I have decided to serve notice to end my tenancy. I wanted to know if the notice period. Is it 1 month or 2 months based on the agreement below
Quoted from my tenancy agreement:
Under break clause:
The Tenancy shall be from and including the 19TH DAY OF JANUARY 2020 (‘the Commencement Date’) to and including the 18TH DAY OF JANUARY 2021, subject to a Break Clause at 6 months and thereafter from month-month and until terminated by either party serving a notice on the other in accordance with this Agreement (‘the Expiration Date’), ‘the Term’.
Under Notices section:
At the end of the initial fixed term as specified in clause 2 hereof, the Term shall continue on a month-by-month basis until either party shall serve on the other a written notice to bring the same to an end. Such notice, when served by the Landlord, should expire not less than two months after the same shall have been served on the Tenant. In the case of a notice served by the Tenant, such notice should expire noless than one month after service of the same on the Landlord.
It will be of great help and much appreciated if someone can answer this question. I will not be able to pay 2 rents as I will be moving by the end of this month.
The way I read that is that there is a break clause at 6 months which you didn’t activate. The month to month applies after the fixed term ends on January 2021 and the tenancy becomes periodic. It would be unusual to have a break clause that could be used every month. The AST isn’t particularly clearly worded but I dont think you can end it until Jan 2021 unless the LL agrees to end it earlier.
I agree with Richard19 on this. Your contract was to give both you and LL certainty and security. I suggest speaking to the LL and maybe he will be happy to accept some “compensation” for having to try to find another tenant much earlier than expected. He may keep you liable for rent until he can find a new tenant to sign up and only then release you early. You could offer to advertise for a suitable substitute tenant yourself to have your original contract assigned. Your landlord would have to be happy with who you proposed and probably expect you to pay for any referencing. Either way that would be far cheaper than paying two rents until next Jan.
After the sixth month you give a minimum of one month’s notice to terminate the tenancy so in other words, if you gave a notice today 22nd September 2020, you would have to terminate your tenancy on 18th November 2020 so as to give a minimum notice of one month. You could terminate it on 21st October 2020 the way the clause is written however, it is best to end it at the end of the periodic month which would be 18th November 2020 as am not sure if there is anywhere in the tenancy agreement that it allows you to end the tenancy at any other time.
The whole object of a break clause is that a landlord or tenant can terminate a tenancy before the fixed term of the tenancy ends and does not have to exercise it exactly after the sixth month and can do so anytime after the six month period.