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Original poster

Any tips on timing, when giving your landlord notice due to buying?

27 replies

Treemium · 30/04/2022 18:00

We are moving from rented to buying our own place.

We need to give notice to our landlord but I don't want there to be 3-4 weeks of overlap!

What's the best way to navigate this successfully?

Do you think a flexible landlord would be happy to extend our tenancy on a weekly basis if completion takes longer than expected (and we had already given notice)?

All tips gratefully received!

OP posts:
MalbecandToast · 30/04/2022 18:09

What date have you agreed completion for? It will be hard written into the contracts for exchange so choose a date that is the a few days before a rental date and give notice a dull payment- month in advance of this. I.e if you pay on 20th, agree completion for 17th of a month - give 1 months notice for rental - complete on 17th - have 3 days to empty and clean rental before you have to give the keys back. You really don't want to have to do it all in 1 day!!!

Fupoffyagrasshole · 30/04/2022 18:17

We had to give a months notice - we were wary as I know These things can fall through last minute

we had a lovely letting agent and landlord so we were honest with them about what was happening and they were happy for us to give the months notice and they actually said we could change it or delay the move date if we needed !! They were very relaxed about it all actually

in the end we actually purposely left a 2 week overlap as I was due a baby and I needed the Security of knowing which house I was taking the baby home to and it was worth every penny tbh to have some extra time to move and pack and all

jackstini · 30/04/2022 20:40

I'm a landlord and would be fine with being flexible, especially as it would probably give us more notice

If you would be ok with new tenant viewings (not that you have to be) your landlord is more likely to agree to a week's notice when you get a completion date (after the original notice of at least a month)

LittleRedYoshi · 30/04/2022 20:47

Ideally you want the time between exchange and completion to be similar to your rental notice period; and to exchange shortly before the date your rent is due. Very risky to give notice before you've exchanged (far from uncommon for things to fall through even at that point), but the time between exchange and completion is generally shorter than rental notice periods.

Of course, how practical that is depends on the rest of your chain - the timescales need to work for everyone. If the three options available to you are upsetting the chain to the point of jeopardising it, giving notice before you've exchanged, or having several weeks of overlap; you may find that overlap is actually the best option.

A580Hojas · 30/04/2022 20:52

You need to give one calendar month notice in most ASTs. Make it a condition of your participation in the chain that you need a month between exchange of contracts and completion. This is not unusual, so should be accepted without quibbles.

ImInStealthMode · 30/04/2022 20:54

As someone who did the same thing, if you can afford it I would plan to overlap. It is 1000x easier to move out of one place at leisure, instead of all in a day or two, and for the cost of a months rent the stress you'll avoid if anything goes wrong with the sale will be worth it 10 times over.

Wombat98 · 30/04/2022 21:06

I'm a landlord & I really like it when people tell us in advance. I have a 2-month break clause written into the tenancy agreement for this reason. It gets tricky extending a tenancy sometimes (if a new tenant is coming in, eg), so best to leave an overlap.

Moving in a day is a nightmare, so it will help to have some flexibility.

Echobelly · 30/04/2022 21:10

If possible I'd give notice on exhange - it means overlapping, but sooo many people find they aren't ready to move when they thought. Including us, but luckily the LL extended for about 4 weeks; he was running out of patience though when the exchange date finally came through. In the end we completed 2 weeks before our wedding but for a week or two it was starting to look like we'd be living at my parents' house on our wedding day with all our stuff in storage!

Original poster
Treemium · 30/04/2022 23:10

Thanks for your comments. The gap between exchange and completion is around a week (I’ve been told). The problem is that, depending on where we are in the month, we would be liable for rent for up to one month and 29 days. This is because you don’t just give one calendar month’s notice but in fact you have to give notice of one full rental period.

For example, let’s say the rental contract rolls on a monthly basis, starting on the 20th of the month.

Exchange happens on the 21st June and I give notice that day. It means I have to pay rent until 19th August! The rental house would be sitting empty for around seven weeks and I would be paying double rent/mortgage for that time!

The landlord is nice but the estate agent who manages the property is awful.

OP posts:
dubyalass · 01/05/2022 00:04

I will be giving notice on exchange, but I will give my landlord the heads up in advance should I ever get an offer accepted - they and the letting agent have been great so I don't want to leave them in the lurch. That said, they could rent this place out tomorrow if needed, the rental market down here is ridiculous.

Yarnasaurus · 01/05/2022 00:15

You can request a longer gap between exchange and completion.

I definitely wouldn't hand in notice until I'd exchanged.

lakeswimmer · 01/05/2022 00:30

Do you need to get anything done to the house you're moving into? If so, and you can afford it, then some overlap could be useful. It's far easier sanding floor boards/laying carpets/decorating when your furniture is still in the old house and you don't have to move it out of the way.

3monkeybars · 01/05/2022 05:58

We had a 3.5 week gap between our last exchange and completion. Not what I wanted, but our vendor had a particular move out date in mind aligning with the end of the Easter hols, so we agreed.

LaWench · 01/05/2022 06:04

OP, you get to agree the purchase dates so push for a date that works for you and definitely write in some overlap of a week or two for moving. Doing it in a day is so stressful and cleaning your old place top to bottom to hand back the keys will be horrendous.

SonicWomb · 01/05/2022 06:13

I’m a LL and no I wouldn’t give you flexibility on a week by week basis. I’d need to let the house out again so effectively you’re asking the next tenants to mess their move dates around to suit you - not the LL. Either that or you’re expecting the LL to foot the bill for having house unoccupied whilst waiting for new tenants after you leave so that you don’t have to pay anymore.

I would however (and have done) gladly allow another tenant to move in before your contract ends, thereby meaning you only have to pay the difference between the date they move in and the day you move out. But the property I own tends to let very fast so it’s rarely more than a week.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 01/05/2022 06:17

Remember that you don't pay the first month mortgage like you would do if you moved into a new rental so the overlapping time won't cause you to pay twice in the same month. In your scenario you'd pay rent on the 19th July but pay your first mortgage payment a month AFTER you complete so if you completed mid July it would be due mid august.

AnotherEmma · 01/05/2022 06:28

LittleRedYoshi · 30/04/2022 20:47

Ideally you want the time between exchange and completion to be similar to your rental notice period; and to exchange shortly before the date your rent is due. Very risky to give notice before you've exchanged (far from uncommon for things to fall through even at that point), but the time between exchange and completion is generally shorter than rental notice periods.

Of course, how practical that is depends on the rest of your chain - the timescales need to work for everyone. If the three options available to you are upsetting the chain to the point of jeopardising it, giving notice before you've exchanged, or having several weeks of overlap; you may find that overlap is actually the best option.

This

Talia99 · 01/05/2022 08:01

When I did this I arranged for exchange close to the end of a rental period and three weeks between exchange and completion. It meant the overlap was one week and I took 3 or 4 days of that moving.

Original poster
Treemium · 01/05/2022 09:42

This is so helpful, thanks all! At what point in the process should you start talking about exchange? Do you have to wait until the searches are back or can these things be done concurrently?

OP posts:
GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 01/05/2022 09:48

You decide the gap between exchange and completion OP. Or at least, it's ageeed between you and the seller. It's not just a standard 'one week, like it or lump it' situation.

When we moved from rented to owned we were moving ourselves so we said it had to be exchange just before the beginning of a month, so we could give notice of one rental period to LL, then completion we asked to be 2 weeks before tenancy ended so we could clean new house, do a bit of slapping white paint around (it was a bit of a state) het all our stuff in there and clean the rented house once it was empty.

No way was I giving notice before we had exchanged, incase it all fell through!

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 01/05/2022 09:50

Oh, and it was one of the first things I said to our solicitor - then reminded them later on.

They draw up the paperwork quite far in advance of the actual exchange, in conjunction with the sellers solicitors, and then just hold onto it until the day when they swap.

Scottishgirl85 · 01/05/2022 09:53

Definitely don't give notice before exchange as the purchase can fall through even a day before exchange. Been there, done that, got the tshirt...

fourofwands · 01/05/2022 11:52

We're renting and hoping to exchange this month, searches and enquiries are back so if the solicitor is happy she said it's probably a couple of weeks away. No chain either side so will go for the minimum between exchange and completion which I believe is a week with a mortgage.

Our rent runs with the calendar month so we could end up with 4-5 weeks of overlap. But bear in mind rent is paid in advance and mortgage in arrears, so there shouldn't be much financial overlap at all if any. Seeing the overlap as a real luxury - our plan is to clean the new house first and we want the loft hatch made bigger, we need white goods ordered and delivered, then do the actual move, then should have a week or 2 with our rental empty to clean and make good. We've been here many years so there's a bit of wear and tear to try and patch up, want to make sure we get the full deposit back, that will more than cover any financial overlap.

fourofwands · 01/05/2022 11:56

Meant to say we definitely will not be giving notice until exchange.

AnotherEmma · 01/05/2022 13:28

Treemium · 01/05/2022 09:42

This is so helpful, thanks all! At what point in the process should you start talking about exchange? Do you have to wait until the searches are back or can these things be done concurrently?

You don't exchange until the searches are back and everything else is done - that's the whole point, you want to check everything before you legally commit to buying the property. The process between having your offer accepted and exchanging contracts can be painfully slow!