Private rental tenancy advice please

[Polishitbehindthedoor]

Last year DH and I decided to drastically downsize from a private rented 3 bed semi with drive, garage, garden etc on a nice estate to a pokey 2 bed basic flat to save for a deposit to buy our own house.

From the moment we passed the referencing the landlord started being a dick. I think it's because he couldn't get the money he wanted for it and the letting agent forced his hand to drop the rent. He wasn't happy that we got it for £50 less pcm than he wanted and tried to demand that extra £50 pcm when we went to sign the tenancy agreement. The letting agent put him straight, but it was the start of bad feelings from him. In protest he removed some new bathroom fixtures and fittings that were to be fitted before we moved in, leaving us with the dirty shabby fixtures.

He has then spent the last 12 months shirking his responsibilities regarding maintenance of the flat and leaving us for months with a broken cooker and damp in the en suite causing a silverfish problem. A damp problem that the landlord himself caused by trying to do work that should have been done by a professional and ultimately bodged it up and made it worse.

He FINALLY approved the works to be carried out in the en suite (after refusing 3 quotes from various professional trades people over the course of several months) just a month before our tenancy was to renew. Work was to begin the week after we signed the new tenancy agreement.

But just an hour before we went to sign the new tenancy agreement on the renewal date in late May, the letting agent called us to say the landlord now wants to sell up and we're to look for somewhere else to live. She said we weren't required to sign a new tenancy agreement now and we'd just be on a rolling month-by-month tenancy. We weren't actually served any official notice that day.

Yesterday an official section 21 notice was slid under the door telling us we must vacate by 26th Aug as this was our official two months notice.

I've already started arranging viewings for other properties, as we obviously need to move asap. I have told the letting agent this, but she tokd me that as we're on a "fixed tenancy" we will still owe 2 months rent even if we were to vacate earlier than 26th Aug.

This surely can't be right, can it? How are we on a fixed tenancy when we were told we didn't need to sign a new agreement and it would just be a rolling tenancy?

We're the ones that have been served notice, not the other way round. It stands to reason we're not going to leave it until the very end of the notice period before we leave. It's not a risk we can take. We're going to move as soon as we can. Surely it can't be legal to serve someone notice to vacate but then say they still owe two months rent if they vacate prior to the very end of the notice?

It seems really unfair. Is there anyone here who knows the in's and out's of private renting and tenants rights? I'd really appreciate your help. Thanks

I suspect that this is correct.
BUT
If you're on a standard rolling contract, I was under the impression that the tenants only had to give 1 month notice, and the landlord 2 months, so if you were feeling confident enough, you could give in your notice now, and knock a month off at least (perhaps put most of your stuff in storage for a bit so you're not feeling pressure to move and could airbnb if push came to shove for a week or two.

If you’re on a periodic tenancy it’s usually one month notice from the tenant. Check it out online and tell them so, then leave!

God, how unfair. This is precisely why we want to buy our own home, because we're just pig sick of landlord/private renting issues. Still not in a position to buy yet though, despite £45k savings and £42k per year joint earnings

I hadn't thought of air b&b - that's quite a good idea actually. I'll have a look at what's available in my area.

Just to say if you’ve been paying your rent every month which is usually the case then it’s a month notice , if you’ve been paying weekly then it’s 4 weeks notice. Make sure you’re definitely not on a fixed term contract anymore I.e. one that has an end date. From what you say it seems you are now on a rolling monthly contract so you can leave with one months/4 weeks notice.

read the how to rent guide - if you werent given it this is one of many things that invalidates the section 21. it is on gov.uk. gas safe? epc? smoke alarms?

sec 21 is not notice to leave. it is notice of legal action if you dont. that takes months, if this is london can take a year.

if you signed nothing you on a rolling tenancy and your notice to landlord is 1 months.

crooked landlords and agents prey on ill informed tenants so get informed. please learn your rights so you can avoid future crooks.

you hold a lot of cards so you can leave this shithole in your own time.

Yes we've always paid our rent on time on the same fixed date every month. We were on a 12 month fixed term tenancy from 27th May 2017 - 2018. But as the landlord decided to not renew we're no longer on a fixed term contract, just a rolling tenancy. So I'm confused why the letting agent has said we're still on a fixed term tenancy and must pay up until the end of the landlords eviction notice period.

"sec 21 is not notice to leave. it is notice of legal action if you dont." "you can leave this shithole in your own time."

I did not know that! Thank you. We did get the how to rent guide, but my heads been in a bit of a muddle since yesterday and I've not yet looked at it. I'll go over it thoroughly tomorrow.

"crooked landlords and agents prey on ill informed tenants so get informed. please learn your rights so you can avoid future crooks."

You're absolutely right. I thought I was well-informed as DH and I have encountered our fair share of arsehole crook landlords. Too many! But with each one we come across a new way of them trying shaft us. We've been served with a section 21 before in a previous property and we were led to believe it was legal notice to vacate and we had an awful time trying to find somewhere else!

agent is either confused or lying.

sec 21 process from landlord side

• serve a valid form, the right form
• wait two monthsside
• if tenant does not leave (perfectly legal) apply for possession in court. all documents must be right and have proof of service or jud ge will throw it out.
• when docs right and hearing held ( can be months) possession order issued.
• if tenant still does not leave (perfectly legal) apply for bailiffs.wait .
• bailiffs arrive with plenty of warning. only then must tenant leave.
• tenant is liable for costs (about £500 plus legal fees if solicitor used) but this is almost never enforced.

i had a quick one and it was still five months from sec 21 expiry to repo. loads of time for no rent, dealing and wreckage in case you wonder why I was evicting - an immaculate property turned into a filthy shithole.

of course your next landlord may want a reference so keep evidence and photos to make it clear why you are leaving.

sorry about garbling, mn cant code.

PPs are correct. You can give one month's notice so if you served it tomorrow you could be out by 20th July.

specialsubject luckily I photographed the flat when we first moved in, then 6 months later. Plus we've had two inspections that we've always complied with and been praised for having "the cleanest property", And I'll be taking more pictures over the next few days, and again on the day we leave.

We're really good tenants, that's what annoys me most. We're dream tenants in fact. We're clean and house proud (to an almost OCD point on my part), we look after our home, we always communicate well with landlord/letting agent, we never miss our rent, we're good neighbours that cause no issues for other residents. We've always been like this. I can't understand why we keep getting landlords who don't appreciate that.

Zampa is wrong. Because you are in a rolling tenancy you can give one month's notice, but that is from the start of a rent period. Give notice between now and 26th June to be out on 26th July.

oh, for a landlord - tenant matching service that puts the skanks and dealers with the crooks and lets the normal people work together.

hope your bad run ends at this one.

"Give notice between now and 26th June to be out on 26th July."

Ah right, yes I see what you mean ThereIsNo

Toying with the idea of just buying a doer-upper cheapo wreck of a house, just to get on the property ladder and out of the rental pit. But don't want to rush in feet first as a FTB and end up regretting it. A good chunk of our deposit came from some inheritance so it has emotional value. I don't want to waste the amazing gift that was left to us by a much-loved relative.

Do you think house prices will rise, stay still or drop after brexit? (I'm in the South East)

You can serve one months notice, valid from the start or end of your next tenancy period.

So,if you serve notice before the first day of your next rental period (27th June), then you would leave 26th July.

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/ending_a_periodic_tenancy

We're on a rolling contract - statutory periodic - as our LL is going to sell at some point - hopefully to us. Anyway, we're bound by the terms and conditions of our contract, but only have to give a month's notice, whereas LL has to give us two.

I know that's what PP's Have said - just wanted to agree from a private tenants POV. Good luck with finding a house.

@ThereIsNoSuchThingAsRoadTax You're quite right. Apologies OP.

Letting agent admitted she'd got it wrong when I queried. She wrongly assumed our fixed tenancy was still current. She apologised and confirmed we only need to give one months notice from the date our rent is due. I'm frantically trying to secure somewhere so we can give notice on the 26th, the day before our rent is usually paid.

It's good to know we can legally stay longer than the end of the notice period, but I'd rather just get out asap without our names tarnished for future referencing.

Saw a house today, put in an offer, but offered less than the asking rental price. Can't afford it at the asking rental price, but it's been empty for a while apparently so keeping my fingers crossed

Thanks for your invaluable advice

look up "Shelter" website or try ringing them

Honestly, I'd say go buy a doer upper. As a FTB I appreciate you must be a little early but you have no landlord. Repeat. No landlord. I bought a shack aged 18 and thankfully have never had to rent unlike most of my peers. If you can afford to buy something, do it. Even if it needs a lot of work. Nothing worthwhile was ever easy.