Is this agency notice valid

Tenant Discussion
1

So the letting agency who I’ve been paying rent to for the last few years turned around out the blue and gave me 30 days notice to leave.

In the same email they said they were no longer going to be managing the property as of the next day.

So is this notice actually legal? I mean surely they need to be managing the property until the notice period ends for the notice period to be valid, no?

2

Unless you have a resident landlord, (at least in the same building), the notice is of no effect and I find it shocking that they would send such a notice.

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3

Hi David. Thanks for your reply. I thought that might be the case because as I said, the letting agency I have had a contract with for all these years no longer manage the property.

But could you just expand on the how/why the notice is of no effect?

Is it because they no longer manage the property and the notice would only be valid if they were still legally managing the property? Or something else?
Thanks

P.S. no resident landlord - the agency rent out rooms to various tenants.

4

Well certainly thats one reason. The other is that the notice is too short. Some questions:

  1. What type of notice does it purport to be?
  2. Who was the named landlord on the sgreement?
  3. Does it say it is an AST or something else?
  4. Is it serviced accommodation where they clean and launder the linen for example?
  5. Do they retain the right to move you between rooms and have they ever done that?
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5

5 - No
4 - No
3 - This is another issue I wanted to ask about. The contract I had with the agency is a “license to occupy”. And in that, they have a 30 day notice period. I’m really not sure how valid that is and whether they are using it so they don’t have to give a proper 2 month notice? Certainly they have insisted it’s only 30 days and that is what it says on the contract (i.e. license to occupy).
2 - The contract is between “the Manager” i.e. the letting agency. And “the Licensee”, which is me. No mention of the actual owner of the property.
1 - The notice is described as “Notice to terminate contract”, i.e. the license to occupy. And they detail in the letter the date I am expected to leave by and return the keys etc.

I mean I would certainly like 2 months to find a new place, 30 days is not enough.

But the new letting agency who took over are insistent on 30 days.

6

Ok, so its probably a rent to rent arrangement where the agent is your landlord and is cutting corners.

I’m assuming your not on holiday at this property and from what you’ve said this looks to me like a sham licence. I think you can ignore the notice, but if you are worried just ask them why they think Street vs Mountford does not apply.

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7

Not quite sure what you mean by that, but my rent is paid to the end of the month if that is what you mean? I’ve always paid rent the entire time I’ve been here, never missed any even during covid.

Anyway thanks for the help David. And the suggestion about that case, I may tag that on to an email.

Just one last question if I could - does the contract carry over to the new letting agency? They are acting as if everything in the contract with my old agency is still the current situation. Is that true or do they need to create a new contract with me even if it is for just the last month (ish)?

8

I meant is this a holiday let, but it doesnt sound that way either.

Its possible for the contract to carry over to the new agency, in fact I wouldnt mind betting the new agency has made it a condition of taking over that the old agency gets rid of all the sham licensees so that they dont inherit the problem.

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