End of tenancy notice periods

myelomarace

Hi, my friend has been unexpectedly given notice by his landlord to vacate his rental property. They had spoken recently about it being a long term rental ie years and he has spent a lot of time and money improving the property, by agreement. He fully understands that this was expense he wouldn't be reimbursed for but he was led to believe he'd live there for some years. I don't think he can do anything about that unfortunately. 

He has been given 2 months notice as per his contract. He needs to find somewhere new and cover all the costs of moving deposit etc. My question is: if he finds a place he can move into straightaway / very soon, is he obliged to pay the rent on the current property for the full 2 months, or can he serve a shorter notice period and leave earlier, and stop paying?

_Penny_Dreadful

myelomarace said:

Hi, my friend has been unexpectedly given notice by his landlord to vacate his rental property. They had spoken recently about it being a long term rental ie years and he has spent a lot of time and money improving the property, by agreement. He fully understands that this was expense he wouldn't be reimbursed for but he was led to believe he'd live there for some years. I don't think he can do anything about that unfortunately. 

He has been given 2 months notice as per his contract. He needs to find somewhere new and cover all the costs of moving deposit etc. My question is: if he finds a place he can move into straightaway / very soon, is he obliged to pay the rent on the current property for the full 2 months, or can he serve a shorter notice period and leave earlier, and stop paying?

If the tenancy is now periodic your friend can serve his own notice to end the tenancy. An important point to note is that your friend serving notice will end the tenancy whilst the landlord’s notice does not, it is just notice that the landlord can apply to court for a possession order. How much notice your friend needs to give depends on whether his tenancy is a Statutory Periodic Tenancy or a Contractual Periodic Tenancy. 

See….

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?

RAS

Yep, the LL serving notice does not end the tenancy.

Only your friend or the courts can do that.

I'd advise he double check and keeps hold off:
Incoming inventory
Details of deposit scheme
All communication with LL regarding "improvements" as unless authorised the LL could clam against these. 

saajan_12

myelomarace said:

Hi, my friend has been unexpectedly given notice by his landlord to vacate his rental property. They had spoken recently about it being a long term rental ie years and he has spent a lot of time and money improving the property, by agreement. He fully understands that this was expense he wouldn't be reimbursed for but he was led to believe he'd live there for some years. I don't think he can do anything about that unfortunately. - indeed, at the time he could have negotiated a longer tenancy eg 2/3 year fixed term when starting on the works, perhaps with inflationary rent increases only. However without that, he could be evicted any time.. Hopefully he has record of the agreement and that the property wouldn't need reinstating to the original condition? 

He has been given 2 months notice as per his contract. He needs to find somewhere new and cover all the costs of moving deposit etc. - well the notice of the LL going to court, which is what would actually grant the possession order. So he has 2 months notice + time waiting for a hearing (~2 months?) + time to possession date (~1 month?) to actually leave. Yes he'd be liable for moving costs, deposit and court costs if it gets there - part and parcel of renting. 

My question is: if he finds a place he can move into straightaway / very soon, is he obliged to pay the rent on the current property for the full 2 months, or can he serve a shorter notice period and leave earlier, and stop paying? - he can negotiate a mutually convenient end date and agree what rent is paid for those final days, or failing that, serve his own notice per the terms of the tenancy (check whether its periodic and SPT or CPT, or fixed term etc). Note his notice may need to align to the tenancy periods depending on the agreement, so may not save much out of the 2 months. 

Comments in line. Step 1 is check the last contract signed. 

propertyrental

We have assumed this is England. Is it?
Does he have a fixed term tenancy (exact dates please), or periodic (rolling month to month)?
Was his notice a S21?
If yes, has he checked it is valid? See
S21 checklist (Is a S21 valid?)
If he wants to leave early he can either
1) serve his own (proper) notice (see the link penny_dreadful provided above) or
2) discuss and agree any end date that's mutually acceptable to both T & LL (confirmed in writing). He should also agree rent will be payable 'pro rata' ie just for the days he remains.