Hi guys

I wonder if anyone on these forums is clued up on Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements.

I have a situation where i've given notice on my current property and the landlord says as I gave notice on April 11th I have to pay rent until June 11th.

The law says my notice period, as rent is payable month, is 1 month from my next rent date, June 1st.

The contract states

• The Tenancy is to be an Assured Shorthold Tenancy within the meaning of the HOUSING ACT 1988 as amended by the HOUSING ACT 1996 and proceedings for possession may be made under Section 21 of that Act.
  

and also of rellevence this excerpt

• until it shall be determined by either party giving to the other not less than two months notice in writing.
  

So my question is, given that the contract pertains to be an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, does the little nugget in the contract meen I have to pay an extra £400 in rent (which i'm none too happy about!) for the remaining 11 days?

If any of you have a heads up on this, as to whether the law or the contract has precedent, i'd be grateful for your advise as I cant get to the Citizens Advise Burea before the payment is due.

Thanks

So you're saying that you might have to pay £400(a full month's rent I'm guessing) for 11 days in June? Over here if you're only staying for part of a month the landlord will normally prorate the rent based on the amount of time you'll be there for that month, so for you it would be £140 or so if I calculated that correctly. I'm not sure if there is any legal precedence but from my experiences and what I've gotten from talking to friends landlords are usually pretty easy to work with and aren't going to try to rip you off if you aren't staying somewhere the full month. Have you talked to your landlord about how much you need to pay for June?

i don't know how this applies to europe, but over here our "landlord-tenant act" dictates you have to give 60 days notice before you move... by that statement, you could have done it on april 15th ( -> june 15th) which would have met your requirements. i wouldn't be surprised if they make you pay out the whole month of june.

As far as I understand it, I have been renting for longer than I care to remember.....

I think the contract (which both parties agreed to) over rides the law on this, I have in all my years of renting, never had a situation like yours, I have always given a months notice, and paid up till that months notice runs out.

If its any help, a guy at work rents propeties out, I can ask him for his view if you like.

I don't think there's any legal right for them to charge you for a period that you're not actually living in the place, but the odds are most letting agents or landlords will try to push their luck and get all they can.

Depending on what date your rent normally goes out, you shouldn't have to pay anything over June 11th. Course if your rent usually gets taken on June 10th then it's probably not wirth trying to fight them for the single day

I've been on both sides of the fence here Becky. I've always taken it that I'm due a month's rent from the date a tenant states they want to leave, irrespective of the monthly payment date. Check your contract for any special terms applied on your particular contract in addition to the basic framework of ther STA. If the specific stipulation is that you have to pay monthly based on the time of payments schedule then I'd be surprised.

Typically, the STA states a term by which you have to give notification of leaving, typically a calender month or 4 weeks. If that is still applied then you only need to pay for the 4 weeks from date of notification, assuming the agreed time on the contract has passed! If as you say, they landlord has added the clause for a two month notification, then I am not sure how that works as you will have signed to that fact.

Here's a good place Becky...

http://england.shelter.org.uk/ ... ding_a_tenancy_or_licence

Many fixed term agreements (including some assured shorthold tenancies with private landlords) contain a 'break clause', which allows you to end the agreement before the end of the fixed term.

Quote :

Check your agreement to see if it includes a clause like this.

If it does include a break clause, it should also say how much notice you have to give and whether there are any special procedures you have to follow.
If it doesn't include a break clause then you cannot end the tenancy early unless the landlord agrees to it. If you leave anyway you can still be liable for the rent to the end of the period.

For clarity, I move in a week or so, and am hoping I only have to pay rent on this place up until June 1st as the law would suggest.

The June 11th date is when they want me to pay up until, which is £247.50 in rent, there is also near certain probability they'll grossly inflate the daily rate when calculating and add £100 administration fee, so i'm banking on it being about £400.

The contract specifies "2 months notice", the law says next rent day+1 month.

The contract also states it is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement and subject to the provisions of the law.

So really i'm just confused as to which has precedent: The contract or the law.

Quote from Becky Rose :

The contract specifies "2 months notice", the law says next rent day+1 month.

The contract also states it is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement and subject to the provisions of the law.

So really i'm just confused as to which has precedent: The contract or the law.

As per the link above, it does say unless specific additions within the STA. Sadly, this could be the 2 month stipulation

Anyone got 400 green Queens?

Yes, but I need them to to pay for the next 10 day's rent

I'd agree with StableX, you signed the contract, if thats what the contract states, its binding unfortunately.