwork after the initial agreement expired.
That does not make it a SPT. What does your original tenancy agreement say? Have you read the link?

Is it fair of the landlord to issue notice two days after I!!!8217;ve paid my rent then?
Fair? Matter of opinion.
Legal? He can serve a S21 at any time.

Because that essentially would mean that you can!!!8217;t give your one [STRIKE]month[/STRIKE]tenancy period notice during a section 21 if the landlord waits until just after your rent payment?
* depends if a SPT or CPT.
* if SPT, more or less right, yes.

I!!!8217;ve also found online that his sections 21 notice should have an end date that is reflective of the current rent schedule.
No. Provided he used the correct form, 2 calender months is valid.
The law has changed a number of times - where on the internet did you look?

So if my notice to him would be say April 3rd to May 3rd,
3rd April to 2nd May

should his section 21 not end on the 3rd of a month as opposed to the 14th, which is what it states?
His S21 must expire on or after two calender months from the date of service. The tenancy periods are irrelevant (in most cases).

The letting agent has said that for whatever reason, the landlord is intentionally making this more difficult than it has to be for all parties involved. I appreciate the help and advice given here.

Read the link again.

If you want to check if his S21 is valid, go through this:

S21 checklist (Is a S21 valid?)