As I said to you on your other thread. CAB/Shelter.
A AST is an agreement for 6m, no more, no less.
At the end of the agreement the tenant or the landlord can state that the contract will NOT be renewed and possession will be required on the date the AST ends.
You signed a legally binding agreement to rent the property for the minimum period of 6m. There is no notice period during this time.
I'm sure if you go through your agreement it will probably say something like this:
- The Landlord can terminate the Tenancy on the last day of the Term, or after the Term, by service of the Landlord's notice of intention to seek possession.
- Before the Landlord can end this tenancy, he shall serve any notice(s) in accordance with the provisions of the Housing Acts. Such notice(s) shall be sufficiently served if served in accordance with section 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Under this, a notice shall be sufficiently served if sent by registered or recorded delivery post (if the letter is not returned undelivered) to the Tenant at the Property or the last known address of the Tenant or left addressed to the Tenant at the Property.
- The Tenant can terminate the Tenancy by vacating the Property on the last day of the Term, or after that by giving the Landlord one month's notice in writing.
Once you have got past your 6m, then unless a new agreement is written, the tenancy goes to what is called a statutory periodic tenancy. Under this, the tenant may give 1 month notice, the LL has to give 2 months notice.
The LL has no need to do anything as it stands, you agreed to 6m and by law he can hold you to it. I don't think your 'notice' given to him is binding either.
You have had a serious of complaints about the property, have been under the impression that he is responsible for the efficacy of the heating system (he is not) He is responsible for maintaining it only.
During the 3m you have lived there, you have also dipped into arrears by up to £100, although this has recently been rectified.
Put it this way. If this LL wanted you OUT, HE couldn't get you to go unless he asked you nicely and tbh made it worth your while.
If you have otherwise been a good tenant and have fallen on hard times, he may agree to release you early. There was a poster on here recently that asked her LL to let them go early, and as they had been great tenants and I think helped find replacement tenants for him, he agreed. In your case however tbh, with the ill-informed assumptions of his responsibilities, and the arrears, it may be that his reluctance to carry out repairs when he is being mucked about may be understandable. I don't think he IS likely to let you go early.
The only potential in-road you have is to look into the deposit situation and the safety certificate. If he has not protected your deposit, you may have some leverage. If there is no GSS he could be in serious trouble, but starting to beat him over the head with this in an unstructured way is unlikely to endear you him.
Until that deposit is protected, any notice Section 21 served by the LL on you will not be binding.
Once it is, He can serve you 2m notice, at any time within the 6m, but that notice period can not end before the date on the AST. If he only served you on the last day of the tenancy agreement running out, you would have another 2m to go before he would be able to seek possession.
He could serve notice on you within the 6m under very specific and serious circumstances, but none of them are applicable to your situation.
FWIW, I searched online and found a forum where a LL was asking for help with a Tenant demanding to terminate notice (back in 2007) and this was the advice from the legal professional replying to the LL:
"Write to her and hand-deliver a letter pointing out that she cannot break the contract and that you will take immediate action in the small claims court once she misses a rent payment. Tenants like her really p _ me off! Her attitude sucks!
Whether she finds you a replacement tenant or you do is neither here nor there but you can charge her reasonable costs in finding a replacement tenant i.e. advertising, referencing, agency fees etc."
DEPOSIT:
Your deposit ought to be in one of 3 schemes.
Custodial Protection Scheme:
The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS)
Insurance Based Protection Schemes
My Deposits (Run by Tenancy Deposit Solutions Ltd)
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (Run by The Dispute Service)
Read more: Deposit schemes
Contact them and check if they are holding your deposit. If it's not protected you may have cause to take him to small claims court for the money, your LL is potentially looking at a fine of up to 3x the deposit, though this can be hard to actually enforce, as he can protect your deposit at any time and not be fined.
You have not been an ideal tenant. He perhaps has not been an ideal LL, but if you are to get out of this agreement, you are going to have to be NICE, and HOPE that he lets you out of it. If you are going to try to use the deposit as a tactic, you will need CAB help to guide you.
You need shelter and CAB advice. They can help you understand the situation, your rights and how to negotiate your way out of this.
So, instead of sitting here asking us you need to be waiting in line to see the CAB, cos it's potentially worth a lot of money to you, or could prevent you being SUED for a lot of money.
I don't get the impression you are taking this very seriously. Starting threads on here is all well and good, gives the rest of us something to do, but YOU need to be the one googling how to end an AST early (practically no chance)
Now, you actually don't need any more info from here, you need to see CAB/Shelter, so please, stop opening threads and start doing your homework, meeting people that can realistically tell you what your specific rights are.
Good luck! 