Can my student daughter now give 2 months notice and end her tenancy?

beth01dog

Looking at the new rules it looks like from May 1st she may be allowed to give notice and end her tenancy early. There are 6 in the house and they all finish uni by 1st July but their contract makes them pay until 31st August. I appreciate that it means the landlord wouldn’t have the income for 2 months but they each pay over £700 a month so this would help her out immensely.

Does anyone know if I am correct?

Thank you

Peter999_2

If this is a normal house that the students live in then yes, they can give their notice on 1st May (I'd tell them all to do it individually) and leave in July.

However, if it is the halls at Uni or a purpose built student accomodation block then the act doesn't apply to them.

It sounds like it is a normal house by what you've said so it does apply.

In the future, no doubt the landlords will just increase the rent to cover the months that they will miss out on but your daughter is finishing Uni at just the right time.

pinkshoes

I believe that is correct yes.

It just means landlords who rent to students will then have to increase their rents to potentially account for a 2 month void.

anselld

Yes. However if they are on a "joint and several" tenancy then they would all need to vacate at the same time. The joint tenancy will not end until the last one leaves.

Also, notice needs to be aligned with the rent date so depending on the exact tenancy dates it may be nearly three months from 1 May when they are able to leave.

Notice must be in writing.

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977543#Comment_81977543

Does your daughter have a joint tenancy with the other 5 occupant or a sole tenancy for her room? If it’s the former then her serving notice with end the joint tenancy for everyone and they’ll all need to vacate by the end of the notice period.

Under the Renters Rights Act 2025 all. AST In England will become periodic tenancies on 1st May. Tenants are required to give 2 months notice so that the tenancy ends on a day when the rent is due or the day before rent is due (don’t blame me that’s what the government’s guidance says).

If the fixed term was due to end 31st August then I assume the tenancy periods are from 1st to end of the month. Here’s where it gets interesting if you’re a housing nerd.

Royal Mail first class post is deemed served 2 business days later so if your daughter posts her notice 1st May then it’ll be deemed served until Wednesday 6th May because 1st is a Friday and Monday is a bank holiday in England. That would mean two full tenancy periods would take her to 31st July.

I suppose your daughter could post the notice earlier but it can’t be served before 1st May or she’ll be serving notice to end a contract that hasn’t started yet.

Then there’s the question on whether you can service notice on the first day of a tenancy period. I can never remember.

Interesting times. 🤓

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977544#Comment_81977544

Or alternatively they could just have contracts that run from July 1st, which I think many student contracts do anyway.

Also often the two Summer months are at a reduced/half rent.

So probably only student landlords like the one in the OP will be affected, where the contract starts on Sept. and runs to Aug 31st, and there is no Summer reduction.

beth01dog

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81977594#Comment_81977594

Gov.uk says an email would be sufficient so that could be sent on 1st May. To sure if it will work though as two of them were planning to stay for the summer and I guess it’s a joint tenancy as they all signed the same sheet.

anselld

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978162#Comment_81978162

eMail can only be relied on if it is explicitly stated in the tenancy agreement as an address for serving notices.

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978190#Comment_81978190

The new Act allows "which the words of the notice are represented or reproduced in a visible form." email would fulfil that.
Doesn't matter what's in the tenancy agreement as it can't override an Act.

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978162#Comment_81978162

I might be missing something, but could you point me to where gov.uk says that email is an acceptable way to serve notice?

I’ve had a look through the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet and related guidance and I can’t see that stated anywhere. What I can see is that notice must be “in writing”, and email is mentioned as an example of a written format. I understand that to be slightly different from confirming that email is always a valid method of service.

My understanding has always been that email only works if the landlord has actually provided an email address for service, or the tenancy agreement specifically allows service by email. In most English tenancies that isn’t the case, whereas landlords do have to provide an address in England or Wales for the serving of notices, which is why post is usually relied on.

Unless the landlord has expressly given an email address for service, I’m not convinced that sending an email on 1 May would necessarily count as notice being served on that date. Happy to stand corrected if there is explicit guidance saying otherwise…I’ve just not been able to find it.

Yes, if it's a joint tenancy and your daughter serves notice to end the tenancy it'll end it for everyone so it's worth the 6 of them discussing it together.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69bc04b8f7b1c24d8e23ce60/The_Renters__Rights_Act_Information_Sheet_2026.pdf

_Penny_Dreadful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81978223#Comment_81978223

I don’t think anyone’s disagreeing that an email can be “in writing”. The wording you’ve quoted (“represented or reproduced in a visible form”) clearly covers email.

Where I think we’re talking at slightly cross‑purposes is not what counts as “writing”, but what counts as valid service of a notice and in regards to that I'm in agreement with @anselld.

Nothing in the new Act says that a tenant can simply choose email as the method of service regardless of whether the landlord has provided an email address for that purpose. By contrast, existing legislation does make it mandatory for a landlord to provide an address in England or Wales for service of notices, which is why post has always been the default and why deemed service rules exist for it.

Looking at it practically, service by email has to work both ways. The landlord would need to know which email address to serve notices on for the tenant, and the tenant would need to know which email address is valid for the landlord. Without that being specified or agreed, you’re straight back to uncertainty.
It’s also telling that the new Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet that landlords must provide to existing tenancies by 31st May doesn’t say anything about landlords having to provide an email address for service of notices. If Parliament had intended email to be a default or mandatory route for service, you’d expect that to appear there but it doesn’t.

By contrast, Scotland is very explicit on this point. With a Private Residential Tenancy, service by email is permitted because the model tenancy agreement specifically provides space for the landlord’s, letting agent’s and tenant’s email addresses. In other words, the acceptable email addresses are set out in black and white, removing any argument about validity.

As far as I can see, gov.uk currently only has the old model AST available, not a model Assured Periodic Tenancy. I appreciate the APT won’t take effect until 1 May, but even a draft would have been helpful. The NRLA APT templates I’ve seen do include fields for landlord and tenant email addresses, which suggests that email can be used once those details are properly recorded.

So I agree that email can be used for notices but unless the landlord has actually provided an email address for service (or the tenancy agreement specifies one), posting the notice remains the safest option. I honestly don't know which way it would go in court if the tenant sent an email which makes post the safer option.