How much does my tenant owe me?

[Golaz]

Hi all,

I’ve had a tenant in my flat on for a few years. She’s been on a rolling contract since the first six months. She normally pays rent on the 11th of the month for the month ahead.

I gave her notice on 22nd January, that I would need the flat back by 16th April. (Under a rolling contract I need to give 2 months notice, but I wanted to let her know earlier rather than later, to give her some time to sort something).

On the 4th February she informed me she had found somewhere and would be moving out probably around the middle of February. I followed up today and asked if she had a date. She told me yes- she’s moving out on the 18th and will return on the 20th to clean the place.

How much rent does she owe me? She’s already paid until the 11th. She seems to think she only needs to pay for an extra week until the 18th , but in the rolling contract she’s supposed to give me one months notice so I feel like she should pay until the 4th March.

AIBU?

Yep

She only needs to pay you up until the date when she vacates the property. This is because you have already given her notice. If you hadn't, and she'd decided to leave, you would be entitled to one month's notice/payment from her.

If you forcé her to pay until April she might lose the place she was going to move into.

You might find yourself with a tenant that you have to evict. Will cost you a fortune and maybe a year to get to court.

Thankyou

She should pay til 4th March if she gave you notice in return on 4th Feb.

Just to put it in this perspective.

You push her to pay an extra 3 weeks rent, as you say that's several hundreds. She can't afford that so her property falls through. She then can't move out by the 16th April as she hasn't been successful for anything else. Then you are stuck with the costs for court and bailiffs and the lost time. It is very short sighted to not play fair when it's you kicking her out.

When my LL gave me 2 months notice I found a place and moved mid month. I paid for until I moved and cleaned so I would charge her up to 20th.
Up to the 4th would be unreasonable.

... but she can't keep the keys and move out her stuff, coming back later then claiming the night of the 18th, 19th and 20th she wasn't living there.

Can you imagine if tenants could move most of their stuff out, keep the keys and avoid rent for a period until handing back keys etc - because they're "not living there" 😂

Your'e really not looking at the bigger picture here.

I think perhaps being a LL is not right for you.

Oh no I was never suggesting she pay until April, but I thought she needed to give me one month of leaving earlier, so was going to suggest 4th March. It sounds like legally she technically owes me until 11th March.

She doesn't need to give you any notice, you've given her notice. Therefore at best a week rent is owed.

You really shouldn't be a landlord if you can't work that out.

My landlord gave us notice as she was selling the property. We found somewhere before our month was up but because the landlord wanted the full months rent and wouldn’t let us pay for just the 2 weeks we actually going to be living there we kept hold of the keys and moved our things slowly over to the new property then gave our keys back on the last day.
She wasn’t happy as she was desperate to paint the property before selling it but we was in our rights as we had paid for the month.

Definitely not for me! I’m moving back in. I bought the place to live in, it was only due to life/ work circumstances that I ended up away for a while,

She doesn't. She will owe you to 20th April.

Legally, she owes you until March 11th. It’s one full payment period month of notice. So, the full payment period month of notice she’s given is February 11th-March 11th.

No technically she owes you till the 20th feb as you gave notice

The twice I was given notice when I rented I didn't have to give notice to the ll within the notice period I just had to pay up until we left.
I would say she has to pay up until the 20th though as she is keeping the keys until then to clean whether she is actually sleeping there doesn't matter.

Not April - 20th February 😂

I would be very careful here OP, you have given her notice and she is leaving with no drama.

I wouldn't be demanding several hundred pounds from her.

No she doesn’t, as she’d been served notice. She would only owe this if she was the one serving notice.

You’ve given her notice to leave what was her home. She’s found a new home without any complaints and told you when she will be gone.
She wouldn’t have given you notice if you hadn’t wanted her to leave.
So, she pays til the 20th. Demanding more would be bad form.

Yeah, this.
If you ever let a place again, please pay someone to do it that knows what they are doing. Your tenant sounds great to be honest.

Eh, but OP has given notice to terminate that contract?! The poor tenant isnt moving of her own volition.

Charge her up until the 20th of February.

Ex LL here. I agree with this. You served her notice. She’s leaving within this period. She pays up until the day she actually leaves. This is the appropriate and fair way to look at it.