Tenancy agreement wording

[roblea]

Please help me.

I have lived at my address that has a "living in Property manager" for 14 months & i get on well with my property manager.
I have been offered a new job & we are disputing how much notice i have to give.

I believe that it is only 2 weeks notice but she says i have to give 6 weeks.

The wording on termination of my agreement is as follows.

“Tenant must give 2 weeks notice if planning to vacate the property, Then will have 4 weeks to find alternative accommodation as a months rent was paid as a deposit”

to me this says i only need to give 2 weeks notice. then i have 4 weeks to find other accomodation. but my new job comes with live in acomodation so i dont need this 4 weeks to find other accomodation.

can i legally get my original deposit back as if i leave after 2 weeks notice?
it is my understanding that landlords can only keep deposits if their is room damage & not as a rental fee. Is this correct.

I say i only need to give 2 weeks, she says i need to give 6. is she just trying keep my security deposit beyond the terms of the agrement?

someone please translate the above for me please.

thanks.

[MrJohnnyB]

Please help me.

I have lived at my address that has a "living in Property manager" for 14 months & i get on well with my property manager.
I have been offered a new job & we are disputing how much notice i have to give.

I believe that it is only 2 weeks notice but she says i have to give 6 weeks.

The wording on termination of my agreement is as follows.

“Tenant must give 2 weeks notice if planning to vacate the property, Then will have 4 weeks to find alternative accommodation as a months rent was paid as a deposit”

to me this says i only need to give 2 weeks notice. then i have 4 weeks to find other accomodation. but my new job comes with live in acomodation so i dont need this 4 weeks to find other accomodation.

can i legally get my original deposit back as if i leave after 2 weeks notice?
it is my understanding that landlords can only keep deposits if their is room damage & not as a rental fee. Is this correct.

I say i only need to give 2 weeks, she says i need to give 6. is she just trying keep my security deposit beyond the terms of the agrement?

someone please translate the above for me please.

thanks.

Landlords can keep deposits for (within reason) whatever the agreement specifies they can keep them for. Although deposits kept in lieu of rent is fairly common.

Was the offer of a room 1) as a perk of the job or 2) did it allow you to better perform your duties?

[roblea]

i been offered a new career opportunity 250 miles away. hence why i am leaving my current room & rental agreement.
due to the distance of relocation accomodation automatically comes with the job

[MrJohnnyB]

Oh sorry i totally misread your first post. Thought your current accomodation was work related. So effectively you were a lodger? The agreement is very confusing and particularly unclear which is something that has been quite a hot topic with unfair contract terms etc. Plainly tenants would not give notice until such time as they had normally found alternative premises, kinda defeats the whole point.

The wording should have said either 1) 6 weeks prior written notice or 2) 2 weeks prior written notice. By the sounds of the wording for this speicific clause it probably has been written up poorly, and no doubt full of other holes?

[oaktree]

It's hard to determine exactly what was intended by the wording of this notice; it almost seems to suggest the tenant should give two weeks notice that they are considering terminating their tenancy and then four weeks notice to actually vacate.


Taken on face value, I'd say the tenant needs to give two weeks notice to vacate the property as is stated in the first part of the wording. The rest is so unclear as to its meaning that it would be, or should be, irrelevant.

More information about the type of tenancy would be helpful

[roblea]

thanks johnny.

So in your opinion in a yes or no answer,
if i give 14 days notice & move out on the 15th day then can my "property manager" keep my original security deposit to cover any damages & when she realises that i left the room exactly as i moved in, with no damages, is she legally obliged to give me back my original security deposit?

[roblea]

Thanks Oaktree.

Its not a fixed term agreement. I just pay £340 on the 28th of every month & this pays for the coming calender months rent.

I have a live in Property manager (The mother), but the owner of the property (The daughter) lives in America.

i been renting here for 14 months & they have found a tenant to take my room up straight away.

[MrJohnnyB]

thanks johnny.

So in your opinion in a yes or no answer,
if i give 14 days notice & move out on the 15th day then can my "property manager" keep my original security deposit to cover any damages & when she realises that i left the room exactly as i moved in, with no damages, is she legally obliged to give me back my original security deposit?

Unfortunately that is something the courts would have to decide. I am of the view that the wording is so uncertain that the 2 week rule should apply. But unfortuntely where you are a lodger there is no deposit protection thus none of those benefits, so if LL retains deposit then you maybe forced to go through the route of court application.

[roblea]

am i officially classed as a lodger then? I thought i was a tenant as i have signed a "tenancy agreement".

i have a live in property manager, the owner of the property lives in America

[Lawcruncher]

“Tenant must give 2 weeks notice if planning to vacate the property, Then will have 4 weeks to find alternative accommodation as a months rent was paid as a deposit”

Oh dear!

Read strictly we have to wonder if this is a provision about giving notice to end the arrangement at all. As has been pointed out, as soon as the tenant is planning to leave he has to "give notice" but it is not specified exactly what it is that he has to give notice of. Does the word "then" kick in immediately, so that the tenant has four weeks to find alternative accommodation, or when the two weeks has expired? It only says that the tenant must find alternative accommodation, not take it up.

If we go by the tenor of the wording I suppose we have to take it that it is a notice to quit provision and I would interpret it as a requirement to give four weeks notice. In any event not lot less than four weeks notice has to be given by law, unless the "living in Property manager" is the landlord - see section 5 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.