Tenants rights after giving notice

[Kentlassie]

We are accidental landlords. Rent is £150 below market rate and I think (hope) we’ve been good, fair landlords. We now need to use the property. DH is working in the same town and having to do a 6 hour round trip twice a week and stays in a hotel once a week.

Tenants 12 month contact is up in a few days. Managing Agents assured us they wanted to stay and would automatically go onto a rolling monthly contract. We’ve given them 2 months (for the reasons above) but flexible as to exactly when they move. Agents have been useless throughout and DH has been liaising directly with tenants on any issues throughout the tenancy.

Spoke to tenants yesterday who are keen to move (will stay with family but trying to buy). They’ve said on issuing a S21 (which we haven’t yet), they can leave at any point in the 2 months notice, and want to leave next week at the end of their 12 month tenancy.

We’ve asked the agents to check if this is correct and they don’t know. Apart from trying to get the management fee back because they are utterly useless, does anyone know if this is correct? DH has paid for other accommodation that is non refundable until mid March, so we’d ideally want them to stay until then (in effect giving a month’s notice of wanting to move).

want to leave next week at the end of their 12 month tenancy.

Unless their tenancy agreement specifies they need to give notice, they don't need to give notice to move out at the end of the fixed term tenancy agreement.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/ending-your-tenancy/ending-your-tenancy/#:~:text=You%20don't%20need%20to,or%20your%20deposit%20back%20quicker.

Thanks @LastOfTheChristmasWine , I was just googling and hadn’t found this yet. I think the issue is with the agents, who assured us they would move onto a one month rolling contract as they hadn’t given notice.

Anyway, thanks for your help. We can now have a more informed conversation with the agents (and tenants) on Monday.

And….I will check the terms of the tenancy agreement. It was all done by the managing agents so I’m not sure.

My previous experience of rolling tenancy is one month notice period for tenants and two for landlords.
In the absence of a written contract, I think that the tenants would only need to give and pay for one months notice.

I understand its invonvienent for you but they are losing their home a few months lost rent in comparison is something you need to suck up I'm afraid

You would have had more of a challenge if they had refused to leave

It would have moved on to a periodic (rolling) tenancy if they had stayed, that much is true.

It's not the first time I've heard of letting agents who are woefully unaware that tenants don't need to give notice when they move out at the end of the fixed term of the tenancy. Plenty of letting agents are totally incompetent.

You can't expect tenants to move at a moment completely convenient to you, rather as you don't get to dictate completion dates in a chain. A short void is vastly preferable to tenants who won't leave at all.

@Ridingfree they want to leave so it works out for both parties. It’s not inconvenient for us, it will be a big financial hit to be paying for DH’s accommodation whilst not getting the rent. But agree, this is the less bad situation and much better that they leave on good terms than needing to go through the courts.

You can't give them two months' notice ( was this on or after the ten month point?) and then be "flexible". Either they have reached the end of notice or not. You could negotiate if it suits them to leave sooner.

@LastOfTheChristmasWine agree, would have liked more than 8 days notice though :).

We’ve been intending to sack the agents for months. One upside of this is not having to pay them any more for being useless!

@LIZS we gave the 2 months’ notice yesterday. They want to leave next Friday. We thought they might want to stay for longer to find somewhere else, in which case we were happy to try to find something that worked.

I've been a LL (not accidental!) For years, I'd say if they've been good tenants then don't hold them to 1 month's notice (this will be in their AST, same terms as rolling contract will be) and let them leave when convenient for them and charge until that date.

It's better than the alternative and them not wanting to go/causing headaches! It's so disruptive having to move, I'd want to make it as stress free as possible.

If that is at the 12 month point and of their choosing then they can leave.

Thanks @RubyPip . I’m overthinking this! That is useful advice.

If you want the legal term as to why they can leave before ast ends, effluxion of time.

Google "effluxion of time tenancy" there are a few good explanations

And if losing a months rent is ‘a big financial hit’, you definitely shouldn’t be in the letting game.

Agreed.

Every landlord needs a contingency fund. Otherwise what are they going to do when the boiler suddenly breaks and needs replacing? That could easily be £2k.

Let alone what happens if you get a tenant who, for instance, is made redundant and suddenly can't pay, nor pass the affordability checks to move elsewhere.

All businesses - and I say this as someone who runs a small business and is also a live in landlord - need a contingency fund, else you're one mishap from insolvency.

Thanks for the kind words @C4tastrophe . You have no idea as to why we are landlords and the circumstances that led us here. Following the traumatic, unexpected death of our one year old child, we decided we couldn’t live there so moved elsewhere. Perhaps you might feel better knowing that, and might not need to be so rude.

Thanks to those that provided helpful advice. I won’t be returning to this thread.

There is no such thing as an accidental landlord.

Flexibility in their favour is key to getting your property back in a good condition with no hidden prawns.

The tenants are perfectly entitled to move out at the end of the Tenancy. They do not need to give notice. It only becomes a rolling contract if they stay on beyond the tenancy end date, at which point they'd have to give 1 month's notice, and you'd need to give 2.

You should have asked them about their intentions ahead of time, before committing to a rental for your husband. They would have been under no obligation to tell you, and you could not have held them to it, but most tenants are decent and, unless something unexpected came up, would vacate when they said they would.

Trying to get the agents to return the management fee is unlikely to be successful. Agents are known to be pretty useless, but the contract you will have signed will be pretty watertight.

I can think of only one circumstance in which it happens - if you inherit a property which already has tenants in and allow them to stay in their home, which is the right thing to do.

But the moment those tenants choose to move on and you find new tenants instead of putting it up for sale, you're making an active choice to be a landlord.

Fair point.

Really sorry to hear about your son, OP 💐

Your agents misinformed you - your tenants have every right to leave at the end of the 12 months fixed term and don't need to give any notice. If they stay a day after the fixed term, it THEN becomes a rolling tenancy where they need to give 1 month and you need to give 2, but prior to that, they can just move out on the last day without saying anything.