Right to give 4 weeks notice

Emzlyz

Wasn't sure how to title this.

In the process of buying a house. 2 weeks ago our solicitor submitted enquires, at no point has a completion date been suggested. Today I emailed to ask because we are in rented, we had a 6 months fixed term tenancy that ended on 7/2/21, we signed no new contracts because we were looking to buy. We were told that we need to give 4 weeks notice but our tenancy will always end on the 6th of a month so if we give notice today we pay until 6/10/2021. In my head I was hoping to exchange at the start of September and complete 2 weeks later, having about 2 weeks before we needed to vacate our rental. However my solicitor just rang me and our sellers want to complete next week. 
They are buying a new build and apparently should have exchanged last week. For context our offer was accepted at the end of June.
My question is how can I end our tenancy early? I have given 4 weeks notice today and asked them to accept it under the circumstances but if they refuse where do I stand legally?

6 weeks of paying 2 lots of bills is not what we budgeted for 

Owleyes00

You need to check the terms of your tenancy agreement but it usually says something like “one month’s notice ending at the end of a full rental period”. I have also given notice on a rental as I am moving at the beginning of September. A rental period for me runs from 23rd - 22nd and I therefore my agreement runs out on the 22nd of the month regardless of when I give notice. This is typical and you need to check the terms of your tenancy agreement.

If you are buying a house one would hope you have contingency savings you could use to cover the cost although thankfully rent comes out a month in advance and mortgage payments a month behind so you might get away with it.

MaryNB

If  there was no mention of the rolling tenancy in your contract then it's an Statutory Period Tenancy (SPT) and the standard notice period is one rental period (usually one month) that lines up with your tenancy dates. If it's mentioned in your contract it's a Contractual Period Tenancy but I would presume it also has a notice period of once rental period (ETA: unless contract says otherwise but 1 or 2 months is common).

A month's notice that lines up with your tenancy dates is the most common form of notice and is pretty standard. The only way out is if they get tenants in before the 6 weeks is up, you could offer to help and speed thing up by helping to find tenants if the landlord agrees.

I had to budget for up to 2 months of rent and mortgage overlap incase dates didn't line up. Unfortunately it's something you should have budgeted for, it's a common issue moving from rental to ownership.

Also you shouldn't have given notice until you exchanged!! ETA: If you haven't exchanged today that is, I took from your post that you hadn't but on re reading it I'm not sure.

PRAISETHESUN

It'll depend on the exact wording of your TA, and if there is a break clause or not, but usually it's 1 calendar month (not 4 weeks) required, which may or may not need to coincide with your rental period (my current rental requires this but my previous did not - your TA will specify this). Anything not in your TA will need agreement from your LL and will be purely a gesture of goodwill on their part (ie. nothing legally you can do to force it).

I personally wouldn't give notice until you've exchanged, since there's no guarantee that you actually will exchange on the date you've arranged and you could find yourself suddenly having to try and talk your LL into cancelling your notice, which could have additional costs for you.

Thrugelmir

Not your problem if the vendors haven't discussed dates previously. Stand your ground and don't be bullied. 

getmore4less

 In my head I was hoping to exchange at the start of September and complete 2 weeks later, 

I take from that you have not exchanged yet,  bit early to be giving notice on your current home.

Emzlyz

getmore4less said:

 In my head I was hoping to exchange at the start of September and complete 2 weeks later, 

I take from that you have not exchanged yet,  bit early to be giving notice on your current home.

We haven't exchanged or given notice yet. I typed that wrong in my post. I asked the lettings agent about giving notice and they are going to ask my landlord if he will accept 4 weeks. 

From what my solicitor said today, our sellers want to exchange and complete within the next week. 

My tenancy runs from 7th-6th which is why I was planning to suggest exchange by 7th September so we could give notice and complete about 2 weeks after. We don't want to exchange and complete so quickly. 

We had planned for an overlap but as I said not 6 weeks. Just feels very rushed to suddenly be told that the sellers have to complete in the next week which totally screws us over. If we had known this earlier we would have planned for it. We would also happily have given notice earlier and if anything went wrong moved in with family temporarily. 

All my savings are going into the deposit/solicitors fee/moving costs. My partner has plenty of savings left over if we need anything. 

If our landlord wants us to pay until 6th October then I'm going to go back to my solicitor and suggest we exchange and complete around 6th September.

I'd just rather not waste money running 2 properties for 6 weeks if we don't need to and I do feel that springing a completion date on us for next week isn't really good practice. I'd exchange next week without any complaints but with a view to complete in September 

Thrugelmir

Go on holiday for a fortnight. 

Emzlyz

Edenbridge said:

I suspect that as you say your seller is purchasing a new build their contract with the developer is subject to completion on notice.

Once the home is ready and signed off they will have a very short window,typically 10 days in which to complete on the transaction.

Failure to complete to the developers set timescale can result in daily interest penalties and ultimately loss of deposit and the sale failing.

It is often the case,where a new build is in the mix,that things have to move very quickly at short notice.

I’m surprised you weren’t warned that this may happen.

We were led to believe the house wasn't ready as we were told the sellers planned to move in with family. This is something I asked about before we even applied for our mortgage.

My initial panic is disappearing. Just frustrated to be told that the sellers were meant to exchange on their new build last week and now have until next week to do so, yet no one has informed us until today. This morning I was under the impression we were awaiting enquiries and could still be weeks away from exchange. 

Waunakee

You said originally they want to complete next week but now are saying it’s to exchange next week.This is very confusing please clarify what they want to happen.

2 very different things.

It’s a new build so 28 days from reservation to exchange contracts (developers can be flexible however if things are progressing) then completion on 7-14 days notice once the home is up.

What estimate were you given for this build to be completed? Many new build are slipping by months due to materials shortages within the industry.

I wish I had a pound for every thread on here where a vendor promises to move in with family,friends,short term rental etc then annoyingly doesn’t!

Hope you manage to get it sorted though!

saajan_12

There's no particular right to give 4 weeks notice. You have the rights you signed up for in your tenancy agreement, and if silent then you have the statutory right to terminate at the expiry of 1 tenancy period notice. This would be anywhere between 1 month and 2 months less a day, depending on when you get your notice in - never 4 weeks unless its Feb! 

In a purchase scenario, the worst case is exchange + complete on the same day, which happens to be day 1 of the new period (ie 7th sept) so notice expires 6th Nov resulting in 2 months - 1 day overlap.

That's what you should be budgeting for unless you're planning on insisting on certain dates for the purchase. Of course you have a right to influence the dates just as much as your sellers do, but if they also refuse, its up to you how much you want to risk it falling through entirely. 

So basically either negotiate with the seller (at risk of whatever concequences there) or deal with the overlap. 

Emzlyz said:

All my savings are going into the deposit/solicitors fee/moving costs. My partner has plenty of savings left over if we need anything. 
..
I'd just rather not waste money running 2 properties for 6 weeks if we don't need to ..

If partner has the money ie its not a cash flow problem, then in terms of overall spending, it may not make much difference. If you have to keep the rental anyway until 6th Oct say, then whether you complete now or in a month, the difference is 
* mortgage - no diff whether you start now or 1 month later, the total paid over the term is the same
* council tax - check if either local authority for your rental or purchase has a discount for empty homes, then move into the other one. Some areas still have 0% CT for a limited period (eg 1 month) if its unfurnished etc.
* gas & elec - only standing charges in the one you're not living in, as there'll be no usage.
* broadband & phone & TV licence - you can keep this in one property only