AST tenant giving notice within period of landlord's notice

bob20

Hello,

I have a periodic assured shorthold tenancy agreement. The notice period is 2 months for the landlord and 1 month for me.

My landlord has served me notice and I have found a new address to move to within 2 weeks of the date he gave notice. The landlord says he can charge me rent for 1 month after he served notice, even though I won't be there for 2 weeks of it, because I need to serve him with 1 month's notice even though he first served notice on me.

Is this correct?

Thanks!

macman

Unless you already confirmed that you would move out at that end of the 8 week notice period, then you are still free to give him 4 weeks notice, if that ends the tenancy 2 weeks earlier.

ritz55

Assuming you pay rent monthly, then the notice you give to leave need to be the last day of the rental month. EG you normally pay rent on 27th, then the landlord charges rent till the 26th for the whole month and not till 12th even if you leave on the 12th. 

canaldumidi

bob20 said:

Is this correct?

Thanks!

No. You can serve your own notice and the tenancy will end when your notice ends.

But just to be clear:

* this is in Eng/Wales yes?

* Do you have a Contractual or Statutory Periodic Tenancy? (see link below)

* If Contractual, please quote exact words in the contract

Please also note that

* your notice is 'served' on the LL on the day you hand deliver to the address provided, or 2 working days after posting it 1st class. If (and only if) the tenancy agreement says notice can be served in any other way (eg email) then notice is as per the TA. If it does not mention this, you can only serve at the address provided.

* the LL has not served notice on you (unless you are in Scotland?). He has, perhaps, served a S21Notice? This does not end the tenancy. But your notice will.

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?

canaldumidi

macman said:

Unless you already confirmed that you would move out at that end of the 8 week notice period, then you are still free to give him 4 weeks notice, if that ends the tenancy 2 weeks earlier.

OP - do not get confused. You mentioned 'months' and this is most likely. The reference above to 'weeks' whether 4 or 8, is misleading.

Indeed,it is likely reference to 'months' may be misleadig too - more likely still is 'tenancy period'.

Please read the link provided above, and also clarify the questions.

saajan_12

bob20 said:

Hello,

I have a periodic assured shorthold tenancy agreement. The notice period is 2 months for the landlord and 1 month for me. - the two notices aren't the same. The LL's notice will be that he can apply to court after 2 months, then wait for a hearing etc etc, so tenancy ends after ~6 ish months. Your notice will be that you can end the tenancy after 1 month. Also check whether you mean calendar months or tenancy periods

My landlord has served me notice and I have found a new address to move to within 2 weeks of the date he gave notice. - great, so once you balance the rent overlap etc if that's a good deal, then serve notice and move. If not, then you haven't found a viable new place. 
The landlord says he can charge me rent for 1 month after he served notice, even though I won't be there for 2 weeks of it, because I need to serve him with 1 month's notice even though he first served notice on me. - his notice is irrelevant, as that won't end the tenancy for ages. He can charge you rent while your tenancy is in progress, of course. You can end your tenancy by serving the correct notice. 

Is this correct?

Thanks!

Be careful of the exact notice dates - often these are in line with tenancy periods, so unless you're right at the end of a period, you could have more than a 2 week overlap. 

Practically, your options are 
1) find a new place with a start date so that you can serve notice with an affordable overlap
2) negotiate with the LL to mutually agree a termination in 2 weeks and pro-rata rent and if he doesn't agree, then you won't be able to move and will stay until court. (Note he doesn't have to agree)
3) wait until evicted by a court (paying the rent until then plus court costs)

bob20

Thanks all for your comments,

Just to qualify, I have found new rented accommodation and move to it 2 weeks after I was given notice to leave, which is this week (I can't negotiate to delay this date by 2 weeks with the new LL, because I've already signed a new AST). I had assumed (possible incorrectly) that when my current LL serves notice (which is for 2 months), I could leave at any time within that 2 month period and only have to pay rent up to the date I leave, but he says I must pay for 1 months' rent after he served notice, because I somehow need to serve notice on him. This doesn't feel right to me, but I'm no expert and the AST agreement doesn't specifically mention that case.

Thanks again.

TheJP

bob20 said:

Thanks all for your comments,

Just to qualify, I have found new rented accommodation and move to it 2 weeks after I was given notice to leave, which is this week (I can't negotiate to delay this date by 2 weeks with the new LL, because I've already signed a new AST). I had assumed (possible incorrectly) that when my current LL serves notice (which is for 2 months), I could leave at any time within that 2 month period and only have to pay rent up to the date I leave, but he says I must pay for 1 months' rent after he served notice, because I somehow need to serve notice on him. This doesn't feel right to me, but I'm no expert and the AST agreement doesn't specifically mention that case.

Thanks again.

Sounds like all is correct, you are wanting to leave earlier than the 2 months notice, your notice is 1 month. Therefore the LL is saying you can leave but you still have to give the 1 months notice. Looks like your rent will overlap with the new rental.

Slithery

Unless you are leaving at the end of a fixed term or the courts have ordered you to leave then legally you always have to serve your own notice to end a tenancy.
The fact the the LL has served you a S21 (which isn't a notice to leave) is irrelevant.

macman

Your LL serving notice does not end the tenancy in 2 months, or void it's current requirements, assuming this is a periodic tenancy. It's purely a notice to quit. Only you, or a court, can end the tenancy. 
So if you wish to end it earlier, you still need to give the one month notice specified in your contract.
canaldumidi is correct to point out that I should have stated calendar months, not weeks.

saajan_12

bob20 said:

Thanks all for your comments,

Just to qualify, I have found new rented accommodation and move to it 2 weeks after I was given notice to leave, which is this week (I can't negotiate to delay this date by 2 weeks with the new LL, because I've already signed a new AST). I had assumed (possible incorrectly) that when my current LL serves notice (which is for 2 months), I could leave at any time within that 2 month period and only have to pay rent up to the date I leave, but he says I must pay for 1 months' rent after he served notice, because I somehow need to serve notice on him. This doesn't feel right to me, but I'm no expert and the AST agreement doesn't specifically mention that case.

Thanks again.

Well to be fair, the you can't expect an AST to cover every situation you can't do. The tenancy continues periodically until its actually terminated, with the default position being you keep paying rent during the tenancy. There's nothing in a S21 notice to say you have to leave, it would just talk about going to court. 

Even IF the LL/court was terminating in 2 months (they're not), you'd still pay rent until the termination date - if you want to leave earlier, then why wouldn't you have to serve your own notice?