Can I ask for part of monthly rent back?

jatt

Hi Everybody,

I am living in a rented property for the past 9 months of which 1st 6 months was a contract through EA and last 3 months were informal, directly from the LL with a month rolling contract.

I have informed LL about 2 months ago that I will be moving out. I am only staying for 3 weeks in last month and would like to know can I ask for a weeks worth of rent to be refunded (approx £150)?

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

SquatNow

Did you inform the landlord of the date you would be moving out?

david29dpo

You can ask but the LL is under no obligation to rent you a house for 3 weeks when the contract says per month.

jatt

Hi,

Thanks for ur replies.

Yes, I did inform the date which I will be moving out and the agreement after 1st 6 months was that I will move out whenever my job changes in next few months, so it wasn't a strict month rolling contract.

Regards

Debt_Free_Chick

jatt wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for ur replies.

Yes, I did inform the date which I will be moving out and the agreement after 1st 6 months was that I will move out whenever my job changes in next few months, so it wasn't a strict month rolling contract.

Regards

It's not that simple, I'm afraid. Once the term under the AST expires, if there is no new contract, then you have what is known as a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. The STP automatically follows on from the AST if the LL and tenant do not sign a new agreement.

Under an STP, the payment of the rent determines the term. If you paid rent (under the AST) monthly, then the STP is monthly. The month starts on the day after the AST ends.

What you now have is a legal commitment to rent the property for one month from the day after the end of the AST. At the end of that month, another month starts under the STP.

When you want to vacate, you have to give one month's notice with the notice period ending on the last day of the term under the STP. You can vacate sooner, but you must pay the rent right up to the end of the notice period.

If you confirm the date on which the term under the AST ended, we can confirm all the relevant dates under the STP, the notice period and the date that payment of rent is due up to.

franklee

jatt, Since you were renting through an EA check to see if you were served an S21 notice requiring possession. Often agents serve one routinely to all tenants near the start of the tenancy with the notice to expire at the end of the fixed term (Sword of Damocles). If you were served one of these then you do NOT owe rent till the end of a period, you just owe rent for the days you were in occupation.

If there was no S21 served then you probably do owe rent up until the end of the period.

Gorgeous_George

You ask for a week's rental back (£150). If the LL says no, you keep the keys for the full term.

GG

SquatNow

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

You ask for a week's rental back (£150). If the LL says no, you keep the keys for the full term.

GG

Yup you can ask. And if the LL turns out to be a moron and says no you can make it VERY hard for them... all you need to do is refuse to allow the LA to show people around. If your contract says you must give access I doubt it says your can't tell prospective tennants what you think of the landlords attitude.

You'de be supprised how painfull a 3 month void can be for a BTL landlord whos mortgage just went up.

A_Nice_Englishman

Be as helpful to the landlord as you can. Tell him when you'd like to end the tenancy immediately. Keep the place immaculate for viewers and be as flexible as you can over viewing times. The quicker he can re-let the more likely he is to let you off the week's rent.

SquatNow

If he relets the place immediately after you move out you'de be entitled to the rent back anyway as otherwise the tennancies would technically overlap and you would be entitled to turn up and turf the new tennants out until the end of your tennancy. (No need for an eviction notice as their AST would be invalid... just call the police and report a burglary.)