Can anyone tell me where I stand legally at the end of this tenancy?

[NoMoreRenting]

Hi, dh and I have been renting our house out for the past 2yrs whilst he has been working away. The tenancy is up on 19th September. We have 2 issues causing disagreement with the agency. Firstly, we want our local friend to collect the keys at close of business on 19th. This is s friend we nominated in writing early on to access the property on our behalf. They have said no, not just because it is friend but because they will not give us the keys until the Tuesday. Apparently if the end of tenancy falls at the weekend they allow it to run until the mon as its unfair to expect people to move on a non banking day. Secondly, they are saying we cannot even have the keys until end of Tue as apparently they need to do the check out on the. They have said this can only be done after the tenant has moved out but ours here is taking place on move out day. As did every tenancy I've been involved in. So, does anyone know where I stand legally?

1. on the tenants being allowed an extension until mon afternoon.
2. on the checkout taking place the day after the tenants move out.

Surely my contract with the agency ends on Sat 19th? We need to be out of here on mon 21st so we have removals booked 20th/21st. Thanks

They have said I can legally have the keys tue morning but then no checkout will take place and I cannot contest the deposit.

Sorry just to be clear. I have no reason to think I will need to contest the deposit. They are a quiet couple in their 50s and all inspections over the 2yrs have been fine. And they are retiring to the sea so no issue with them not wanting to go.

So reading between the lines, the agency doesn't open on a Saturday or the check out agent doesn't work Saturdays and that's what is really going on. Baloney that it's unfair for people to move on a non-banking day.

Tell them you are paying for a service and they have had plenty of notice of the tenancy end date in order to make the necessary arrangements. Under no circumstances do you give permission for the tenants to stay beyond the tenancy end date - dangerous precedent to let them do so anyway. There is nothing in your posts to indicate the tenants aren't going on the 19th and presumably it would be preferable for the check out to be done then than them having to go back on the Monday or not being present?

I suggest you have a chat with the tenants to suss out whether this is indeed coming from them or the agents then get on to the agents.

If you can't get removals done on a Saturday then you do it on the Friday rather than overstaying.

Thank you, Wowfudge. The thing is, although I would have liked my friend to be able to pick up the keys on the Saturday (they are open Saturdays) if there was going to be a real problem for the tenants then I'd agree to them going mon morning with the checkout being done that afternoon. But not for the agency to do their checkout on the Tue.
Do you or anyone else know if it's usual for checkouts to happen after the tenants move out? So basically after our contract with the agency has ended.
And is it usual to push back leaving date to the Monday? If ours ended on a Sat, I'd assume I needed to move out fri/sat.

I rented for 7 months whilst waiting for my new build after selling. My tenancy expired on a Saturday. We both agreed to leave it till the Monday. Seemed the sensible thing to do, tbh, as they closed early on a sat. The only prob I can see here is you not getting the keys on the Monday. BUT that's my opinion/experience.

So on the Monday is everybody still covered by the terms and conditions of the contract then?
I need to be able to move in on the Monday afternoon so this is real issue for me. Nothing was mentioned before. Surely if you're managing a property you pay attention to all this? I've booked my removals for 2days after the end of the tenancy. I appreciate one of those days in a Sunday but still. And why can't they to check out with the tenants there? I'd want to be there?

Sorry, meant to add a thank you there.

Are you sure the tenants are going to be moving out? Have they given notice? Just because the fixed term of a tenancy is up, it doesn't mean the tenancy ends. The tenancy only ends when (a) a tenant gives valid notice or (b) a Landlord goes to Court to get a Possession Order and enforces it with bailiffs (obviously a lot of tenants when served a s21 move before this happens).

We gave notice 4mths ago that we wanted the house back. Surely a landlord can end the tenancy to move back home?

The agency did serve the s21 notice to them. They were fine as it was always a 2yr thing and they had sold their big house 2yrs ago and are now retiring to the coast.

Sounds to me like your agent just doesn't want to do a checkout on the Saturday.

Emeithme, are you saying a landlord cannot just serve notice, that they need to go to court? This is the third house we have rented in those 2yrs. We have been here 6mths next month. In first house for 1yr but vendor then wanted to sell so gave us notice and we moved to another. They didn't need to go to court?!?
Why would we need to go to court? They have paid 4k deposit. I'm expected it all to be returned to them as I'm not aware of any damage or issues. Nevertheless, I don't want to forgo a checkout just in case there is an issue.

But can we legally insist that the checkout is done on the last day of the tenancy?

The s21 notice is notice that if they don't move out at the expiry of the notice period the landlord will commence eviction procedures. The majority of tenants will be honourable and move out, some won't.

I suggest you talk to your tenants direct and find out what is going on. Everything points to the agents not wanting to do a Saturday check out though!

You are paying the agents therefore you can insist on the checkout on the last day of the tenancy - the tenants do have the right to be there all day, so perhaps it's a case of the check out agent not wanting to have to attend later in the day or in the evening. In which case they could do it on the Sunday instead.

There is no way I would agree to the tenants staying on longer without the payment of additional rent, even for only a day or two.

Emwithme what you have stated is incorrect. If the tenants move out at the expiry of the notice period and vacate the property, the tenancy ends. It is not compulsory for landlords to evict in order for tenancies to end where the landlord rather than the tenant has given notice.

Ok, thanks again, Wowfudge. I can't talk to the tenants directly. They have somehow decided that 'legally' everything needs to go through the agents. So they have politely declined to talk to us directly before when we phoned them on a Sunday afternoon to arrange for the dishwasher engineer to go in the following week. They asked to wait and hear from the agent first thing Monday. We only called as he asked us to ask them whether Wednesday or Thursday suited them best.
So...I can insist on check out on same day and for it to be a Saturday?

Yes - you are the customer here. I am concerned your tenants aren't actually going now. When was it that they insisted everything must go through the agent?

Speak to the agents and ask whether they have actually confirmed the tenants are moving out on the last day of their tenancy. If the agents won't do the check out on the Saturday insist it is done first thing on the Monday morning and keys returned to you as soon as it is completed.

I know of no tenant buying somewhere to move to or indeed moving to another rented place who wouldn't ask whether they could stay on for a couple of days if their completion date/tenancy start date was after the end of the original tenancy. This is why it must be the agents who are holding things up. It's your house and you need them to get you the keys asap at the end of the tenancy. Can you get your friend to go into their office before then if they are not taking notice on the phone or by email? Harder to fob people off in person.

Oh, yeah, sorry, forgot about "tenant moving out on last day of fixed term". That also ends the tenancy. If tenant stays, Landlord has to go to Court. S21 notice is not a "Notice to Quit" it is a notice that the Landlord intends to start Court proceedings to legally end the proceedings.

I'd also speak to the agents pretty sharpish and ask them what's going on.

I'd have a look at the contract you signed with the agency, it may refer to whether post tenancy checks can be done at the weekend. Whilst we were in rented looking for a house, I got to know several estate agents / property managers and they generally employ weekend staff or have a skeleton staff at weekend who are not able to / employed to do tenancy check outs.

Also, it generally isn't possible to do the check when the tenant is still there - they'll want to check when absolutely everything is removed so they can check carpets / walls etc to make sure there is no damage / breakages that you can legally charge the tenant for.