UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello everyone,


I'm in a bit of an akward situation and wouldn't mind some outside help.

My landlord recently increased my rent. I declined, ststing that I would move out but needed a short 1 month extension to the agreement to find a new flat. That request was ignored afaik and I got served a Section 21 notice.

On the phone with the letting agency, I once again let them know that I would be leaving within a month time.

Fast forward to now where I'm told that a mew tenant won't be moving in before December and that I'd have to pay for the remainder of next month.

Is this fair and legal ? It seemed to me that a notice wasn't a tenancy agreement and that I could leave earlier if I wished it. Anybody has an idea what to do in this situation ?


Thanks in advance !

It's not clear if you have left yet? I think this is a case of a landlord trying to get a seamless changeover,with no loss to himself. When you put up rents you have to be prepared to lose money if there is a void period.I would be inclined to refuse,however they could then claim against the deposit.You can challenge that,and I think you would be successful.It would delay the return of the deposit though.If someone has been a good tenant I always allow some slack if they need to stay a bit longer.In any case,they can do so anyway. 

Based on what you've said, you haven't actually served notice yet, just told them that you're going to leave soon.
The section 21 notice doesn't end the tenancy (or do anything except communicate what the landlord would like to happen and allow them to go to court).

If your fixed term is/was about to end, your let would continue on a periodic basis (exactly how would depend on the wording of the tenancy agreement).
And exactly what notice you need to give would again depend on the wording of the tenancy agreement.
But unless you give valid notice, the tenancy continues until you do and it expires, you surrender the tenancy or the landlord gets a court to end it.

On the other hand, the landlord and agent have made a problem for themselves if you haven't yet moved out, because they've re-let a property they don't seem to have in their possession.

I have not moved yet indeed. I've not served notice either, as I assumed we could find an agreement with the landlord about a moving date. It happened with another flat I lived in a couple of years ago so I figured we could do the same, but that's my bad on this one for being a bit too naïve. The only written proof I have is an email in which I stated that "I would leave at the end of the tenancy agreement and that I wished to discuss a 1 month extension". I'm not sure how much value that holds though.

I learned yesterday that the landlord hadn't been made aware of my request to leave in November. What I assume happened is that the letting agent didn't forward my wish for a common informal agreement to leave in November, and they served a Section 21 notice.

Now as you said jpkeates, I could be a pain in the *** and tell them I'm not moving after all. It'd be a good bluff as I intend fo anyway, but who knows.

Thanks for all the advice it really helps !

The agent can't do anything with the Section 21 notice without involving the landlord (because it will cost several hundred pounds to escalate it to court and the landlord will either have to appear personally or pay for a solicitor), so lets leave that aside for a bit.

Unless the landlord or tenant agree otherwise there are two choices for your notice.
If it was a fixed term that "ends", your tenancy will continue as a statutory periodic tenancy and your notice is a minimum of one month ending on the day of the month your fixed term ended (assuming you pay rent monthly).
If it had an "initial" term that continues as a contractual periodic tenancy, it's whatever the tenancy agreement says it is.

But it sounds like your best bet might be to agree the end of the tenancy with the landlord and agent if you can - because there doesn't seem any upside to them not agreeing it.

Sure, I'm not saying the landlord wasn't involved, but rather that he wasn't made aware of my request for an agreement to end the tenancy in November. At least that's what he told me on the phone. In that case it's more a matter of the letting agent not passing on the information I have him. There might be a case for a complaint regarding the agency and the agent, as it seems they didn't do their job thoroughly.

Yeah my tenancy turned into a contractual one and the agreement says two months, so this cannot be useful to me right now.