Landlord withholding rent

Legacy_user

No longer need advice
Thanks

Red-Squirrel_2

No, you agreed to a two month notice date and it sounds like you gave less than two weeks.

missile

You gave one months notice that you MIGHT be moving out. You informed LL (when?) and expect to have part of December refunded.

You clearly broke the rental agreement. Are you for real?

John_G_Jones

Letting them know that you might move out is not giving notice. If you had delayed a month would you have honestly been OK if a new tenant turned up on your “likely” date and asked you to move?

You clearly woukdn’t Have been, so he could not start marketing it until you have formal notice.

As above, you gave only a few weeks, so should expect to pay for the rest of the notice period.

G_M

The replies above would normally be appropriate, except that

DXW059 wrote: »

Once the completion date on our new property was confirmed (mid December) I informed the landlord that we would be moving out then and asked if it would be possible for us to only pay the rent up until vacating the property (i.e. half of December rather than the whole month). He replied in a text saying that that was fine.

That sounds to me like an agreement by the LL to accept an Early Surrender.

Personally I'd have formalised that agreemet in writing (letter with clear dates and rent/penalty conditions etc) if I'd been the tenant, rather than rely on a single text.

Nonetheless......

Red-Squirrel_2

G_M wrote: »

The replies above would normally be appropriate, except that
That sounds to me like an agreement by the LL to accept an Early Surrender.

Personally I'd have formalised that agreemet in writing (letter with clear dates and rent/penalty conditions etc) if I'd been the tenant, rather than rely on a single text.

Nonetheless......

It sounds like they didn't actually have a date at that point though, as they paid December's full rent before knowing the completion date then asked for some back.

Can an early surrender be agreed without a date in place?

G_M

Once the completion date on our new property was confirmed (mid December) I informed the landlord that we would be moving out then

That sounds like there was a specific date, though the OP has just generalised it here to us (mid December).

But perhaps the OP could confirm.

You are right, without a specific date it would be meaningless.

AdrianC

There's a difference between "moving out" and ending the tenancy.

The landlord may well say that his text message was intended to refer to you moving out part-way through December, leaving the property vacant for the rest of your notice period. If he's happy to allow you one month's notice instead of the contractual two, then that's only in line with the legal requirements for an AST (assuming that month is in line with the rental period dates).

G_M

AdrianC wrote: »

There's a difference between "moving out" and ending the tenancy.

The landlord may well say that his text message was intended to refer to you moving out part-way through December, leaving the property vacant for the rest of your notice period. If he's happy to allow you one month's notice instead of the contractual two, then that's only in line with the legal requirements for an AST (assuming that month is in line with the rental period dates).

Again, normally yes, but OP said:

and asked if it would be possible for us to only pay the rent up until vacating the property (i.e. half of December rather than the whole month). He replied in a text saying that that was fine.

And again, written confirmation would have been sensible, but does not alter the fact that, according to what we have been told, the tenant and LL reached an agreement about both the date and the rent.

AdrianC

Depends on the exact wording of the texts, of course.

ginashamz

All I want is my rental income for December and January for now. The letting agent keeps telling me they will pay but have not to date.
Hopefully they will provide me with the contract!