Don't pay him the last months rent, which is presumably an ammount similar to the deposit.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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You should have a written tenancy agreement, presumably an assured shorthold tenancy. It will tell you what period of notice you need to give to terminate the tenancy, and it will specify that your notice should be in writing.
If you give him less than the required period of notice and he cannot rent the property out to someone else straightaway, he will be suffering a loss. If this happened and I was advising him, I would tell him to retain your deposit, and that's assuming that you leave the place in good order.
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IIRC correctly the Housing Act 1988 as amended gives the tenant one months notice to terminate an Assured Shorthold Tenancy if it expiring or is holding over (i.e. expired but you are still there paying rent etc). The Landlord has to give two months notice in teh same situation.
Just checked the internet and the landlord position is as I stated. Must give two months notice requiring possession of the property. I am 99% sure that the tenant only has to give one months notice.
Will check up and ge back to you.
BTW, if you vacant when you say you will, simply do not pay the finia month's rent.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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From the Shelter website
"If you have a periodic tenancy, you have to give one month's notice in writing (or longer if you pay your rent less often). The notice should end on the day that your rent is due. Once the notice ends your tenancy ends and you no longer have any right to live in your home."
In other words, if your tenancy has already expired and you want to vacate, and you pay your rent weekly or monthly, then you only need to give one month's notice terminating on the day the rent is due.
You can get 30 minutes free advice from a lawyer and stick it under the landlord's nose.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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If you don't have proper written lease it may well be because the landlord is operating unofficially and doesn't want any awkward paper work around. It would be interesting to know if the tax office are aware of this.
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Thanks for the replies - I have realised that my tenancy agreement has run out, so I believe I am now under a "statutory periodic tenancy". My rent is payed monthly, but the landlord has two months deposit from me. I don't want to miss any rent payments as I think this could weaken my position.
I will try to talk to the guy calmly and hope he sees sense.
In every other way the landlord and agreemnet are above board. No problems with any other aspects, which is why I was a bit shocked at the heavy-handed routine when I gave (reasonable?) notice.
Thanks again - this place is the last word in advice ;o)
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Well, that didn't go too well!! :o(
The landlord insists that I owe two months rent. I tried to explain my case calmly but just got bluster back from him.
He says I will be hearing from his solicitors - surely THEY will have heard of statutory periodic tenancy??
I did cancel my rent for next month, as I thought it should be taken from the deposit - the reason I did this was his attitude towards me.
He now says that the two months deposit was purely for repairs after I had left - this he told to me in the lounge, where I pointed out that the house was in very good order and I had not so much as put a nail into a wall!!
I am understandably more than a little worried now. Is there any part of law I should be quoting to him? I am afraid I do not understand legalese - and I presume his solicitors will...
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>>The notice should end on the day that your rent is due.
So... does that mean that: if you pay your rent on the 15th of the month, the earliest you can give notice for is for one month ending on 15th January, given on or before 15th December - so effectively nearly two months' notice.
If you pay your rent on 24th of the month, you can give notice for 24th December on 24th November.
On the other hand. Landlords have very very little power to evict tenants (a very drawn out process) so you have to sympathise with landlords. Some tenants faced with your situation would simply not pay any rent the next time rent is due. They would then live for one month in the property, until their deposit was 'used up'. Then they would leave. Tenants often do this when they think that the landlord is unlikely to refund them their deposit.
For the sake of one month's rent, it is not worth the landlord pursuing you through the courts.
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When tenants have paid their landlords two months' rent by way of deposit, they don't pay any rent for the last two months.
It's a shocking way to treat a landlord.
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>>It's a shocking way to treat a landlord.>>
That's a very sweeping statement.
It would not apply to every tenant of every rented property.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>>>It's a shocking way to treat a landlord.>>
>That's a very sweeping statement. It would not apply to every
>tenant of every rented property.
Well I could scarcely be suggesting to OP that he behaved that way towards his LL, could I. I merely wished to open his eyes to what might go on in the real world...
Talk to the 'tenancy relations' department of the council. Or CAB.
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>>>It's a shocking way to treat a landlord.>> >That's a very sweeping statement. It would not apply to every >tenant of every rented property. Well I could scarcely be suggesting to OP that he behaved that way towards his LL, could I. I merely wished to open his eyes to what might go on in the real world... Talk to the 'tenancy relations' department of the council. Or CAB.
>>
I live in the real world, trust me :o)
But I also try to respect contracts and agreements. I try to keep my behaviour reasonable at all times, even if some others do not.
The upshot is that he has now come back and admitted that I was 100% right - although he was not man enough to apologise I'm afraid. Still, if I recover my deposit I will buy myself a beer on his behalf ;o) I stuck to my guns partly due to the encouragement I received on here, so thank you - although my deposit will not stretch to buying you all a beer!
Unfortunately, in the real world it is true that by definition 50% of people are 'below average' and that applies to landlords too.
Ho hum. Off to Amsterdam with a smile on my face at least.
Thanks again
HV
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having just read a short assured lease ,the standard terms are 2 months notice from either party to the other,a short term lease does not run out of time and you must give reasonable access to prospective new tenants/landlord with a veiw to him reletting.landlord is entitled to keep deposit and recover any costs if the lease is broken.usually anything outwith lease needs a lot of goodwill as its easier and less costly than a court case
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You should have a written tenancy agreement, presumably an assured shorthold tenancy. It will tell you what period of notice you need to give to terminate the tenancy, and it will specify that your notice should be in writing. If you give him less than the required period of notice and he cannot rent the property out to someone else straightaway, he will be suffering a loss. If this happened and I was advising him, I would tell him to retain your deposit, and that's assuming that you leave the place in good order.
Well, I did have a written agreement until August. The original agreement did not mention any notice period, although the copy that the landlord had today was updated (!?) to show 2 months. A rent review was sent through in August, but this did not mention a notice period, just a review of the rent amount.
Would these facts change your advice I wonder? My feeling is that my landlord would be commiting some kind of offence if he kept my deposit.
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A standard Assured Shorthold tenancy is usually 2 months for the landlord to give the tenant, but only 1 month for the tenant to give the landlord.
So Landlord must give you 2 months but you only need to give the landlord 1 month.
I rent out property and this clause is on the standard tenancy agreement drafted by the Guild of Residential Landlords.
The only difference would be if you are still within your initial 6 month period. Normally you cannot terminate the tenancy within this period.
If there is no mention of the notice period on the tenancy agreement you've signed then it then I would think that it would default to the 1 month period.
For confirmation of this speak to your local council. They'll have a department to advise people of this. Some will act for the tenant FOC if they feel they have a case.
Good luck!
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Thanks Hugo :o)
I am pretty sure I am on strong ground, but the relationship with my landlord is somewhat strained now, and he has my money :o(
I will try the council, as you suggest, and hope that his solicitor will explain the technicalities to him.
My landlord does not own the property - it is owned by a trust with a few others - but his full time job is property related so you would expect him to know some of the basics.
I just want any monies owed to me with no fuss so fingers crossed that he sleeps on it tonight and reconsiders.
Cheers
HV
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Well, I did have a written agreement until August. The original agreement did not mention any notice period, although the copy that the landlord had today was updated (!?) to show 2 months. A rent review was sent through in August, but this did not mention a notice period, just a review of the rent amount. Would these facts change your advice I wonder? My feeling is that my landlord would be commiting some kind of offence if he kept my deposit.
Err what do you mean updated? You cannot update a lease without both of you agreeing to it. If you did not sign a revised document or term of the lease, the landlord cannot hold you to it.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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I agree E III :o) The landlord showed me his standard contract which *now* contains a clause regarding 2 months notice. He didn't seem to understand that contracts can not be "updated" by either party without both agreeing.
I phoned the estate agents this morning (they took my deposit) and they at first towed the line about two months notice. I think the penny may have dropped eventually as they suddenly became very friendly and said they would speak to the landlord on my behalf.
Another question - my receipt for the deposit is from the estate agent, on their headed paper. They are saying that all deposit issues should be taken up with the landlord - is this correct? I have lost all faith in the landlord now, and he has shown himself to be pretty unreasonable. I am worried that even if he agrees that I only owe one months money, he might try to find ways to keep hold of the rest of the money.
What is the situation here - can the estate agents wash their hands of the whole thing?
Thanks again
HV
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HV
The usual procedure of the deposit being given to the estate agent means that this covers their fees. It is very rare any of the money is passed on to the landlord.
The advice you have been given so far has been very accurate. It is common for the last month's rent failing to be paid as frequently the deposit is never returned. Personally I doubt if you will see anything back as the landlord will state that something needs attention due to lack of care or cleaning (the oven is the favourite).
My wife has rented a flat out for years and as a landlord she has been very fair, usually returning most if not all of the deposit. But due to some of the problems experienced with the current occupier (leaving shortly) I am advising her that the deposit should be increased from 6 weeks rent. Due to the number of people failing to pay the last month's rent and leaving the property in a dirty and tatty condition we have been left out of pocket, so we are having to change our position regarding the deposit, or the low rent will be increased to compensate.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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If the estate agent took your deposit, then I suspect that they have been acting as the landlord's agent.
If this is the case, then you don't need to deal directly with your landlord - or at least you shouldn't have to.
The agent should be your point of contact, inlcuding your point for return of the deposit.
H
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