Tenancy notice

Laurelii

Pixie5740 said:

Laurelii said:

Our current is 12 month fixed which will be ending at the end of Jan 
Our tenancy notice is 2 months so could we say we want to give notice e.g 20 Jan then leave 20 march.
The agreement states if we want to leave we have to give notice (2 month) at the end of the tenancy so give the 2 month end of jan. 

Can we give notice for e.g Jan 20th ?? they wont kick us out before this will they ? 

Can you please quote the exact wording in the tenancy agreement? It’s important to know if the months are calendar months, rental periods, etc. 

I am at work currently but i belive it says something along the lines of " 2 months notice cannot be given until the end of the tenancy'. Once i am home i will find the exact wording.

The tenancy ends on Jan 26th 2022, can we write to them on Jan 20th 2022 saying we are not renewing and the letter is the 2 months notice, therefore we leave on March 20th 2022. 

Landlord company have been emailing asking if we are staying or going but we are in the process of buying a house and have no clue whatsoever about a move in date. so we are trying to find out a move in date first before giving notice but if worst comes to worst will we be ok to give the notice like a week or 2 before the end of the tenancy ( example above)

Laurelii

SpiderLegs said:

Sanctioned_Parts_List said:

Most tenancy agreements require 1 month's advance notice if given by the tenant, 2 months if given by the landlord. Thus, if your contract renewal date is on 26th January and you want to leave on the 26th January, you need to give notice on or before 25th December. Similarly, the landlord would've had to give you notice of his intention not to renew the contract by 25th November.

…

This is incorrect information.

I am at work currently but i belive it says something along the lines of " 2 months notice cannot be given until the end of the tenancy'. Once i am home i will find the exact wording.

The tenancy ends on Jan 26th 2022, can we write to them on Jan 20th 2022 saying we are not renewing and the letter is the 2 months notice, therefore we leave on March 20th 2022. 

Landlord company have been emailing asking if we are staying or going but we are in the process of buying a house and have no clue whatsoever about a move in date. so we are trying to find out a move in date first before giving notice but if worst comes to worst will we be ok to give the notice like a week or 2 before the end of the tenancy ( example above)

Laurelii

saajan_12 said:

Laurelii said:

Our current is 12 month fixed which will be ending at the end of Jan 
Our tenancy notice is 2 months so could we say we want to give notice e.g 20 Jan then leave 20 march.
The agreement states if we want to leave we have to give notice (2 month) at the end of the tenancy so give the 2 month end of jan. 

Can we give notice for e.g Jan 20th ?? they wont kick us out before this will they ? 

They won't be able to actually kick you out before (they might give notice but there's a long process which will take more than 2 months). 

However not clear whether you can give notice on 20th Jan as its out of sync with tenancy periods - that depends on the wording. 

I am at work currently but i belive it says something along the lines of " 2 months notice cannot be given until the end of the tenancy'. Once i am home i will find the exact wording.

The tenancy ends on Jan 26th 2022, can we write to them on Jan 20th 2022 saying we are not renewing and the letter is the 2 months notice, therefore we leave on March 20th 2022. 

Landlord company have been emailing asking if we are staying or going but we are in the process of buying a house and have no clue whatsoever about a move in date. so we are trying to find out a move in date first before giving notice but if worst comes to worst will we be ok to give the notice like a week or 2 before the end of the tenancy ( example above)

MaryNB

Laurelii said:

Pixie5740 said:

Laurelii said:

Our current is 12 month fixed which will be ending at the end of Jan 
Our tenancy notice is 2 months so could we say we want to give notice e.g 20 Jan then leave 20 march.
The agreement states if we want to leave we have to give notice (2 month) at the end of the tenancy so give the 2 month end of jan. 

Can we give notice for e.g Jan 20th ?? they wont kick us out before this will they ? 

Can you please quote the exact wording in the tenancy agreement? It’s important to know if the months are calendar months, rental periods, etc. 

I am at work currently but i belive it says something along the lines of " 2 months notice cannot be given until the end of the tenancy'. Once i am home i will find the exact wording.

The tenancy ends on Jan 26th 2022, can we write to them on Jan 20th 2022 saying we are not renewing and the letter is the 2 months notice, therefore we leave on March 20th 2022. 

Landlord company have been emailing asking if we are staying or going but we are in the process of buying a house and have no clue whatsoever about a move in date. so we are trying to find out a move in date first before giving notice but if worst comes to worst will we be ok to give the notice like a week or 2 before the end of the tenancy ( example above)

Do nothing. On Jan 26th the contract will automatically become a periodic tenancy (rolling on a monthly basis) and you only have to give 1 month's notice (to line up with tenancy dates) to end the tenancy if the agreement doesn't specify or 2 month's if your tenancy agreement requires this during the periodic phase.

The landlord or letting agency may try to convince you to renew but you do not have to and it is not in your interest to do so. You have far more flexibility with a periodic tenancy. If you move out you will likely have to sign up to another 6 month tenancy elsewhere which will complicate/delay buying a house. 

For the landlord of letting agency to end the tenancy at the end of the fixed term or during the periodic stage they first have to issue an S21 notice (2 months) and it must be valid (lots of requirements, easy to get wrong). Once that expires you can still legally live at the property but they can start court proceedings to get an eviction order which will take several more months. 
They would be very stupid to do all that if you are a good tenant who is paying the rent on time.

If you do hand in your two months notice it may be two months that have to line up with tenancy dates (check the wording of your AST carefully) so if you hand in your notice on Jan 20th it may not expire until March 26th, not March 20th. 

saajan_12

Sanctioned_Parts_List said:

Most tenancy agreements require 1 month's advance notice if given by the tenant, 2 months if given by the landlord. - okay, that's most agreements. 
Thus, if your contract renewal date is on 26th January and you want to leave on the 26th January, you need to give notice on or before 25th December. - if 'you' is OP, then no, since theirs explicitly has 2 months from whats been said so far. 
Similarly, the landlord would've had to give you notice of his intention not to renew the contract by 25th November. - no, its not an intention to not renew, its to serve notice to apply for a possession order. That can also be anytime after 25th Nov, just a later notice date means they can act on it that much later. 

If you want to leave at the end of March, you need to give notice by the end of February. It is possible to work out tenancies pro-rata, but also a hassle, so the landlord is likely to collect the full month's rent. - No, often not possible to pro-rata or subdivide rental months- not because its a hassle, but because that's the statute / agreement. 

Now, as a landlord, if my tenants are paying on time, looking after the property well and not causing neighbourhood disturbances, I want to keep them for as long as possible. I'm hardly going to kick tenants out early just because they've decided to move on. With that in mind, when my tenants eventually do decide to move on, I'd like them to tell me as soon as possible, so that I can make plans. Maybe I need to do some work on the house. Maybe I just need to let it out again and want to start showing new applicants around. Maybe I need to move savings/investments around to cover a void period. I'm not a multi-mega-millionaire and do need to prepare for loss of income in the void period. - that's great, but irrelevant.. OP is asking what they CAN / CAN'T do. 

As such, if you are planning to move out at the end of March, it would be courteous to let your landlord know sooner rather than later. 

Please don't post at best misleading and at worst simply incorrect advice. 

Also OP, you don't need to repeat the same message in reply to everyone. We really need the exact phrasing to help further, so just wait until you get that and post in full. 

Sanctioned_Parts_List

MaryNB said:

ASTs automatically continue on a rolling monthly basis after the end of the fixed term, the landlord doesn't have to give any notice if they don't intend to renew it for another fixed term. I have never had a landlord contact me at the end of the fixed term - except for one who threatened an S21 if I didn't sign up for another 12 months. All the rest said nothing and it automatically became periodic. 

Poor proof-reading on my part - I was thinking "if the landlord intended to terminate at the end of the period" and typed "renew" instead. I'll just be sitting over there with the dunce's hat for a while...

doodling

Hi,

Others will be better able to comment on the detail, but you are missing an option.  You have three options:

1. Leave before the end of the fixed term (i.e. empty the place of your stuff and return the keys by 23:59:59 on 25/01/22, assuming your tenancy started on 26/01/21).  I didn't think any notice is required for this so I am surprised that some posters have suggested that it is - others may be able to comment on who is correct.  Of course it would be polite to give notice even if you didn't have to.
2. Sign a new fixed term contract of whatever length you agree with the landlord.
3. [ The option you haven't mentioned ].  Do neither of the above and move onto a rolling contract, the nature of which will either be determined by statute or by you existing contract, depending on what your existing contract says.  Usually such contracts provide for 2 months notice on the landlord's side and 1 or 2 months notice on the tenant's side (but you need to understand you existing contract to find out what happens in your case).  Neither the landlord or the agent can prevent this from happening (once you stay past the end of the fixed term it happens by law).  Once in a rolling contract the landlord can issue a Section 21 notice at any time which will eventually lead to you having to leave (a section 21 notice will have at least two months notice and then there will be several months after that before a court considers your eviction so you would have plenty of time to find somewhere else if this happens).

EndlessStruggle

Unless you are completing on the property in the next 1-3 weeks I would tell them you want to go into a rolling contract. 

Personally, I would be honest about why (you're buying a house) but that's up to you if you want to do that.

They are probably just concerned that the keys will drop in their laps at the end of your fixed term and want to make sure that it continues in some form and they have no gaps in rent for the landlord.

Obviously if they can get you locked in for another year contract it's better for them too. 

canaldumidi

Sajaan gave a good explanation in post umber 2.However,please note

* if your 12 month fixed term started on 26 Jan 2021 as you originally said, then it does not end either a) 'at the end of Jan 2022, nor b) 26 Jan 2022, as you later said.  It ends on 25 Jan 2022.

* if you leave on/before 25/1/22, the tenancy will end on 25/1/22 whether you serve notice or not - that's what a 'fixed term' means.

* if you stay, without signing anything, you'll have a periodic tenancy and then need to serve notice. The otice required will depend on the wording )if any) in your contract-hence people asking you to quote precisely what it says.

* if the LL wants you to leave, whether now or later, it will take 6+ months to evict you, starting with a 2 month S21 Notice.

Full details in my sticky here:

Post 4: 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?

SpiderLegs

Sanctioned_Parts_List said:

MaryNB said:

ASTs automatically continue on a rolling monthly basis after the end of the fixed term, the landlord doesn't have to give any notice if they don't intend to renew it for another fixed term. I have never had a landlord contact me at the end of the fixed term - except for one who threatened an S21 if I didn't sign up for another 12 months. All the rest said nothing and it automatically became periodic. 

Poor proof-reading on my part - I was thinking "if the landlord intended to terminate at the end of the period" and typed "renew" instead. I'll just be sitting over there with the dunce's hat for a while...

You are making it worse. Landlords do not terminate tenancy agreements.