Giving notice on rental property

Britannia12345

We are buying a property and I thought we had to give two weeks' notice on our HA house. I've just checked the lease and found it's now changed to four weeks. 
My husband say he's tempted to put the notice in now as our solicitor thinks it will be next week when we exchange contracts.
I'm scared something will pop up with the house sale and we'll be left homeless. 
Do HA's allow any sort of extension on notice given or is the four weeks' notice set in stone? 
I would ask the HA directly but for various reasons I don't want to let them know we're moving yet. 
Four weeks' extra rent is a lot of money to find at the moment! 😒

Voyager2002

Britannia12345 said:

We are buying a property and I thought we had to give two weeks' notice on our HA house. I've just checked the lease and found it's now changed to four weeks. 
My husband say he's tempted to put the notice in now as our solicitor thinks it will be next week when we exchange contracts.
I'm scared something will pop up with the house sale and we'll be left homeless. 
Do HA's allow any sort of extension on notice given or is the four weeks' notice set in stone? 
I would ask the HA directly but for various reasons I don't want to let them know we're moving yet. 
Four weeks' extra rent is a lot of money to find at the moment! 😒

Do not do anything until you exchange contracts.

When you exchange contracts, you specify a date when you "complete", which is when you pay for the property and take possession of it. Choose to complete on a day that gives you sufficient time to give notice on your present property.

theartfullodger

I'd be tempted to have a bit of overlap - both to give some slack & if completion is delayed (it happens..)

saajan_12

Have you tentatively proposed dates for completion on the purchase? Its common to moot any restrictions or preferences the parties have, and yours could be at least a 3 week gap between exchange and completion. That means upon exchange you give notice immediately, and only have a 1 week overlap during which you're paying both rent and mortgage. 

Though remember all that is tentative and any 'agreed' dates aren't actually binding until exchange actually happens. 

mebu60

theartfullodger said:

I'd be tempted to have a bit of overlap - both to give some slack & if completion is delayed (it happens..)

This! Takes a huge amount of stress out of the process. You don't have to move on completion day, you can pick a day when fewer moves happen and maybe get a cheaper deal. Can clean through and repair at your leisure. Yes, there are additional costs of doing it this way but could be money well spent. 

youth_leader

I was lucky that my landlord allowed me a five week notice period, so I had a week's overlap. 

Thank heavens I did, it did take me a long time to clean, and shampooing the carpets nearly killed me.  I do recommend cleaning the kitchen first.  I was on my knees cleaning the kitchen floor and so pleased to see my son who came to help me by surprise.  I still had a report and photo of ANIMAL DEBRIS on top of the radiator, and a cobweb.  I did get my deposit back in full, luckily.

Northern_Wanderer

Have experienced delays of exchange when buying and selling. So I personally would hand in my notice once I got the keys to new place and take the hit on a months rent. It's less stressful and you have time to clean and move in a more relaxed way. If you can't afford an extra months rent as a one off - how can you afford to buy?

RAS

You'll be OK giving notice once exchange is confirmed.

But do start talking to your solicitor now about having some time between exchange and completion. Dropping that on the whole chain at the last minute could collapse the whole thing.

Having a bit of leeway after completion allows you to get round, secure and clean, move at a convenient time and if there's a delay avoids hotel rooms and double costs for removals. And then clean down your old house.

Northern_Wanderer

If the sale were to fall through, and they can, you would be in a horrible position if you had already given notice.