Is there anything else I need to do - not great relationship with landlady.

[Diabolomenthe]

In March last year we moved in to our current place which is very lovely. We have 2 boys who share a bedroom and it has been hard for them to cohabit. We have now the opportunity to move to 3 bedrooms house for less rent. We gave our notice the landlady but haven't heard from her since...despite asking her twice by text if she had got our email. We called the estate agents and she is not returning their mails or phone calls. My husband is now sending our notice by special delivery courrier...anything else we can do ? She is really hard to deal with and quite aggressive, she always made us feel like unwanted guest in her property, "it's my property" she often liked to remind us !

Surely the estate agents should be dealing with all this, that's their job isn't it or am I confused

We're moving this week. We rang the estate agents and let them know, put it in writing to them and that's that.

Have you a deposit that you'll need back?

You need to check your contract. Is there a break clause? When are you planning to leave? Is it in line with the contract?
You also need to give notice in writing signed by all those on the contract (email not usually enough), the notice should be one calendar month usually in line with the rent due date.
Is your deposit protected and who is it with?

That isn't correct. Even at the end of your AST you would need to give notice. It would roll over to a periodic tenancy at that point.

notice goes in writing, not by email. You should have done what you've now done, send by recorded delivery to the address you have. Copy to the agent.

give the correct notice, clean it, remove all your stuff and that's it. Also check your deposit protection info and call the scheme for advice about what to do if the landlady does nothing. Which means that your deposit comes back in full BTW.

We gave her the correct notice on the 10/01, leaving on the 14/03. I'm sorry we always gave notice this way and it has never been a problem. She only use estate agents for administration and finding new tenants. She is managing the property herself. The estate agents called us to ask if we were renewing the contract, we told them no, send them the email that we sent to the landlady.

special I would have thought that by email would be acceptable unless the AST agreement stated otherwise. By email is 'in writing' for most legal purposes. There are some people for whom by text message is sufficient for 'in writing'!

Providing you have correctly given notice to quit in line with the tenancy, dates, etc. then you should be fine. If the estate agents aren't managing the property then notice should be given directly to the landlady.

I would ask what the process will be when it comes to you moving out. If an inspection is to be carried out, make sure you are present. Take photos before you hand back the keys.

She doesn't answer mails, text, screen our phone call...except last week when we called her because of a electric problem (the electric system is really old fashion and she said never to touch it if there were a problem as she will sort it)...that was the day after we gave our notice : she told us it was not her problem, that she won't pay for an electrician that it was our fault for putting dodgy bulbs (it's her light bulbs)....I'm just worried she is going to be difficult, we gave her 4 grands deposit.

4 grand deposit. Bloody hell.

Definitely contact the people who hold the deposits and ask fir their advice. I'd get onto the agents again as well, see if they will help at all.

You should be fine then - unless you haven't given notice in the specified way. In fact, you've given two months' notice by email when as a tenant you only have to give one and have time to correctly give notice again if the LL says she never received your email.

I'd be concerned she was going to be difficult too. Document all contact you have with her in detail.

Read up on inventory checks and reasonable deductions from deposits too.

Send it special delivery, with proof of postage, and your notice will be valid from the next day whether she claims to have received it or not.

Then it doesn't matter if she doesn't get back to you. If you haven't heard anything two weeks before you leave, which is unlikely as she's probably going to want to do viewings, then write to her special delivery again and state that you'll be available on X date to hand back the keys and do the check-out inventory.

You're well covered, then. You might want to take date-stamped photos of the house when it's empty and clean, and make sure that you fix anything that has broken, so that it's a straight-forward deposit return.

emails get lost, as do texts, and are not appropriate for important legal communication as you cannot guarantee they have been received. They are fine for people that communicate and run proper businesses (except in legal issues) but with someone like this the OP needs to do what infinity says, which makes it 'deemed to be received'.

OP - she cannot be 'difficult' over the deposit, that's what the protection schemes are there to prevent. If the deposit wasn't protected you also have recourse.

4k deposit on a 2k per month rent is a bit OTT, but not much.

The deposit is part of a scheme so yes we know it's protected. She has no needs to be difficult, we are not bad tenants..pay the rent on time, respect the house.

She took more deposit because we have a cat

All sounds pretty standard then. You will need to clean the house and check all items against the inventory. If there is not inventory then you won't have a problem anyway.

you're fine. Clean up, take photos, no problem.

the deposit is protected and if all is as you found it, less wear and tear, it will all come back.

Thank you, I know it's pretty standard...I just can't bear the way she talk to us (like shit) when we need to communicate so etching to her ! So that's why I'm a bit nervous but hey nevermind we are out of here in less than 2 months !