A friend is currently renting (in another city, not from me) but she recently bought a house. She didn’t want to give notice to her landlord until they were sure it’s all gone through ok with the purchase and they exchanged contracts, which was I think on the 18th of May. She gave 1 month notice and expected to be able to move out on the 26th of June as she was out of her fixed 24 month contract, on periodic and the 26th is her last day every month. However, she was told that she had to give 2 months notice now! I know this is because of the new RRA but how can they make a law from the 1st of May if tenants only have to be told about it by the 31st of May?! It doesn’t make sense! Surely they should tell people about the law first AND THEN make it enforceable?! She was told she’ll basically have to pay out another £1900 in rent. If she gave notice 3-4 weeks earlier, it’d have been still 1 month notice she’d have had to give, which is what her contract said. She’s so upset, and doesn’t have the extra £1900 for it with the house purchase and them needing to do some work on the house too. Is there anything she can do? Her landlord has been terrible, not getting things fixed, noisy heating for the entire time they were there, taking a year to get back to her about trip hazard the landlord’s plumber created when looking at the issue with the heating, in the end they fixed the trip hazard as the landlord wasn’t doing anything. She asked the landlord about earlier moving out date and offered they’ll fully cooperate with viewings, but the landlord - as usual - is rubbish with communication and hasn’t even bothered replying to her. She has ADHD and health issues so she’s finding it hard to cope with the added stress of having to find £1900 for another month’s rent. Is there anything she can do?
You/your friend can ask Shelter and Citizen’s Advice or get legal advice to confirm the notice she gave was valid, but basically what the new legislation says is that the notice period is 2months [ending on last day of a rental period] IF there’s not already a written agreement between the landlord and tenant - if the existing agreement says 1 month that continues and they can just give notice. So the notice to quit on 26 june will have been valid IF the tenancy agreement said what the notice would be after the end of the fixed period.
See eg
“If your tenancy agreement does not say how much notice you must give, you need to give at least 2 months’ notice.”
How much notice does a tenant need to give to end a tenancy?
Under the rules introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act, a tenant must give at least two months’ written notice to end an assured periodic tenancy, with the notice expiring “so the tenancy ends on a day when the rent is due or the day before the rent is due” (to quote Government guidance for tenants).
A landlord cannot require a notice period that exceeds two months, but can agree to a shorter notice period (see** Section 20 RRA**). For example, if the tenancy agreement refers to a shorter period, such as one month, that will prevail.
Tenants should check the tenancy agreement to see whether the notice period is shorter – many tenancy agreements require one calendar month. If so, the tenant only needs to give that shorter period of notice.
Tenants need to tell landlords formally if they want to end a tenancy agreement. It needs to be in writing, and must be for the correct notice period. Do allow plenty of time for the notice to be served if serving it by post."
We checked her tenancy agreement. It’s strange! Her fixed term AST ended on 26 April 2026. The agreement contains no clause we can find specifying the tenant’s notice period after expiry of the fixed term. She just said she served notice on 25 May 2026. Does the new 2-month notice requirement apply to her?
Can a tenancy agreement contain no info on notice period be valid? The tenancy agreement was issued by an estate agent.
Yes i think in that case the 2 month notice default specified in RRA applies.
Lots of tenancies in the past were fixed term and tenants would.either moved out on last day (without giving notice at all) or let them become rolling/periodic monthly and the notice would become a month too, but it didnt have to be written into the tenancy agreement.
That’s precisely why the RRA had to specify what the notice would be if not previously agreed between LL and tenant (in writing in tenancy agreement or elsewhere)- and because otherwise lots of people in the middle of a fixed term also wouldnt know what notice period applied to them from 1 may.
This is something thats going to have to be tested in court, but its certainly arguable that an existing tenancy contract allowing 1 months notice meets the condition in section 20(3)(1ZA)(a)(i) of the RRA, namely that the landlord has agreed in writing to a lesser period than the 2 month default.
If the tenant in this case is feeling brave, they could state that they believe this is the case to the landlord and see if he’s willing to challenge it in court.
I passed on your message to her but she said her landlord didn’t agree to it unfortunately! Her landlord is really rubbish with communication, and regularly just ignored messages about issues as well as avoided sorting them out, I think this was one of the main reason why they don’t want to carry on living there.
Good news! It was good advice to ask her landlord for an earlier ending. She just told me the landlord offered 1.5 months, so that’ll save her some money!
They were all facts and the tenant did ask the question. The landlord took a while getting back to her. Your comment is rude, not useful and unnecessary.
What I find rude, not useful and unnecessary, is shaming the Landlord when they have done nothing wrong and making out your friend is the victim. Its not the LL fault she has ADHD and health issues is it.
Wow! I’m not sure where the last two replies are coming from, but to me they seem out of kilter with the OP’s genuine question and desire to help his/her friend.
What is irritating them is that it seems that when a tenant/ friend wants a particular answer they try to back it up by saying ,the landlord did this, the landlord did that, my friend is not a well person, etc . All of this has nothing to do with the question so why say it ?
I think it’s usually to give an indication of the sort of LL and some context.
I think ive seen enough posts here where LLs have a question and at same time post all sorts of other stuff about the troubles their tenant has caused to think this happens on both ‘sides’
Thank you David and to @David240 and @tatemono too. I didn’t expect replies like that, I guess my post triggered some memories of bad experiences in these people hence the tone of their messages. I just wanted to help my friend and with the reply and encouragement of a couple of helpful and kind people here, that I passed on to her, she sent another email to her landlord and got a much better outcome. Thank you to those who helped and those who post nasty comments - maybe try empathy (that is, imagining if you were that person. Not what you’d do in their situation or how you can belittle someone). Thank you for flagging up the rude messages to admin, I appreciate it! I was hoping that people will be civilised on this forum, and most people are lovely, shame some feel the need to post replies even if they don’t add anything useful/helpful/kind.
The information had to be given by the 31st of May. She gave notice I think on the 20th. She hasn’t received the 4 page PDF by her landlord by the time she gave notice, nevertheless the new law was already in place unbeknownst to her. She looked into it a few months ago she said, but at the time it was still 1 month notice. I doubt she’s the only person who got caught out by this. No need to be so rude, try to be a bit kinder and more empathetic.
