Clarification on Providing Notice Based on Assured Short hold Tenancy Agreement

Tenant Discussion
1

Hello,

I was hoping someone could clarify for me the conditions of me providing notice to my landlord under my current Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement as it is not very clear to me. I am attempting to understand when is the earliest I could hand my notice in, it seems to me there are two clauses that contradict each other.

Firstly it states:

The tenancy will be for a term from and including the 30th day of August 2019 (“the
Commencement Date”) to and including the 30th day of August 2020 (“the Expiration
Date”). The tenant can give notice of 2 months from the expiry of the first 6 months of the
tenancy. Notice to terminate this agreement cannot be served any earlier than the 27th
July 2018.(use of 6 month break clause).

There is no other mention of the 6 month break clause within the agreement. Am I correct in thinking that I would be able to provide 2 months notice to my landlord on 30th February 2020 with view to leave on 30th April 2020?

The contract also mentions this under the Notices section:

It is mutually agreed that the Tenancy cannot be terminated before the
fixed period of the Tenancy comes to an end. The above agreed Notice
can be served to expire at the end date of the Fixed Tenancy to terminate
the Tenancy.

There is however no other mention of the fixed tenancy duration therefore I assume the 12 months is the fixed period of tenancy so I cannot hand in my notice until after this fixed term or tenancy?

Any clarification would be very much appreciated!

Edit: I just looked at the initial communication with my Landlord via whatsapp and he does say “It’s a year’s renal minimum but if for some reason you need to leave you’ll need to find someone to replace you” There is no mention of this in contract and I assume this is for his benefit as he lives abroad.

Thanks

2

Hi Leila, loads going on here, quite confusing indeed! (Aka a classic contract in the private rented sector!)

I am going to focus on your question, What is the earliest I could hand my notice in?

Firstly, if you stop paying rent and move out by the last day of the fixed term, then the tenancy will be over, even if you do not serve any notice. I would recommend telling the landlord if you plan to do this, out of courtesy, but you don’t have to.

So that’s definitely one option.

Another option is if the break clause described in your first quoted passage is useable. It sounds like you can serve notice that you are activating the break clause on the first day of the seventh month of the tenant, with it expiring on the last day of the eighth month. Therefore, the earliest you could end the tenancy via serving notice could be at the end of the eighth month.

There lots more that could be relevant, but see if the above answers your question. If not, feel free to come back with more Qs.

Sam