Served a S21 notice to quit. Can I leave early

Catryn97

Hi, my landlord has served me an S21 notice to quit my rented accommodation. I have lived here for 4 years and initially had a 6 month fixed short term which has since become a month to month periodic contract.

My problem is that my rent is due on the 2nd of each month. He has waited until 22:00hrs on the 2nd to serve me with 2 months notice. He says I MUST pay rent until the 2nd May even if I find a new place to move sooner.

I only had to give 1 months notice if I wanted to leave but he says that it had to be done on the day the rent was due (i.e. yesterday, the same day he gave me the 2 mths notice). Therefore I have no way to leave early if I need to.

Problem is that I have to find a 3 bed, close to kids school, must be unfurnished, allow pets and be in price range. I can not guarantee that a property meeting all my requirements will be available on the 2nd May (date he says I must pay rent until). If I find a suitable property and move before the 2 months is up, am I still liable to pay my landlord rent.

After all he is the one giving me 'notice to quit' and I am only trying to get out as soon as something is available. Rather than wait until May 2nd only to find that I have nowhere to go. I really can not afford to pay two rents at the same time.

Does anyone know what I should do?

mumoftwins

Hi Catryn,

I'm not sure about this but someone will be on here later to be able to give the right help.

Hope things work out for you xx

seven-day-weekend

I'm no expert om renting, but I think you do have to pay the rent until 2nd May.

kunekune

I wonder what your agreement says about the time when notice is served ... Most legal documents would say that if it has to be done on the 2nd to be effective for two months that means before 5pm on the 2nd. I guess he did it this way so you couldn't retaliate with your own own notice?

One thing is it may not work out too badly anyway. We agreed to give 3 months notice (a compromise between the LL's desire for an AST and ours for periodic), and then immediately found a vastly superior rental. We decided to take it. First, we managed to spin out the move in date, on the new one by about 3 weeks (might have helped it was a new build). We allowed the LL to start marketing the week we were moving out. Then, once we'd finished cleaning the old one (it is really good not having to do the two things simultaneously), we handed the keys back. It took him two weeks to find a tenant, about four for the tenant to move in. What could have been three months overlap ended up as 6 weeks.

Obviously, you haven't chosen to be in this situation, but my suggestion would be:

- start looking quickly and try to persuade the new LL to wait a little in return for your early commitment
- check whether the notice has been correctly served, if it hasn't, don't alert him and don't formally agree that it was served correctly
- if you don't find anything you can probably buy yourself an extra month

red40

Go to the CAB or get your half hour free legal advice.

I remember reading somewhere that if a notice is served after 5pm the date of the notice period wont start until the next 'business' working day. So it would appear that he served notice on the 3rd in effect, making it invalid.

The dates on the notice are also crucial for the notice to be valid, however once the correct notice has been served you can leave anyway, as the landlord has already informed you that he wants possession back.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=459

I cant find the legal guidance but the attached pdf file from the Her Majesty's court service (form N215) is as good as any I suppose, bottom of page 2, fourth paragraph from the bottom of the page.

kunekune

Ooh, I've just realised: you may have more than an extra month if our guess about the time the notice has to be served is right. Isn't the s21 notice completely invalid if the dates are wrong or it isn't correctly served? He has given you less than 2 months.

Debt_Free_Chick

Some people are of the opinion that the notice must be served a couple of days before it starts.

I've also seen (on another site) that the notice is deemed to be served the day after it's delivered!

MissMoneypenny

kunekune wrote: »

I wonder what your agreement says about the time when notice is served ... Most legal documents would say that if it has to be done on the 2nd to be effective for two months that means before 5pm on the 2nd. I guess he did it this way so you couldn't retaliate with your own own notice?

I think it is the same with a section 21 according to this website

"The date served is NOT from the date the Notice is issued the date the tenant is deemed to have received the Notice. As an example if delivered by hand to the property after 5 pm it will need to be dated the next day etc. If you serve near a bank holiday add three days on. etc"

"When completing a Section 21 Notice there are some peculiar considerations when calculating Notice and serving dates, if you calculate one date incorrectly, or serve an invalid notice, it means your claim for possession is likely to be delay by 3 - 4 months"

http://www.riky.co.uk/more_info.asp?current_id=455

MissMoneypenny

kunekune wrote: »

Ooh, I've just realised: you may have more than an extra month if our guess about the time the notice has to be served is right. Isn't the s21 notice completely invalid if the dates are wrong or it isn't correctly served? He has given you less than 2 months.

Might have an extra two months if the OP doesn't tell their LL that the S21 is invalid until after 2 April;) Might be better to say before this though and state the time it was delivered? The CAB should know.

pinkshoes

I read it as the OP wanted to move out sooner rather than later if she found somewhere else suitable to live, rather than having to pay 2 lots of rent.

The S21 wouldn't make any difference, as if the rent date is the 2nd, she now can't hand her 1 months notice in to start 2nd April, moving out 2nd May... (regardless of whether an S21 had been issued or not).

But if the OP can't now find somewhere suitable, it looks like the S21 may have been delivered too late, so it'll have to be re-issued, which gives her the chance to live there until 2nd June (if landlord issues it correctly), or can move out 2nd May if she hands in her notice to move before 2nd April.

kunekune

I realised the OP wants to move out early - what I was thinking is that she should wait to tell LL there's a problem with the S21 notice (assuming there is). Then, when he realises he can't get her out without her agreement for a lot longer than he thought, he might be much more amenable to the tenancy ending early. It's mostly a negotiating tool.