Hi All,
My fixed term tenancy ended April 21st and I was issued an addendum to fill in and sign to renew my contract and pay a fee of £105.I did not do this as I was not in agreement as the addendum specifies 2 months notice period like the fixed term contract. Now I want to move out by the 13th July and notice served on the 1st June. The agency insists on 60 days notice period but the fixed term contract has now expired and I believe this has no legal hold on me as I did not renew, thus I believe i’m now under an automatic periodic tenancy. I am thinking of with holding my next rent of £1,000 due on the 21st June as I have £1,385 deposit with the agency. I believe that if I leave on the 13th July they will still charge me till the 31st July. What is your advise??
Hi Samuel,
Periodic tenancies require the tenant to give a minimum of one month’s notice unless otherwise specified (i.e. such as was specified on the addendum you wisely withheld from signing). Therefore, it sounds like you only need to give one month’s notice.
If you move out and stop paying rent when the notice expires, then the tenancy will be terminated and along with it your duty to pay rent of the property.
Therefore, if the landlord/agent tries to charge you rent for days after the termination of the tenancy by making a deduction from your deposit, then you can challenge this. You do this via the dispute resolution service provided by your deposit scheme.
Another thing you can do is remind the landlord/agent that they are required to return the deposit within 10 days of your written request that it be returned. This has implications for your case, because it raises the stakes for them acting as if the tenancy is still running past 13th July.
More info here.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your response. Are their any negative or legal consequences of leaving the property on the 13th July despite giving my notice on the 1st June. If I leave on the 30th June that equates to 30 days notice and if I leave on the 13th July that equates to 43 days notice period.
Also can I withhold my next rent when due on the 21st June as my deposit (£1,385) far exceeds my rent (£1,000) and I should be given a refund due to unspent days that is from the 13th July to the 21st July.
Kind regards,
Samuel
Hi, in general we don’t advise withholding rent. If you continue to fulfil your duties as a tenant throughout the whole tenancy, then even if you are having a dispute with the landlord about something, then at least you have demonstrated that you have taken your responsibilities seriously, which could only help in any dispute resolution case.
In a periodic tenancy, a tenant’s notice needs to expire on the final day of a rental period. I don’t know what day of the month your rental period ends on?
It’s common to actually leave the property on a different day, but this is only possible where the tenant and landlord agree to this and mutually surrender the tenancy. It sounds like your landlord does not want this.
Hi Sam,
For clarity, I pay my rent every 21st day of the month to my agency as my tenancy began on the 21st April 2018.
I have told my agency - Marshalls that I want to leave on the 13th July, while they reminded me that I must give a 60 day notice period.
My next rent is due on the 21st June to elapse on the 21st July before the 13th July, so their are two options; either I pay for the period 21st June to 13th July as against the 21st July or vacate the premises on the 30th June and only pay for the period between 21st June to 30th June, believing that my notice as given for the 13th July (43 days) will still stand true to cover for June 30th (30 days notice) or i’m I incorrect about this???
Thanks for all your help.
Kind regards,
Samuel
Hi Samuel,
Would really like to help but having a hard time parsing what you’ve written!
Some things to clarify:
- the day you pay rent every month is not necessarily to beginning or end of the renal period. You tenancy agreement may specify a monthly period ending on, e.g. the 8th of each week, but you pay the rent on, e.g. the 5th of very month.
- What matters here is that if you want to end the tenancy but your landlord/agent is not being cooperative (i.e. they are not going to cooperate with a mutual surrender) then you need to serve a valid notice to unilaterally end the tenancy. In a period tenancy, one of the conditions for the notice to be valid is that it expires on the last day of a rental period.
Hi Sam,
Thanks again.
For clarity, my tenancy start date was 21st April 2018 and monthly rental payments fall on the same day of each month which is also the 21st. Therefore i’m believing that since I gave my notice on the 1st June 2019 that I can still vacate the property on the 30th June even though I wrote formally to my agency that i’ll be leaving on the 13th July; so in other words I want to reduce my notice period from 43 days to the minimum legal requirement of 30 days which is the 30th June.
Also since the 21st April 2019 by default my tenancy entered into periodic / rolling contract as rightly confirmed by you.
I therefore believe we are on the same page or do I need to inform my agency again that I want to leave on the 30th June and no longer the 13th July?
Kind regards,
Sam