I am a new landlord. Today (11th Sept) I received an email serving notice from my tenant.
The tenancy started on 13th Feb 2020 and thereafter paid upfront monthly on the 13th of each month.
It was 12 months fixed term however that has lapsed and assume it is now a periodic tenancy. The last payment was received in Aug (delayed however due date was 13th Aug) up until 12th Sept.
Contact states: ‘The Tenant giving written notice of at least one month and expiring on the last day of a period of the tenancy’
My question is till when should they pay me as part of this notice? Should it be:
exactly up to 1 month from today so till 11th Oct
or
Till 12th Oct - the last day of the monthly payment period? And when should they hand -over the keys to me?
Also, what should the next steps be for me the landlord?
Appreciate any help. Sorry, these are basics, however as it is the first time I would like some advice.
The last day of a period of this tenancy is October 12. The tenant could have given notice on August 14 and October 12 would still be the date it ends.
Your last payment will be September 13 for the month September 13-October 12 and should be a full rental payment.
You can choose to be flexible. If the tenant is going to be vacating the property on the 11th and you’d like to take possession on that day you could choose to refund one day’s rent.
Keeping this process as smooth and amicable as possible can save you a lot of grief, so if the tenant has been a good tenant and requests this it can be worth choosing to do it. I would not reimburse until after the tenant has vacated.
If the tenant ends up needing more time and you haven’t got a new tenant lined up, you can choose to extend by however many days needed and charge at the daily rental rate. You’d also be in rights to charge the tenant for the full month, but again keeping things amicable is in your best interests.
(this is more common in evictions - since the tenant gave notice they really ought to have arranged a new place but sometimes plans fall through)
I agree with @Ryan42 on most of the above post, but would urge you to be careful with “extending” the period. It sounds like this notice is valid and so the tenancy will end on 12 October. The tenant will be a tresspasser if they remain in possession. If you do anything which explicitly accepts this situation you risk creating a new undocumented tenancy. If its a few days and you want to be helpful, then be careful what you put in writing.