How much notive do we HAVE to give when leaving a property at the end of a tenancy.

[threeisthemagicnumber]

Very long story short. We moved because of DH's work contract. We rented out our house for a year and rented another house.

We asked for a 12 month contract but were only given a 6 month one as apprently this is what they do as standard (large estate which rents out over a dozen properties). We're 4 and a bit months in, DH's work has changed and our tenant on our old house is suggesting that she might like to move out sooner than the 12 months.

Our tenancy agreement says that we have to give 2 months notice if we wish to leave at 6 months (the end of that tenancy). If we gave notice today we'd only be able to give six weeks - could we legally do this?

I am assuming that the fact that our tenancy agreement states a 2 month notice that's what we have to give (even if it takes us beyond the end of the tenancy). DH feels that once the tenancy runs out we can move and if they want to know if we're staying beyond that they should contact us and provide a new agreement?

Which one of us is right?

the office of fair trading published a ruling on this and it said you can move out on the day the contract expires with no notice. However, as the tenancy agreement says something else and you signed it which means you agreed to terms, you'll have to give 2 months notice.

Worse than that though.. if you read it carefully, i bet it says you have to give 2 months notice on the day the rent is due, so you might have to wait for 10 weeks.

If I were you, I'd read the document carefully and then go onto the site landlordlaw. Sign up for a month and get some expert advice for £10. There is no point asking the letting agent or landlord as they will tell you what suits them.

Most tenancies will have a clause that states that should the tenancy expire it becomes a rolling tenancy to save up drawing another agreement.

The usual period of notice is one full month from the date you pay your rent. But at this states 2 months then you would likely have to pay for the full 2 months whether you are in there or not.

I would not take your husband's advice as the chances are that this is a rolling tenancy and you'd be stung for a further 2 months rent instead of just 2 weeks. Use those 2 weeks to clean it so you get your deposit back, that's what we did.

Thanks - that's really helpful.

I've just checked the wording of our agreement and it just says two months notice. There is no mention of it having to be on the date the rent is due nor is there any mention of a rolling tenancy.

I'll have a look at that site meredeux.

Be careful, there may not need to be mention of a rolling contract. Most contracts just are these days and it will be legally binding.

We are at the stage of giving our tenants notice and we have to give them 2 months in line with the rent due date but once we have given them notice they can give us 1 month at any time from then.
Do you rent directly from the landlord or is there someone managing the property for them?
I would say every contract is different but most would be in line with the rent due date. Every contract is a rolling one once you go past the initial length of the contract term, in your case 6 months.

Most landlords will let you out earlier than the tenancy stipulates.

runty
Slightly complicated managment situation. The property was let through an agent but is managed by the farming company that owns the house (and lots of others in the village). There's a farm manager who we go to with any issues except for the couple of months of the year when they're too busy with the farm and we deal with the letting agents instead.

TBH I have a feeling they'll be reasonable about things - they let out so many properties and I imagine this will re-let quickly but I just wanted to know where we stand legally.

If they have been doing this for a while then they will know their stuff and the contract will be a rolling one.
If they are good landlords then it's not really fair on your partner to suggest just leaving them without notice at the end of the contract is it? Legally you wouldn't have a leg to stand on anyway.

Go and have a word with them and they'll probably agree to one months notice. Just let them know as soon as possible so they can start to advertise it.

"Be careful, there may not need to be mention of a rolling contract. Most contracts just are these days and it will be legally binding."
They become a rolling contract though when you stay one day into the new tenancy i.e. 6 months + 1 day

I think that you don't (legally) need to give any notice to leave at the end of the fixed term of an assured shorthold tenancy. The Office of Fair Trading published this guidance on unfair contract terms in 2005 - I don't know if there's anything more recent. Paragraph 3.78 refers to notice periods at the end of a fixed term.

I had a landlord who wanted to include a notice period in our contract (as well as other unfair contract terms) but I made sure it was removed before I signed the contract by explaining that it wouldn't be legally binding anyway. The citizens advice bureau was really helpful in explaining the legalities as they run a phoneline joint with Shelter that only CAB staff can ring that will give you free legal advice.

It is generally good practice to give as much notice as you can though and to allow landlords/letting agents to show people round, especially if you need a reference.

We will give as much notice as possible and neither DH or I would consider just leaving at the end of our contract without a word rhubarb. We will talk to then and I'm sure we'll come to an agreement between us all. I just wanted to know where we stood legally before contacting our tenant as we would be financially stuck if we agreed to her terminating her tenancy early but still had to pay rent here.

That meredeux was what DH was suggesting. Thanks for the link smudged.

smudged Yes you do, according to Shelter

But yes you can wait until the end of a fixed term contract but OP, it wasn't made clear whether or not your dh was going to give them notice.

rhubarb perhpas I wasn't clear but we will give them notice, it's just that we are now too late to give them the 2 months the contract states they require so it would be closer to 6 weeks notice.

TheRhubarb I think that the advice from shelter on their website is quite ambiguous. On the one hand it says if you walk away you will remain liable for rent until the end of the fixed term, implying that if you walked away on the last day of the tenancy you would not be liable for rent after that point. On the other hand it says that you may have a notice period in your contract so should seek legal advice. I expect that having a notice period of two months would be deemed unfair though (especially given the OFT guidance which says that you must not be required to give notice at the end of a fixed term AST) and that a tenant giving a month or more notice would be perfectly reasonable.