Confused about when to give notice to leave flat

fullofwoe

Hi, I need to move out of my flat by the end of March and I am a little confused about when I need to give notice.

I was originally under an assured shorthold tenancy of 12 months which started on 22 May 2015. I am now in a periodic tenancy. Initially the rent was due on the 18th of each month.

About a year ago I changed jobs and my pay date changed, so I asked my letting agent to change the rental due date to the 5th of each month. The landlord agreed and the agency issued an addendum to the original contract stating landlord had agreed to this. The first time I paid rent on the 5th I paid my usual rent and a pro rata payment to account for the gap of around 11 days changing the payment date had created.

The original tenancy agreement requires me to give one months notice. Im just wondering if that means I will have to give notice by 22 February, in line with my original moving in date, meaning my last day in the flat will be 21 March, or will the change in rent date/the pro rata additional payment I made change this in any way?

Hope I have made this clear, any help would be appreciated!

tacpot12

You can give notice that you want to move out on a specific date, e.g. 31st March, but your contract requires you to give at least one months notice, so you have to give notice on the 28th February if you want your last day in the flat to be 31st March.

You will pay your last rent on 5th of March, normally this would be for the next month (so to 4th April), but you are moving out on 31st March so you can pro-rata your rental payment. You can talk to letting agent after you have given notice about how the pro-rating should be done, but basically you don't need to pay for the four days in April that you will not be there; I would resist any suggestion that you make the payment as usual, and they will refund you for the four days. It could take them a while to sort this out. It is better if they don't have any money that the landlord is not entitled to.

G_M

tacpot12 may be right, but only if you now have a CPT. And if the wording is specific about a calender month.

fullofwoe wrote: »

....

I was originally under an assured shorthold tenancy of 12 months which started on 22 May 2015.I am now in a periodic tenancy.
so your tenancy periods now run from the 22nd to the 21st of each month
Initially the rent was due on the 18th of each month. This does not affect the tenancy periods.

About a year ago I changed jobs and my pay date changed, so I asked my letting agent to change the rental due date to the 5th of each month. The landlord agreed and the agency issued an addendum to the original contract stating landlord had agreed to this. The first time I paid rent on the 5th I paid my usual rent and a pro rata payment to account for the gap of around 11 days changing the payment date had created.
This does not affect the tenancy periods.

It simply means the periods covered by each rent paymet are not the same as your tenancy periods which remain 22 - 21st.

The original tenancy agreement requires me to give one months notice.
Please quote in full.
Specifically:
* does this relate to giving notice to end the fixed term, or does it relate to a subsequent periodic tenancy?
* does it just say 'a month' or a 'calender month' or what?
* does the tenancy agreement say anything else about what follows the end of the fixed term?

Im just wondering if that means I will have to give notice by 22 February, in line with my original moving in date, meaning my last day in the flat will be 21 March, or will the change in rent date/the pro rata additional payment I made change this in any way?

If you have a SPT, then your notice must align with the tenancy periods (22-21 of month.
If you hae a CPT, the notice is as written in the contract, which you need to quote here in full for proper advice.


See:
* 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?

fullofwoe

Thanks for your reply - apologies but I do not know what a SPT/CPT is!

My tenancy agreement states under a section entitled 'general notes'

Where the tenancy becomes a periodic tenancy at the end of the fixed term period the tenant is required to give at least one month's notice in
accordance with the common law rules. The landlord is required to give at least two months notice ending on the last day of a period of the
tenancy, and in accordance with the statutory rules prescribed by Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

This is the only mention I can find of the tenancy ending in the agreement.

fullofwoe

tacpot12 wrote: »

You can give notice that you want to move out on a specific date, e.g. 31st March, but your contract requires you to give at least one months notice, so you have to give notice on the 28th February if you want your last day in the flat to be 31st March.

You will pay your last rent on 5th of March, normally this would be for the next month (so to 4th April), but you are moving out on 31st March so you can pro-rata your rental payment. You can talk to letting agent after you have given notice about how the pro-rating should be done, but basically you don't need to pay for the four days in April that you will not be there; I would resist any suggestion that you make the payment as usual, and they will refund you for the four days. It could take them a while to sort this out. It is better if they don't have any money that the landlord is not entitled to.

Given my tenancy agreement began on the 22nd I thought the rental period was 22-21 of each month, meaning I'd have to give notice prior to Feb 21st and advise I was leaving in. one months time in line with the rental period, so moving out on/before March 21st?

G_M

fullofwoe wrote: »

Thanks for your reply - apologies but I do not know what a SPT/CPT is!

which is why I provided a link which explains in detail!

G_M

fullofwoe wrote: »

My tenancy agreement states under a section entitled 'general notes'

Where the tenancy becomes a periodic tenancy at the end of the fixed term period the tenant is required to give at least one month's notice in
accordance with the common law rules. The landlord is required to give at least two months notice ending on the last day of a period of the
tenancy, and in accordance with the statutory rules prescribed by Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

This is the only mention I can find of the tenancy ending in the agreement.

You have a SPT as indicated by the reference to the Housig Act S21.

The Court of Appeal ruled (Laine v Cadwallader) that in a SPT, one month Notice, ending with a tenancy period, was required by a tenant based on common law.

If you serve notice on or before 22 Feb, your tenancy will end on 21st (or 22nd) March.

When you pay rent on 5th March, you should pay pro-rata for the 16 (or 17) days of March.

fullofwoe

Thank you so much for this G_M really helpful.

Why would I only need to pay for 16/17 days in March? Sorry, I am so stupid when it comes to things like this!

I also can't get my head around why I needed to make the pro rata payment when I changed the rent date since, as I think I understand it, all I have really been given permission to do is pay my rent late each month. The agency asked me to make a pro rata payment of around £250 on the date I first paid my rent on the new date of the 1st, in addition to the normal monthly amount. I can't quite figure out what that money was for, and whether or not I should be asking for it back?

G_M

fullofwoe wrote: »

Thank you so much for this G_M really helpful.

Why would I only need to pay for 16/17 days in March? Sorry, I am so stupid when it comes to things like this!
Maybe I misundestood, but my understanding is that you currently pay rent on 5th, covering the period 5th to 4th of each month.


If you end the tenancy on 21st, that is 16 days.
If you end the tenancy on 22nd, that is 17 days.

I also can't get my head around why I needed to make the pro rata payment when I changed the rent date since, as I think I understand it, all I have really been given permission to do is pay my rent late each month.
no - not all because as you now say......

The agency asked me to make a pro rata payment of around £250 on the date I first paid my rent on the new date of the 1st, in addition to the normal monthly amount.
So that £250 covered the period up to the 5th so that your monthly payments on the 5th now cover 5th to 4th.



I can't quite figure out what that money was for, and whether or not I should be asking for it back?

.....................................................................................................

fullofwoe

Ah sorry, maybe I’m being unclear. I asked if I could pay my rent on the 1st of each month (in line with my pay date). The agency agreed and set it as the 5th to allow times for funds to clear. So it’s due on the 5th, I tend to pay it on the 1st.

The pro rata thing does make sense now. I just got confused by the fact I have to give notice in line with the original agreement dates and so I didn’t know whether I’d paid extra unnecessarily!

G_M

You need to be clear what period the rent paid on the 5th actually covers.


It sounds like it covers 5th to 4th, since you made an extra payment when your rent payment changed presumably to cover the period from lod payment date to new payment date.


As explained, your tenancy periods never change, so the period from rent payment date to end of tenancy period is no longer a full month. Hence the pro rata daily payment.