Too Risky To Accept Notice From Landlord?

Sunsaru

You could always come to a compromise like they could put the house on the market May/June time and you offer to accommodate viewings? By the time any house sale actually goes through you'd be long gone anyway.

theoretica

I would be straight with your LL - you certainly hope to move out by then, and your new build seems to be on schedule, but you don't see any advantage to yourselves in agreeing to definitely leave by then.  Or are they offering you anything for agreeing to what they want?

Oh_bother

Thank you @canaldumidi @badger09 @sammyjammy and @diggingdude That is the crux of the problem, We want to be reasonable but don’t want to put ourselves in a bad position. 

I’m not sure how flexible the landlords are prepared to be.

Oh_bother

@Sunsaru I think they are planning to market the property whatever we agree. They have a gardener and an estate agent coming round in a couple of weeks.

@theoretica We have been up front with the progress and told them we don’t have a definite date yet. I think this is what has prompted them trying to fix a ‘latest date’. They haven’t offered any benefit for us to agree. I would probably be happier to agree to end of July and then give earlier notice if possible.

I think I’m going to have to work out the costs and have some difficult discussions.

GoogleMeNow

Oh_bother said:

Thanks, yes we have exchanged. We are hoping to come to a mutual agreement with the landlords - I know we can’t “accept” or “decline” notice. What we would like to do is be pretty flexible with what the landlords want without shooting ourselves in the foot.

I suppose what I’d really like to know is, bearing in mind that we have exchanged and the progress on the build, in the balance of probabilities would agreeing to this be too risky? If we had to stay with a friend for a few days that wouldn’t be the end of the world, but more than a week would be problematic.

As you are on a rolling contract, I would think you need to give your landlord 1 month's notice, so when you receive the 10 days completion notice from the developer, hand your 1 month's notice to your landlord.  This gives you an extra overlap of two weeks to move out of the rental and doesn't leave you with any risk of being homeless and having to make two moves.  I would think that as your landlord appears to be reasonable, that this would not inconvenience him very much. 

You could accommodate any potential purchasers during this time by agreeing to viewings to take place.  A purchaser's conveyancing is likely to take around 3 months in any case, so assume that the property will be vacant for a few weeks at least,  after you've left.

Woolsery

Oh_bother said:

I’m not sure how flexible the landlords are prepared to be.

It's not their choice. They're running a business and the law allows you to keep a roof over your head until a court rules you must leave. That won't be likely for many months and your landlord probably knows that. Being a landlord means accepting the risks and inconveniences that go with the territory.

Oh_bother

@GoogleMeNow That was our original plan. We want to allow a buffer once we move out to clean and get the carpets cleaned. 

From what the landlord has said they want the house empty for a couple of weeks before they try to sell. I think that is what is driving their latest date. They have said if the house is ready before the end of June we would just give the 1 month notice, although that does feel a bit cake and eat it on their part.

However, if we go with their suggestion, if the house is not ready, we would have to go a couple of days before the end of June to allow for cleaning and potentially find storage and somewhere to stay for up to 9 weeks (the long stop date). Financially this doesn’t make sense to me. Hopefully I can persuade my OH of this too. 

steampowered

Don't agree a date until you know for sure when the new build will be ready !!!!

The landlord might want to pin down a date. I want to visit Mars for my summer holiday. Neither of those things is going to happen. Such is the nature of buying or selling property.  

Conveyancing takes several months anyway!!! Just allow the landlord to put the property on the market and allow them to conduct viewings. You'll be long gone by the time conveyancing is done.

steampowered

Oh_bother said:

Hmm lots to consider here - so basically we would be taking on all the risk and potential costs of storage and moving twice.

And the risk of having to stay in a hotel for several months, or paying rent on another property for 12 months (new rentals are generally for a minimum of 1 year). 

GoogleMeNow

Oh_bother said:

@GoogleMeNow That was our original plan. We want to allow a buffer once we move out to clean and get the carpets cleaned. 

From what the landlord has said they want the house empty for a couple of weeks before they try to sell. I think that is what is driving their latest date. They have said if the house is ready before the end of June we would just give the 1 month notice, although that does feel a bit cake and eat it on their part.

However, if we go with their suggestion, if the house is not ready, we would have to go a couple of days before the end of June to allow for cleaning and potentially find storage and somewhere to stay for up to 9 weeks (the long stop date). Financially this doesn’t make sense to me. Hopefully I can persuade my OH of this too. 

Therefore, do not agree to their suggestion.  You can be perfectly reasonable by saying that you will give your month's notice as and when you have received the completion notice from the developer and you have certainty on the date you can move out.  After all, we are talking about a two week overlap, which is basically what the landlord wants anyway, to prepare the house for selling isn't it?  You're the one in the driving seat here and it's great that you want to be accommodating, but there's a difference between accommodating and being sensible for your own purposes.