Section 21 Help please

Utterlyconfused81

Hi,

 

After a little advice if anyone can help.  Tried searching the answer online to no avail.

Currently living in a rented property where we’ve been for a little over 2 years.  Our landlord has decided to sell the property and we were advised a couple of weeks ago.  We were served section 21 advising that we had 2 months’ notice to leave the property.  This was all fine as our 6-month agreement ended on the 10th of this month.  As such we paid for this month’s rent, where as previously we had been paying 6 months upfront per the request of the landlord.

We scrambled desperately to find a suitable new rental as we have a dog which makes the potential available property pool far smaller than for those without pets.  Thankfully found one two weeks ago and all but finalized the paperwork this week with a proposal of taking on the tenancy from the 6th June, thinking this would be ideal as we will have an overlap of 1 week to get the move done and then return to our current property for a deep clean once empty.

Upon contacting our estate agent and asking whether an exit inspection was going to be taking place with the property being sold we were told that we had to give a months’ notice!  We were never informed that after we were served notice that we in turn would have to provide further notice.  The only communication we had had with the agent was that payment for this month needed to be paid (which was done on the day) and that should we wish to remain in the property for a further month, an additional payment would need to be made for that.

Given that we were never going to be able to give 1 months’ notice on 10th of this month having not had time to secure another tenancy is that legal that they can now insist that regardless of being in the property or not that we will have to pay next month’s rent?

It feels a very biased system if that’s the case as they may as well just state we have to give 2 months’ notice.

Any advice / help would be greatly appreciated.

RAS

What it comes down to is that the LL never really expected you to find another place as quickly.

And if you read your tenancy agreement it probably has details of how to serve notice.

pinkshoes

When does the S21 expire?

I would speak to your LL and let him know that you have found a property and can move out on 10th June (and thus no more rent due after this day), but if he requires a month notice, then this would mean you would lose out on the rental property so would have to stay put, probably past the end of the S21. 

Slithery

Utterlyconfused81 said:
We were served section 21 advising that we had 2 months’ notice to leave the property.

No, you weren't.
A S21 isn't notice that you have to leave the property, it's just notice that after that date the LL can then apply to the courts if they wish to end the tenancy (a LL can never end a tenancy, only the courts or the tenant can do so).
You still legally have to give the required notice to end the tenancy if the LL doesn't go to court.

Utterlyconfused81

RAS said:

What it comes down to is that the LL never really expected you to find another place as quickly.

And if you read your tenancy agreement it probably has details of how to serve notice.

What the LL expects or not should not be my concern nor problem.  

The agreement is a standard Assured shorthold and references the standard 28 days from first / last date of the tenancy.  What it doesn't mention specifically is that in the case of being given 2 months notice by the landlord that the tenant is still required to provide 28 days notice from first / last date in addition.

Have rented numerous properties over 16 years and never been in the situation where we have been served notice so this was not something made clear to us. 

Utterlyconfused81

Slithery said:

Utterlyconfused81 said:
We were served section 21 advising that we had 2 months’ notice to leave the property.

No, you weren't.
A S21 isn't notice that you have to leave the property, it's just notice that after that date the LL can then apply to the courts if they wish to end the tenancy.
You still legally have to give the required notice to end the tenancy if the LL doesn't go to court.

LL by chance!  Why would we as tenants look to stay in the property beyond the date of the S21?  I wouldn't want to give the LL the hassle of going through the courts so it stands to reason that most sensible people would look to just move asap. 

Slithery

Utterlyconfused81 said:
LL by chance! 

Nope, I've never been a LL.
I'm just a tenant that knows their rights and the correct legal procedure.

diggingdude

Contact them and say you didn't realise a months notice was due. Tell them you can leave the property in xyz date to suit with yourselves and the new property or sadly you will have to stay put and look to be evicted. A sensible landlord would let you move 

alelly

You might be snookered but you can always try and negotiate with the landlord. Tell them if you have to give notice you will lose the other place and not be able to vacate but if they agree to waive the notice period and return your deposit in full you will be gone by the tenth. Mention how you got lucky with this place and you are unlikely to find somewhere else anytime soon and that you are finding the experience quite stressful, and hope this doesn’t delay their selling process too long, as you are unable to accommodate any viewings. 

Gycraig

diggingdude said:

Contact them and say you didn't realise a months notice was due. Tell them you can leave the property in xyz date to suit with yourselves and the new property or sadly you will have to stay put and look to be evicted. A sensible landlord would let you move 

Play the game 100% 
“I found a property but I can’t afford to pay a months notice here and a months rent there, you can either let me off the last month or I’ll sit in the property until bailiffs come” 

Most reasonable landlords would be pinching themselves your moving out rather than forcing them to go through courts. 

canaldumidi

As slithery exaplained, a S21 is not a notice to quit, nor does it end the tenancy. The tenancy can be ended in one of 3 ways:

1) the LL applies to court (after waiting the requisite 2 months from the S21) and the court ends the tenancy

2) the tenant serves proper notice (which may be one ful tenancy period, 28 days, a calender month all depending on the type of tenancy)

3) An 'Early Surrender' by the tenant with the agreement of the landlord, which can be at any time eg even tomorrow - provided both agree

In this case, option 3 will clearly suit both of you so approach the LL and suggest this.

As suggested above, if this does not work, then telling the LL that option 1 will apply might make him think again as it is slow.....

More 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?