In a rant at me yesterday my tenant told me via WhatsApp that they won’t be renewing their lease, when I asked them to serve written notice as per the lease they just sent me a photo of the end of lease clause and told me to stop harassing them.
I think I need to issue a section 21 notice in order to have security, or is there something else anyone would advise?
Their message isnt a notice to quit and you cant rely on it. I would just leave it and see what happens unless you despararely want them out
Just write to them first class post with proof of posting backed up by e mail stating you have received their written notice and accept it. Say it should be done as stipulated in ast but nevertheless you will accrpt it
Then advise about viewings ie do they have a preference so you can work with them on this to get mutually convenient times.
If they ask about deposit do not say you intend to keep any do not upset them at this crigical timr
Thats not a good idea because it would never stand up as a notice even if the landlord accepted it. There is no date or even intention.
If you want them gone issue the Section 21.
I want them out, we are going to sell and they are awful
When does the fixed term end?
31st August.
Do i need to issue a 6A form with the section 21?
I don’t know what your tenancy agreement says, maybe it explicitly requires notice, but by default, your tenant wouldn’t even have to give notice to move out at the end of the fixed term. Thus, it’s good that you now actually have an idea of their intention. Their WhatsApp won’t be worth anything in front of a court, but you hopefully won’t need a court.
The tenants are allowed to leave at the end of the fixed term without notice. Its possible that this is what they are planning. I would be tempted to hang on and see if they go as its only 3 weeks away. If you serve s21 now they may react badly and dig their heels in, in which case it could take you many more months to get them out.
Sorry, my mistake the tenancy ends on the 31 October, we would need to serve two months notice on 31 August.
They have to give one months notice, as per the lease, but I think for our comfort to know that we can get the property back in order to sell it we need to serve the section 21, I’m just not clear if we need to service the 6A notice at the same time?
Notice to end the tenancy at or after the end of the Initial Term
12.2. If either party wishes to end the tenancy on or after the final day of the Initial Term, they may give notice
in writing to the other as follows:
The Landlord must give notice of no less than two months, such notice to expire any time on or after the final day of the Initial Term. A notice served by the Landlord under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 shall be sufficient notice under this clause.
The Tenant must give notice of no less than one month, such notice to expire the day before a Rent
Payment Day or on the final day of the Initial Term.
12.3. If neither party serves a valid notice to terminate the tenancy at the end of the Initial Term, the parties agree that at the end of the Initial Term the tenancy will continue as a contractual periodic tenancy on a monthly basis.
Form 6a is s21. Add an extra coulle of days to the 2 months if posting the notice.
Is this actually enforceable? Genuine question. It contradicts the usual interpretation of the law that tenants don’t need to give notice to leave when the fixed term ends.
It looks like your lease may be different to a standard one. Typically no notice is required. While I understand that notice may set you at ease, I would suggest going back to not requiring notice - that way you aren’t in this position of having to decide whether to file the S21 or not rock the boat and hope they just leave peacefully.
If the lease automatically renews, the tenant doesn’t give notice, and the tenant vacates the property - you could be left in a messy situation where you have to file an S21 and aren’t allowed to take possession of an empty property for 2 months to be safe.
I’m not sure how courts would handle that, sometimes clauses are found inadmissible. But that’s usually when the tenant objects to it.
Even with an S21 you can’t guarantee the tenant is out so I’d suggest you start educating yourself about the eviction process and just keep praying the tenant makes good on their threat.
It’s vital that the lease be formally ended - if your lease says the tenant needs to give a formal notice, then I would send a section 21 to be safe. I would personally tell the tenant that I’ve received their text and respect their decision and to protect both of our interests, I will be sending an S21 to formalise it. Or something like that you get the idea - I wouldn’t just send the S21 out of nowhere because that can get hackles up and you don’t want that.
@Bastian - The issue is that the lease needs to be formally ended. The tenant vacating the property isn’t enough to end a lease in the UK and the landlord can get in a lot of trouble if they take possession when they legally aren’t allowed to. This’ll only come up if the tenant wants to be utterly horrible and take the landlord to court over it - but some tenants do, and it’s just not wise to do potentially illegal things as a landlord.
Clauses like that can be thrown out in court, but that does skew in the tenant’s favour. And you still have to go through the headache of the court case should someone try to enforce it.
I believe the “worst case” scenario of the tenant moving out without notice in this situation is that the landlord would have to file an S21 and wait two months to take possession of an empty property. Not pleasant, but not the end of the world, either. As the property is empty, and the S21 is mailed to the property, the tenant technically would never need to know or be bothered by it.
Thank you for such an in depth reply.
The situation continues with them saying they want to leave but not giving a date. They have reported repairs in the garden required but will not let us in to do the maintenance.
Ive now handed over to someone else to manage who they seem to respond better to
You may be being played.
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