Ending fixed term lease

W123-80's

Hello,
Quick question.
Apologies if it has been asked a million times. My fixed term lease expires the end of this month (May 31st).

Am I obliged to give 30 days notice before moving out in order to get my full deposit back?
I rang the landlord this evening and told him I am moving out. I said June 10th, which is 19 days notice.

He has indicated that he wants more from me in terms of notice.

Where do I stand?
I have checked Threshold.ie and I can't seem to find a definitave answer. As far as I can seee the notice timeframe apply to ending a tenancy early..?? Which I am not doing.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

odds_on

There is no legal requirement to advise the landlord that you are vacating at the end of a fixed term lease, however, it is polite to do so.

A tenant wishing to remain in the property at the end of a fixed term lease should advise the landlord between 3 and 1 month prior to the expiry of the fixed term, that he wishes to avail of his Part 4 rights.

You are entitled to your full deposit back, excepting any damage in excess of normal wear and tear. The landlord cannot withhold any part of the deposit for not advising him that you are leaving.

I am assuming that there is no clause in your lease stating that you have to advise the landlord if you are leaving at the end of the lease. A fixed term lease is for the duration of the fixed term and no longer - thus, unless a tenant claims Part 4 rights, the contract ceases at the end of the fixed term.

NB. On re-reading your post again, I understand that you will in fact not be moving out until 10th June, therefore, you will be exceeding the duration of the contract and you will have to pay the rent for this time. You may also be liable for the landlords expenses if he has already organized another tenant to move in before the 10th of June and who now may not be able to do so.

ProudDUB

If you plan on leaving when the lease expires, your tenancy ends when the lease ends. You do not have to give any notice.

If you have been there 6 months or more, you automatically acquire Part 4 tenancy rights. That means you can stay on for another 4 years if you so choose. If you choose to use your Part 4 rights to stay on after the original lease expires, the amount of notice you must give when you DO decide to leave, depends on how long you have lived there.

This link gives the amount of notice required. It will be either 28, 35, 42 or 56 days depending on how long you have lived there.

http://www.threshold.ie/page.asp?menu=74&page=256

As you can see, 19 days does not meet any of the notice period criteria. Your landlord is correct. He is entitled to more notice.

W123-80's

odds_on wrote: »

There is no legal requirement to advise the landlord that you are vacating at the end of a fixed term lease, however, it is polite to do so.

A tenant wishing to remain in the property at the end of a fixed term lease should advise the landlord between 3 and 1 month prior to the expiry of the fixed term, that he wishes to avail of his Part 4 rights.

You are entitled to your full deposit back, excepting any damage in excess of normal wear and tear. The landlord cannot withhold any part of the deposit for not advising him that you are leaving.

I am assuming that there is no clause in your lease stating that you have to advise the landlord if you are leaving at the end of the lease. A fixed term lease is for the duration of the fixed term and no longer - thus, unless a tenant claims Part 4 rights, the contract ceases at the end of the fixed term.

NB. On re-reading your post again, I understand that you will in fact not be moving out until 10th June, therefore, you will be exceeding the duration of the contract and you will have to pay the rent for this time. You may also be liable for the landlords expenses if he has already organized another tenant to move in before the 10th of June and who now may not be able to do so.

Fair play. Thanks for this.

I only suggested staying on till the 10th in order to give the landlord a little extra notice. I can move into the new place on June 1st.

I'm meeting him tomorrow. My idea is to keep the offer of June 10th on the table (paying rent), if he is looking for more notice, I will just move out on May 31st.

Thanks for the advice.

W123-80's

ProudDUB wrote: »

If you plan on leaving when the lease expires, your tenancy ends when the lease ends. You do not have to give any notice.

If you have been there 6 months or more, you automatically acquire Part 4 tenancy rights. That means you can stay on for another 4 years if you so choose. If you choose to use your Part 4 rights to stay on after the original lease expires, the amount of notice you must give when you DO decide to leave, depends on how long you have lived there.

This link gives the amount of notice required. It will be either 28, 35, 42 or 56 days depending on how long you have lived there.

http://www.threshold.ie/page.asp?menu=74&page=256

As you can see, 19 days does not meet any of the notice period criteria. Your landlord is correct. He is entitled to more notice.

I'm a Little confused by this?

I only offered to stay till June 10th in order to give the landlord extra notice. If by staying on for these extra 10 days means I am liable for extra notice, i'll move out May 31st.

Thanks for the reply.

ProudDUB

OP, no disrespect, but you seem a bit uninformed on how fixed term leases work. If your lease was due to end on May 31st, that is when it ends. The landlord knows this already. He doesn't need any additional notice period telling him when it ends. He already knows when it ends. You both do. You are not required to do anything other than be gone by June 1st.

A courtesy phone call/letter/email to him a couple of months ago to let him know that you are not interested in extending your lease (or availing of your Part 4 tenancy rights) may have been the polite thing to do, but it is not legally required. On his end, a similar enquiry from him asking if you had any desire to extend the term of the lease when it ended, would have been nice. But he also had no legal obligation to do so.

He knows when this lease ends. It is up to him to make make arrangements to find a new tenant for the apt when you leave. If he hasn't already gotten the ball rolling on that, that is too bad. You are under no obligation whatsoever to stay on any longer just to help him out. Why should you? He has known since you signed the lease when you are moving out.

I posted the Threshold link for notice periods as I got the impression that you wanted to stay on into June to suit your own needs, but you also wanted to leave when it suited you. That is not on, as you must give sufficient notice periods if you are in Part 4 tenancy. If you are not & you don't plan on entering into one when your current lease expires, than they do not apply to you.

W123-80's

ProudDUB wrote: »

OP, no disrespect, but you seem a bit uninformed on how fixed term leases work. If your lease was due to end on May 31st, that is when it ends. The landlord knows this already. He doesn't need any additional notice period telling him when it ends. He already knows when it ends. You both do. You are not required to do anything other than be gone by June 1st.

A courtesy phone call/letter/email to him a couple of months ago to let him know that you are not interested in extending your lease (or availing of your Part 4 tenancy rights) may have been the polite thing to do, but it is not legally required. On his end, a similar enquiry from him asking if you had any desire to extend the term of the lease when it ended, would have been nice. But he also had no legal obligation to do so.

He knows when this lease ends. It is up to him to make make arrangements to find a new tenant for the apt when you leave. If he hasn't already gotten the ball rolling on that, that is too bad. You are under no obligation whatsoever to stay on any longer just to help him out. Why should you? He has known since you signed the lease when you are moving out.

I posted the Threshold link for notice periods as I got the impression that you wanted to stay on into June to suit your own needs, but you also wanted to leave when it suited you. That is not on, as you must give sufficient notice periods if you are in Part 4 tenancy. If you are not & you don't plan on entering into one when your current lease expires, than they do not apply to you.

No offence taken, I wouldn't have posted this thread if I was well informed on how fixed term leases work.

I am 99.9% sure the landlord has no other tenant ready to move in to the place nor has he taken any steps to fill it.

The reason I offered to stay on till June 10th was not for my own benefit, but, to allow the landlord 19 days (from today) notice that I am going. I just felt it was the decent thing to do seen as he has nobody else to move in.

I am quite happy moving out at the end of the lease once my deposit is safe. Which I now know it is.

Thanks a mill for the reply.