What notice do we need to give our tenants?

[egypt]

We are landlords (living abroad, renting our house out to a lovely couple). We have an Assured Tenancy Agreement.

We want to put the house on the market but can nowhere in the Agreement see how much notice we are supposed to give them before completion. (ie - move out). I believe it is 2 months, but is it 2 months before the end of the term? (We renew 6 monthly with them).

Can anyone advise please?

Thanks

I believe it is two months before the end of the term - the 6 months is a fixed term (on mine, anyway - I have an assured tenancy agreement also)

i see. will check to see if it says fixed term.

btw, what does the 'assured' mean anyway?

Erm, don't know.

Doesn't it mean they are assured the tenancy for a fixed amount of time (eg 6 months)? No idea, actually

doesn't matter - just curious!

Now I am too. You'd think it'd be a good idea to know what it means...

Yes, assured means assured tenancy for a fixed period (ie 6 months), after that, either yourself or tenants can give notice.
Mine is 1 month notice, although my tenants always give me more than 1 month because they are nice.

ahh, i see

right. ours is an assured fixed tenancy agreement. initial perios is 6 months. renewed every 6 months. so i have to give the tenants 2 months' notice before the end of the fixed term of 6 months. their term is up end sept, so we need to give them notice by end of july at latest. if not we have to WAIT until end march to get them out?!

what a pain when trying to sell. so unpredictable.

Yes, it is a huge pain. I will have to sell mine soon too

shelter and eviction landlords responsabilities

thanks custardo

so here it talks about, if you don't give them a new fixed term agreement after one ends, they up up on a periodic agreement by which they can roll week to week or month to month. they can give a month's notice and therefore so can we. i think? it's written from the tenants viewpoint.

Depends what else is there apart fro massured on your agreement. If its a true assured tenancy agreement you can't easily terminate it. i suspect howver that it is an assured shorthold tenancy agreement. In that case you terminate it on due date by giving notice in advance ( as a courtesy) that yo urequire the property back.

Be warned however that if the ydon't give up possession you can't change locks etc and will have to go to court to get possession back.

Be very careful before agreeing with your buyer to give vp tha tthe tenants are going or that you are 100% confident they will go or yo ucan be in for severe penalities.

it is an assured shorthold tenancy agreement. so it doesnt HAVE to be 2 months' notice? I can legally just tell them even a week before we want them out. (Not that I would). Will give them as much notice as possible.

what is vp?

so what happens if they don't leave? they have to surely? if it is the end of the fixed term?

vacant possession is vp.

If they don't physically leave at the end of the term you can't change the locks. There is something called the protection from eviction act which prevents this even where the term has come to an end. you would have to get a court order. It is fairly quick and cheap to do that though - about 2 months in total. The difficult part is your buyer though - you will be in a mighty amount of trouble if you complete and tenant reamins in situ. BEst of ending the tenancy at least a month in advance ( i.e. before you ex hange contracts).If you are not in any doubt they will lleave then don't do that and collect the extra income - as a lawyer I am always cautiouus.

thanks lisalisa