When does my tenancy end?

[charlieparlie]

Hi,

we moved into our rented house 7th April 2017.

Our landlord requested our rent be paid on the 1st of the month so for the first month, our rent was lower as it was calculated from the 7th to the end of the month.

I handed in our notice on the 3rd of November.

the letting agent emailed me to say that our last say in the property would be the last day of this month.

I don't understand how they've worked that out.

surely, just because the landlord changed the payment dates, the end of our tenancy would still be December 6th?

I assumed our rent would be recalculated to take into consideration the extra days but the letting agent insists we need to leave by the end of the month.

our initial tenancy was for 6 months and it has not been renewed.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thank you!

[ash72]

Your actual move in date does not indicate your tenancy start date, what date does it actually say on your tenancy agreement? and what is your notice period 1 month?

[leaseholder64]

Don't fight it. They are letting you off early. They could have insisted on midnight at the end of December 31st, as notice periods get rounded up to the next rent day.

(Landlords are advised never to have a rental period that doesn't align with the start of the tenancy.)

[leaseholder64]

I'm assuming this is a statutory periodic tenancy, following a six month fixed one. However, the OP really needs to complete the details in the sticky posting.

[charlieparlie]

Apologies, I have attached the relevant information.


Q1 – Where is the rented property located (England / Wales / Scotland / N Ireland)?

England

Q2 – What type of Tenancy Agreement (TA) is this e.g. sole tenant / multiple tenant / room only?

Multiple tenant? As in my partner and I and our 2 young sons.

Q3 – What date did current TA start dd/mm/yy?

7/04/2017

Q4 – How long was initial fixed term (6/12/24 months / other)?

6 months

Q5 – Does the TA state that rent is due weekly? / 4-weekly? / per calendar month (if so, on what same date each month)?

1st of the month

Q6 – Did the TA require a tenant damage deposit to be paid? If so, on what date was this paid (dd/mm/yy)?

yes, it was paid April 3rd but wasn't processed until May 15th.

Q7 – If your query relates to a notice for repossession from the landlord (a Section 8 or Section 21 notice) or a tenants's notice to quit to the landlord, please provide the exact date the notice was sent/received (dd/mm/yy).

notice to quit sent November 3rd.

Q8 – Does the landlord live in the same property as the tenant?

no

[charlieparlie]

I don't feel as though being let off early benefits us. Our new tenancy starts 30th November and we intended to use the extra days to come back and clean and paint etc.

[MdeB]

What date to end the tenancy was stated in your notice to quit?

It seems to me that your fixed term ended on the 6th of the month and a monthly spt then arose starting 7th of the month; the rent payment date does not appear (to me) to alter this.

[charlieparlie]

What date to end the tenancy was stated in your notice to quit?

It seems to me that your fixed term ended on the 6th of the month and a monthly spt then arose starting 7th of the month; the rent payment date does not appear (to me) to alter this.

This is what I believe however the letting agent insists we need to leave by the end of the month.

[charlieparlie]

What date to end the tenancy was stated in your notice to quit?

It seems to me that your fixed term ended on the 6th of the month and a monthly spt then arose starting 7th of the month; the rent payment date does not appear (to me) to alter this.

Sorry, our notice to quit was sent 3rd of November assuming that the end date would be 6th of November.

[security2]

Sorry, our notice to quit was sent 3rd of November assuming that the end date would be 6th of November.

You mean assuming 6th of December, right?

I would agree. Unless dealt with anywhere else in the paperwork, the tenancy dates and rent payment dates are mutually exclusive. It's a standard practice in a lot of agents, as they like to tie in payment runs for first or last day of the month. But that has no bearing on when your agreement ends, which is bound by what is written in your TA.

As an aside, do you have an answer as to why it took longer than 30 days to protect your deposit? It may be a genuine mistake, in which case use it as leverage to get what you want from the agent. But if the agent is being an a#se, then you potentially have a claim against them.

[KTC]

If you have a tenancy agreement that says the tenancy started 07/04/2017, and that it was a fixed term tenancy of 6 months, then that tenancy plainly ended on 06/10/2017. The statutory periodic tenancy that arose after must thus have began on 07/10/2017, and the period is monthly if the rent is payable monthly. The period of a tenancy must then ends on the 6th of every month.

[jpkeates]

This is what I believe however the letting agent insists we need to leave by the end of the month.

The letting agent is wrong.

What's made this complicated is the arrangement to try and move the payment date to the first of the month, which has gone wrong.

The tenancy ends, with your notice on 6th December and that agent can't change that without your agreement.

The issue that will cause you a problem is that (unless the tenancy agreement is extremely unusual) a complete month's rent will be due on 1st December. I have never seen a tenancy agreement that allows for a pro-rata adjustment because they all assume that the rent payment and tenancy periods are in sync.

I would tell the agency you are going to pay the 6 day's rent and chance your arm there.

[MdeB]

The issue that will cause you a problem is that (unless the tenancy agreement is extremely unusual) a complete month's rent will be due on 1st December.
I would tell the agency you are going to pay the 6 day's rent and chance your arm there.

Given that the tenancy will end midnight end 06 December (because of tenant's notice to quit), it does not seem reasonable to pay rent beyond that time then try to claim it back from agent/LL.

It would seem reasonable to calculate the rent due in accordance with S21C of the Housing Act 1988:

Amount payable = R*D/P
where:

• R = monthly rent
• D = days occupied in month (6 in this case)
• P = days in period (31 for December)

Note that you must return possession by midnight at end of 06 December, otherwise you are liable to penalties (including daily amount equal to twice the rent - this is because you gave notice).

A thought: does tenancy agreement say rent is payable in advance?
If not, then I believe it is payable in arrears.