Notice on rental property.

[SayrraT]

I've also posted this in Property and DIY but since we are in Scotland thought that Scotsnet might be a good place to post too.

OH and I have just bought our first house (hopefully all going well, we've got a meeting at the bank today) and need to give notice on our rented flat. I know that I have seen posts here which say that the LL needs to give the tenant two months notice but that the tenant just needs to give one month notice to the LL.

We are on a rolling contract, the initial term of the lease ended on 3/3/2012 and the wording in the contract says:

"If no notice is given ending this lease on the date which the initial term ends, this lease will continue from month to month until terminated at a rent payment date by either the landlord or the tenant giving the other at least two months written notice before the rent payment date on which the landlord or tenant wishes this lease to terminate."

but I know that things which are written in contracts are not always correct. Does anyone know if I do need to give the two months notice?

The thing is I am wary of giving notice too early in case things go wrong and the sale falls through, we also wanted to have a month or so with both properties as the house we are buying needs a bit of work done. We wanted to do that before we moved in. In an ideal world we'd give notice (one month I thought) once we received the keys then the lease would end one month later in December. If we have to give two months notice then it wouldn't be until January....unless I give notice this month.

I'm pretty sure it's one month from the tenant, though I had a previous LL demand three months! Yeah, that didn't happen.

It is what the contract says, which is two months. The contract is the basis of your agreement, which must be drafted in line with the law.

Ah Scotland, might be different from England. They're more renter friendly :)

Messystressy is correct. While "general" law may be one month for tenant, your contract has added the two month notice period

Thanks everyone, messy the reason I was asking is because I've seen several times on mumsnet that things in contracts aren't always correct.

For example I am sure that I've seen people say that the clause in contracts which say the LL can gain access if they give 24 hours notice is not correct and that they are not allowed to do this. So I wasn't sure if the notice thing was the same as someone on my thread in Property/DIY says that in England that once on a rolling contract the notice period is 1 month regardless of what the contract says.

I'll have to have a wee think about whether I want to give notice this payment date (October) or if I wait until we've actually got the keys and give notice next payment date (November).

It's what the contract says. Your lease was initially for a fixed period (I'm guessing 6 months) to 03/03/12. It has continued and each needs to give at least 2 months notice before the 3rd day of a month.

Tomorrow is 20 September. If either you or the landlord serve a notice tomorrow the earliest date it will end is 3rd December. That will be the case for any notice served on or before 2nd October. If it's later than 2nd October the next effective date is 3rd January 2016.

The notice period is not one month. It is what it says in the lease.

There are statutory minimum periods which are quite complicated as they are a combination of 2 statutes. If a lease is silent or if the lease purports to allow the landlord to give less than the statutory minimum period of notice the statutory periods apply. As a very rough rule if the lease is silent the period is 40 day's notice.

Thanks Lass we've decided that we will just have to wait until we get the keys then give notice so therefore the tenancy will end in January.

I did just want to double check as I've definitely seen on other threads that not everything in tenancy agreements/leases is correct or enforceable. I'd rather have the flat an extra month than have things go wrong and have nowhere to live!!