Ending Fixed Term Tenancy

Cloudsheep25

Hi all,

See below clauses 3.20 & 3.21 of my shorthold tenancy agreement.

3.20 - to give the landlord at least 1 months notice in writing when the tenant wishes to end the tenancy at the expiration of the term certain 

3.21 - To give the landlord one months notice in writing on your payment date after the fixed term period has expired. If the tenancy has continued as a periodic tenancy you are still liable to give one months notice on your payment date. Should the tenant provide less than one months notice the landlord reserves the right to charge the full rent for the notice period plus costs.

Long story short six month tenancy coming to an end 27/05 I gave 10 weeks notice that I would be leaving the property & handing back the keys 27/05 - letting agents claiming I can only give notice on the last day of my fixed term make a further payment and cover costs until 27/06 resulting in a extra month of fees to be covered by myself.

Does this stand anyone please as I am deciding on involving a solicitor today.

Thank you in advance :-)

FlorayG

No this is utter rubbish the agent clearly can't read plain English. You've done everything as per your tenancy agreement and are completely legal ( I'm a landlord)

Ayr_Rage

Refer them to clause 3:20 !

You've got it right, however you've also left it a bit late to start arguing the toss with only 5 days to go.

FlorayG

Ayr_Rage said:

Refer them to clause 3:20 !

You've got it right, however you've also left it a bit late to start arguing the toss with only 5 days to go.

Not really,the OP can just leave and not pay the asked for month. The agent may try to recoup the money via the OPs deposit but the deposit protection scheme will laugh that off and award it back to the tenant in full
OP I assume you have a record of your notice to terminate given weeks ago?
The agent is misunderstanding this part "...3.21 - To give the landlord one months notice in writing on your payment date after the fixed term period has expired...." which means that if you STAY after the end of the fixed term you THEN have to give a month's notice. They are misreading it to mean you can't give notice TO the end of your fixed term which the 3.20 part says.
Another case of letting agents not knowing or understanding their own job, which is something @theartfullodger talks about all the time

Bookworm225

as above, your notice to end your tenancy at the expiry of the fixed term is in agreement with the terms of your contract. The agent is utterly wrong and it would be tempting to tell them so in "plain" language for so ignorant!

saajan_12

Poorly drafted clauses, but to translate: 

Cloudsheep25 said:

3.20 - to give the landlord at least 1 months notice in writing when the tenant wishes to end the tenancy at the expiration of the term certain 

If you want to terminate at the end of the fixed term (27/5) then you had to give 1 months notice ie by 27/4. This one is relevant currently. Strictly the tenancy would end even if you left but didn't give this notice, but then the LL could claim damages if they couldn't rerent it immediately. However you did give the notice - I assume that's in writing? 

Cloudsheep25 said:

3.21 - To give the landlord one months notice in writing on your payment date after the fixed term period has expired. If the tenancy has continued as a periodic tenancy you are still liable to give one months notice on your payment date. Should the tenant provide less than one months notice the landlord reserves the right to charge the full rent for the notice period plus costs. 

If the tenancy is periodic (ie you stayed beyond the fixed term) then you give 1 month notice in line with the tenancy periods. Not relevant to you since you haven't triggered that if clause. 

The agent's interpretation is just wrong, that would mean your tenancy can never be equal to the fixed term. 

Voyager2002

Seeing a solicitor about this would be somewhat "over the top". You are very clearly in the right.

Check out the Shelter website, and the separate legal section explains the law on housing for lawyers. They give free advice by telephone or online chat, but usually there is a long queue for this.