My tenant has given me 1 month notice via email today, so I presume that means they will pay up until 7/4/26? They said they’ve ended the tenancy on Openrent but I cannot see anything and I haven’t had a notification. If they pay 30th monthly, they’ve paid up until the 30th March and will therefore have to pay the remaining days until 7/4, is that correct and I presume Openrent will send them the amount to pay on 30/3?
Do I need to enter anything on Openrent regarding the notice?
Erm. Check your tenancy agreement.
The standard openrent AST says
12.2 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.
Make sure tenant understands the AST.
Above means if they pay on 30th for the following month, they need to pay on 30 march ie up till 30th april if they gave notice on 7th march.
You may decide to let them leave earlier and pay less so they are not staying in your place longer than they want but you dont have to. At the very least your are letting them leave early so they should allow you to do viewings etc (with times to be agreed as usual)
on the OR platform to end the tenancy choose 'manage tenancy ’ then ‘end tenancy’ and give reason as ‘tenant has given notice’. You enter the tenancy end date (whatever you decide and agree with tenant) and it will calculate the remaining rent due etc
Good luck
My view would be that the tenant serves notice to you not OpenRent I am unsure if there is an option for tenants to do this in OpenRent or not.
Assuming you do not want to end the tenancy early than 1 month, then the tenant needs to pay on 30th March rent up to and including 7th April.
Monthly rent times 12 divided by 365 days times 8 days = Amount to pay.
The end date of the tenancy on openrent is purely administrative. It is not relevant unless you use openrents rent collection service. I don’t so I can’t advise on how that works.
Regarding the end date of the tenancy I agree as above that if you’ve used Openrent tenancy agreement the term won’t end until 30th of April unless you agree sooner.
It’s now for you to reply to the tenants notice explaining when the tenancy ends and agreeing something.
This is quite basic stuff. You may wish to consider some landlord training, if you decide to move a new tenant in.
I’ve just had this tenant gave notice 18th Feb but payment date is the 26th , they believed their tenancy would therefore cease in the 17th March ., I sent them the open rent ast Clause on notice which clearly states its payment date to payment date so their notice would expire on the 26th not the 18th so a full months rent would be due not a reduced rent that they were offering ! I did say I would endeavour to find a tenant if they could do virwings to suit their preferred move out date . I found one within a week and they actually took the property from the 7th .. so I rebated the tenant the over paid rent ( LESS MY ADVERTISING COSTS ) I got my advertising covered no gaps snd the tenant moved out much quicker than they had hoped . Had I not found a tenant so quickly they would have had to pay to the 26th . You need to advise your tenant their ine month notice runs from payment date not when they decide to give notice .. but try work with them to a satisfactory conclusion for everyone . GL
PS the ending of the tenancy on open rent is only a documentation exercise .. it’s not a formal process so if they leave early you need to still carry out tenancy surrender etc .. remember it’s inly a portal not a legal procedure .
Your post raises an interesting question, namely whether in this case the deduction of the advertising costs would be considered a valid fee under the Tenant Fees Act. If you accept an otherwise invalid notice from a tenant, you are allowed to charge a “payment in consideration of the termination of a tenancy at the tenant’s request”. However, “if the payment exceeds the loss suffered by the landlord as a result of the termination of the tenancy, the amount of the excess is a prohibited payment”. As the advertising costs were only brought forward by a few days, I dont know whether you would be able to argue them as a genuine loss. Its probably a fairly trivial sum and I doubt the tenant would be bothered to challenge it. Its also entirely possible that the Tribunal or local authority would accept it as valid and there have been cases where similar deductions were upheld, although I’m not aware of any legal precedent so far.
This example is not something to lose sleep over, but as we approach a new era of heavy fines and penalties, such grey areas may pose a serious risk for landlords.
I wondered about this too.
Re letting fees when there is early termination it is allowed under the act provided these are 'reasonable ’
"The Act makes it clear that early termination charges can be passed on to a tenant who asks to leave the tenancy before the end of the fixed term. But these charges must not exceed:
MyDeposits page
Early termination fees - What does it mean for you
I think the tenant cant really argue the fees would have been incurred anyway. That is pure speculation about what LL might or might not have done after notice period. Not based on any facts. The loss occurs during the notice period inc rent lost, cost to find new tenant to try to cover period when empty etc.
But as you say, LLs need to be ever more careful under RRA.
Best
advertising costs paid by the tenant . Wow and Wowzer !
I didn’t just do it I did plenty research before considering it .. consensus of my research said if a landlord were releasing a tenant early from their commitment and provided they were legitimate costs which could be proved by invoice etc and it was made clear to the tenant .. costs related to finding a new tenant were legitimate . What woulfnt be allowed would be accepting 2 rents for the same period ( which I would never have considered doing anyway ) the alternative option would have been to start the new tenancy the same day as the old one expired .. which would have meant the tenant was paying several hundred pounds and utilities for an empty unwanted property . As I acted quickly to assist the tenant in an early release the tenant was refunded 50% of the rent already paid .. the advertising costs were therefore considered an acceptable deductible expense .
Yes, Im not saying its an unreasonable deduction, or that the tenant would quibble about it, just that the wording of the legislation means you are never quite sure whether deductions of this sort are technically legal.
but there is specific govt guidance for the Act, which clearly states such deductions are legally allowed [my bold below] - see below
“EARLY TERMINATION FEES
Q. Can I ask a tenant to pay a fee if they want to leave a tenancy before the end of their fixed-term or the end of their notice period?
A landlord or agent can require a tenant to make payments in connection with the early termination of the tenancy where the tenant has requested this, but there are restrictions on what can be charged.
Generally, the costs charged for early termination must not exceed the loss incurred by the landlord (usually the loss in rent resulting from a tenant’s decision to leave and/or the costs of re-advertising or referencing), or the reasonable costs to the agent (such as referencing and marketing costs).”
[source: Tenant Fees Act 2019: Guidance for landlords and agents]
so why exactly do you think there is any doubt as to whether such deductions are allowed? Are there cases where it has been disputed what is reasonable, and judiciary has ruled that what was claimed was illegal despite this guidance?
Best
When interpreting a point of law, my understanding is the judges only take account of what they perceive to be the will of parliament. Thats why you can’t fully rely on Govt guidance.
As the cost of advertising would have been incurred only some days later if the tenant had given hhe correct notice, I would not be confident about predicting the decision of a court in these circumstances.
I released them 20 days early from a tenancy that they had paid another full months rent on .. I agreed that if I could find a tenant sooner I would release them from their obligation under their tenancy and refund their rent less any costs . I worked swiftly and found a tenant who was willing to work to the existing tenants requested date ( they proposed the date which was 20days less than they were contracted to ) result saved them 20 days rent and council tax and utilities on an otherwise empty property they had left . They saved all the utility costs for an empty property plus 50% refund AFTER advert costs of the rent they had already paid . I could have just advertised and waited until the notice period ended to do viewings etc .. but I acted swiftly and saved them money ..i released them early and legally deducted the advertising cost . They were refunded hundreds of pounds they hadn’t expected to see again .. they were very pleased to receive the refund and I had acted totally legally within the tenant fees act . And was pleased I could refund them sonething .
According to guidelines under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (in England), these costs are considered “reasonable” if they are associated with the early termination of the tenancy.
GOV.UK +1Here is a breakdown of the rules regarding this deduction:
Evidence of Cost Required: The landlord must be able to provide evidence (receipts, invoices) of the actual costs incurred for marketing or advertising, rather than just charging a flat, arbitrary fee.
Limitation on Total Fees: The total cost charged to the tenant (including advertising and any other associated costs) should not exceed the lower of either the actual loss incurred by the landlord or the rent that would have been payable for the remainder of the fixed term.
Not Permitted if Break Clause Used: If the tenant is exercising a valid break clause in their contract, the landlord generally cannot charge fees for re-advertising.
Voluntary Agreement: Such fees are generally permitted when the landlord agrees to release the tenant early from their rent obligations, provided the costs are “reasonable”.
JustAnswer +6Key Takeaway: If the tenant is breaking the lease early, the landlord can charge for advertising costs, but these must be genuine, evidenced, and reasonable costs to find a new tenant.
As I said earlier, I’m not questioning your fairness in this, just wandering what the Tribunal would make of the timing given they have broad scope to interpret reasonableness.
@David122 but you are supposing this would go to Tribunal. In @Karen21 ‘s case she has refunded tenants £hundreds they didn’t expect. So seems unlikely they would go to tribunal and so unlikely advertising costs would ever be considered by tribunal.
Best
No, I doubt that would ever happen, especially for such a small sum. Its not really about this case, its just that it raised the question in my mind. I wondered how the tribunal might regard such fees in these circumstances, perhaps if the advertising were part of a bigger sum being claimed and the tenant decided to challenge it. I dont have an answer because Ive no idea how they judge reasonableness and they may well just follow the Govt guidance. Its just that one of the early cases that came to court went in the tenants favour and limited the amount to £50. It surprised everyone as on paper that limit didn’t apply to a landlord whose tenant was leaving early. Non-binding of course, but many people thought it set the tone for how the FTT were going to respond.
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