UK Landlord Forum / Life

When the tenant gives notice to a landlord can it be in the middle of the month if your periodic tenancy agreement runs from the 1st of every month.?

It really is mad that we as landlords have to give them soooooo much notice and they can still only give 28days.

Please can someone clear up if they can just do the 28 days as they want too?

Cheers

It is usual to give notice to coincide with the day rent is paid.Otherwise it gets complicated with the tenant having to pay a different amount,or the landlord having to refund the overpayment.It is not a legal requirement however. Pre-Covid notice for tenants is 2 months,which is not much when you consider people have to find a new home,get the necessary cash together and make the removal arrangements.I agree though that it should be 2 months for both parties. If you mean can they move out sooner than 2 months,then if that suits all concerned then of course they can. 

That's what I thought that it was usual to give the notice to coincide with the rental date which for me is the 1st of the month.
So yes having them give me notice today to move out on the 6th Oct is a bit of a nightmare for me.

I thought that the notice period for tenants to give landlords has always been 1 month and that has never changed.
Its only us landlords that have been messed about with three months then six months now 4 months.
Thanks

It's called a Society.

Sorry. But apparently the broadest shoulders can take the most strain.

You must have terribly broad shoulders... in a good kind of manly way that we all admire.  Like a swimmer...

P.S. - I don't remember it ever being 1 month from Landlord to Tenant but, then, I'm only young.

Quote from: Hippogriff on September 09, 2021, 06:19:22 PM
It's called a Society.

Sorry. But apparently the broadest shoulders can take the most strain.

You must have terribly broad shoulders... in a good kind of manly way that we all admire.  Like a swimmer...

P.S. - I don't remember it ever being 1 month from Landlord to Tenant but, then, I'm only young.

Im not talking about landlord to tenant.
Iam talking about tenant to landlord.

its always been a month?
but can they just give you any date?

Ideally they should give you one full month,so you could expect them to pay for the extra few days.Yes,tenants have only ever needed to give a month. You need to speak to them and get this clarified. Your energies should be on getting it on the market and arranging viewings if the tenants agree.

(Generally for residential tenancy where the landlord is not a resident, in England and Wales, exceptions apply etc. etc.)

Under common law, a notice to quit for a periodic tenancy must be of at least one complete period of the tenancy (where period is less than yearly) to be calculated from the date of service to date of expiry (including one but not the other), ending on the last day or the first day of a period of tenancy. The tenancy ends on midnight at the end of the last day of the period / start of the first day of the next period. That applies to both landlord and tenant. In the case of landlord's notice to quit, it must includes information prescribed under The Notices to Quit etc. (Prescribed Information) Regulations 1988. As required by the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, a notice to quit must be at least four weeks long and be in writing. The landlord and tenant may agree expressly to a different length notice to quit for a contractual periodic tenancy.

Where the tenancy is assured, a landlord's notice to quit has no effect. The periodic tenancy may only be ended unilaterally by the landlord through obtaining a court order and then execution of that order.

A period of the tenancy generally coincide with rental payment but not always. The periods of a statutory periodic tenancy is determined by how often rent was last payable when the fixed term tenancy ended. Any terms related to how the tenancy may be determined does not get carried over to a assured (shorthold) SPT, which means any terms changing the length of a notice to quit has no effect in SPT.

QuoteIt really is mad that we as landlords have to give them soooooo much notice and they can still only give 28days.

Tenants have had some form of security of tenure since around World War I about 100 years ago. I guess we can go back to Rent Act tenancy era where landlord cannot evict tenant unless basically the tenant stop paying rent? 

EDIT'd to include rather important missing bit. Doh

Quote from: paulaa on September 09, 2021, 06:40:10 PMbut can they just give you any date?

No. I have a NOTICES section in my AST that outlines what I expect.. .based on what everyone expects, I think... effectively "at least one month, ending on the day before a rent payment day"... things like 28 days or such shouldn't come into it. Whenever a tenancy moves to SPT I always remind my Tenants of what everyone should expect in relation to notice... this usually has the effect of them being happy as they see it's in their favour.

Hi there.
thanks for your updates and information.
Yes that was what I thought were the rough guidelines.

So my tenants pays on the 1st of every month and has been in the property for 2 and a half years and sent an email last night saying they are leaving on the 6th October.
So 28 days just.. but not a proper month of the period of pay.

Again, what's 28 days got to do with it?

I think what you've obtained clarity on is... assuming the rent period matches payment (in your case they pay n the first and the rent period runs from the first to the last day of the month) then you should be expecting their notice to be formed like:

Notice served on 9 Sep 2021. Notice period "at least one month and ending on a rent boundary"... so they should've served notice of "at least one month" (9 Sep 2021) but missed the next rent boundary (1 Oct 2021) so should run through until the next (1 Nov 2021, but actually the last day of October, right?).

If they stop being liable on the 6 Oct 2021 they don't meet either of the requirements for notice from Tenant to Landlord. It's not greater than one month and it's not tied to a rent boundary date.

You've mentioned 28 days repeatedly, like it's important... but it's not relevant here.

Of course - a Tenant can physically leave whenever they want... what you're interested in is when their liabilities end. Ofttimes it's not a bad idea to demonstrate some flexibility but don't bend over backwards if it puts you out... I dunno if they've been good Tenants, but a bit of give-and-take at the end of a business relationship is never a bad thing.

As a landlord, you can always accept a short notice from the tenant (if there are joint tenant, assuming all consent), in which case the notice will become binding on both landlord and tenant.

Thank you everyone for your comments and help.
I have come to an agreement with the tenant now. I just don't have the energy to kind of fight them to hold them to the proper notice.
They have been good tenants but I do think they will not be cleaning it too much before they go. Which seems to be such a hard thing to fight with the DPS and there deposit. 

Ok.You have presumably agreed that they will pay the extra days after 1st October payment? This is the time when I send  a courteous email/letter explaining that in order for the deposit to be returned in full,the property must be left in the same state as when they moved in,allowing for reasonable wear and tear. Make it clear that any additional cleaning or repairs of damage will be deducted. I have little experience of DPS disputes,but I don't think it is too difficult. Reading between the lines, it might be  time to take a little break from being a landlord if that is possible.