Need some advice re: Assured Shorthold Tenancy

[Holdred]

Hi,

 

I'm coming to the end of an Assurted Shorthold Tenancy that lasted six months, and I've given notice to my landlord that I will not be renewing my contract and I will be vacating the property at the end of the period.

 

The contract was signed in June and states it is for a fixed period of six months, although no end date has been stated in the contract. In the contract, there is no provision for the requirement of written notice to be required.

 

The letting agency have said that under the Housing Act of 1988 that I am required to give 30 days notice and as such, I will be liable for rent until the 30th day of notice. The notice was only given today in writing.

 

The letting agent has informed me that an AST automatically is a rolling tenancy to protect the landlord from having empty rooms in the property and losing out on money.

 

Since I'm not staying beyond the fixed term then why should I be liable for rent? I'm moving out on the date I've told them as I've arranged with my new landlord to move in and paid what's required to move in.

 

I was expecting that come the date of the end of the fixed term that I would be able to move out and not cause a problem. It is a shared house but individual contracts, ie no joint and several terms included in mine. Why is it my problem if the Landlord is losing money for having an empty room?

 

The notice I will have given will be ten days.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[flyingdoc]

If you move out on or before the last day of the tenancy then you have to give no notice - you have a fixed term contract which has ended.

 

If you stay for 1 day longer then you have to give notice to the end of that rent period as it becomes a statutory periodic tenancy

[Holdred]

Is there any reason why the Housing Act 1988 is being used instead of the Housing Act 2004?

[Planner]

There are various Housing Acts that are relevant to ASTs, 2004 just happens to be the latest one. A new act doesnt necessarily supersede previous acts.

 

Housing Act 1988 is correct, this deals with, amongst other things, statutory periodic tenancies. Housing Act 2004, amongst other things, deals with Tenancy Deposit Schemes, but doesnt 'update' the 1988 act in terms of periodic tenancies etc.

 

The rest of what your agents have told you may or may not be correct. Its odd that the tenancy doesnt have an end date written but you can work this out yourself. The end date will be 6 months after the date the agreement began. If you go over that date by even 1 day, then as your agents have stated, a periodic (month on month) tenancy will begin. You are required to give one full calander month notice to end the tenancy, finishing on the same date of the month that the fixed term finished.

[Holdred]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up.

 

The start date was the 21st June and runs for six months, so that would take the end of the fixed term to the 21st December? I've worked on this as six instances of the 21st day in the following months, rather than 182.5 days which I assume is the correct way to do this? By doing this I informed in my notice that vacating the property over the weekend directly before the 21st.

 

That's correct?

[flyingdoc]

I would say that if it began on the 21st then the last day of tenancy is the 20th not the 21st.

[Holdred]

That date is fine for me to be out of the property on, although the Letting Agent only open half a day in the morning. It's unlikely I could move everything out of the house and be back in town to give them the keys by the time they close. Does that have an impact on things?

[flyingdoc]

I would tell them that you will be out by the end of 20th and that you will post keys through the door in an envelope.

 

as long as you are clear of the property before midnight 20th you have not overstayed.