When to give notice on rental property?

[Hopepark]

Hello
We are currently in a rental property, having sold our previous house to put ourselves in a position to be chain free buyers.
We had to take out a 12 month contract on the rental and have just found a house to buy and our offer has been accepted.

Does anyone have any advice regarding when we should give notice that we will want to be moving out of the rental?

I’m anticipating that we will be about 7 months into our contract by the time we want to move out. We really need a chance to get another tenant lined up so that we aren’t liable to pay out for the rest of the contract. I know that there will be some fees to pay if we leave early but this is nominal compared to the outstanding rent. The rental is lovely and in a popular area so I’m hoping that there won’t be an issue finding a new tenant, I just don't know how much notice we need to give to facilitate this without risking being homeless if the new house doesn't work out!
Thanks!

It is so tricky. When I moved years ago I forewarned my landlord I was looking and would give as much notice as I could. I could only give 2 weeks because I was nervous before we exchanged.

With this apartment I think we will have s rolling contract so it will be a months notice once I've bought our new home.

I dont understand why you have to find a new tenant?

I would ask the letting agent's advice on how long it will take to relet the property. They will probably want a firm move out date before they start marketing the property though.

They don't have to find a new tenant, @user1471538283 but unless there is a break clause, OP can't end the contract before the end of the fixed term without being liable for the landlord's losses up until the end of the fixed term. It's to her advantage that a new tenant moves in ASAP minimising the landlord's losses (and what she is liable for).

Don't give notice until you've exchanged contracts. You could give notice, and find yourselves homeless if exchange / completion is delayed.

As others have suggested, you are legally liable for the rent until the end of the contract even if you move out early. The landlord may let you off some rent if he re-lets the property, but he doesn't have to.

@Africa2go

Don't give notice until you've exchanged contracts. You could give notice, and find yourselves homeless if exchange / completion is delayed.

As others have suggested, you are legally liable for the rent until the end of the contract even if you move out early. The landlord may let you off some rent if he re-lets the property, but he doesn't have to.

It would seem quite unreasonable to hold us to the rent for the full 12 months if there was another tenant in paying rent - is that possible?

You might well find that if you wait until you exchange, you are close to the 12 months anyway. We had an offer accepted beginning of July, will complete beginning of November. Personally I wouldn't give notice until you have exchanged - anything can happen. Moving will be much easier as well if you aren't in a rush to leave.

Carefully check your contract. I’m not in the UK, but most rental contracts here specifically state that the tenant is liable for the rent if they break a 12-month lease.

But, if you have a good relationship with your landlord, it may all work out. One of my neighbour’s is a landlord and they recently had a similar situation-the moving tenant actually found a sub-tenant themselves to take over the lease for the final two months. The sub-tenant likes the property so they’ve now signed a new lease with the landlord. Good luck and congrats on your new home!

Sorry I wasnt clear. If he re-lets it then you don't have to pay rent going forward, I just meant in the interim. You'd still be liable for rent until new people move in unless the landlard agrees, after you move out and usually the costs of reletting (referencing etc) and there's no obligation to find someone quickly or to match your timescales.

We actually found it really useful to keep on our rented property for a month when we bought, meant we could do work on the new house / move gradually, no pressure to do it all in a day.

@Africa2go. That’s a good point. We had three weeks left on our flat when we moved and it was nice not having to move everything out quickly!

Please don't do it too early. We lost buyers on our house because they gave notice on a 12 month rental too early - their LL found new tenants so let them off the last 5 months of the contract. Our onward purchase then fell through to due to issues with the property (our searches hadn't even come back when buyers gave notice ). Despite the fact we found a new house to buy very soon afterwards, our buyers couldn't find another rental for less than 12 months so pulled out

Talk to the estate agent for the house you are buying and get their thoughts.

Be extremely careful that you don't accidentally make yourself homeless. Chains often collapse. I personally would wait until I had exchanged before giving notice, yes you lose money but the alternative is horrible to contemplate.