Year Lease - Question

BeanFlicker

Hi All,

My year lease is up on the 9th September. The landlord is coming over today for us to sign a new one year lease but we do not want to as we now want to move to a bigger place.

What notice do I have to give the landlord to get our deposit back or can I just say we don't want to renew our contract and will be moving out on the 9th of September? Will we get our deposit back in that case?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Many Thanks,

djimi

Does it say anything in your lease about having to give notice when you leave? If not then I dont think any is legally required, however it is polite to give at least 4 weeks notice to the landlord.

BeanFlicker

Hi Djimi,

Not sure tbh, probably says a month. That's why i'm wondering if there would be any legal ramifications if I said we were moving out on the 9th as we wouldn't want to loose our deposit even though we honoured the contract. Not sure what to do

Yea true would be good form to give the 4 weeks notice but found a really nice place and he wants someone in as quick as possible, wouldn't be able to pay both rents for a month.

djimi

It really depends on what the lease says. My last one actually stipulated that I had to give 30 days notice at the end of the 12 months, and I would be in breach of the lease not to. My current lease has no such clause.

Your best bet really is to talk to the landlord and see what they say. They might not have an issue with you moving out at the end of the lease without notice.

BeanFlicker

Cheers djimi,

Gasherbraun

The lease end date is implicit in the terms i.e it states that it is a fixed term from x date to y date so no notice is required – each party knows when the tenancy will end. That said it is normal and common courtesy for a tenant to give a landlord some warning that they intend to vacate.

Even if a landlord chooses to put in a clause re notice being required at the end of a fixed term the law will not support it - statute over-rides contract in these circumstances.

The landlord cannot force you to sign a new fixed term lease (or terminate your tenancy for refusing to do so) and as you have gained Part 4 protection you are entitled to remain in the property on the same terms as laid out in the original lease.

Paradoxically if you opt to continue your tenancy on a Part 4 basis then notice will apply; if you choose to move on, for example, the 16th September then 42 days notice would be required from you to the landlord.

BeanFlicker

Thanks Gasherbraun, very helpful.

We don't want to sign the new contract as he is putting in new clauses eg, if we break our new lease he will keep our deposit etc. Also, he is giving us no option but to sign the new contract.

I suppose we will be giving him 2 and a half weeks notice but would prefer to keep it friendly and civil by giving a month but we'd prefer to leave once contract has expired on 9th Sept rather than being required to give 42 days notice on the part 4 basis.

We're paid a month in advance such that dd comes out the 28th Aug for the month of September.

Would we just pay him the remainder of the contract ie, 28th Aug - 9th Sept?

Thanks for yee're help on this.!!

Gasherbraun

Well as mentioned he cannot force you to sign a new contract. I am also surprised that he wants to put in a clause regarding taking your deposit if you break your lease - this is already covered in the 2004 RTA which actually gives the landlord this right.

As regards when you leave you have to two options as you state. Either give the landlord a month or go at the tenancy (9.9.12) end date. If you go on the tenancy end date you only need to pay pro rata rent till the 9th which is calculated as below

Monthly rent x 12 = annual rent / 365 = day rate x number of days up to and including the 9th = ammount of rent owed.

If going down this route I would reccomend cancelling your next rent payment and making this pro rata payment promptly on the rent due date and explain the reduced payment to the landlord. Your landlord may be honest but I would avoid paying the full rent and having to chase the rebate.

You are entitled to leave on the 9th but the only word of caution is that most landlords do not understand this (best will in the world but your landlord does not seem too familiar with the residential tenancies act) and if landlord decides to withold your deposit for 'breaking' the lease, as he may perceive it, then you could face a long battle via PRTB to get your money back.

Obviously the notice period is not the only issue that can affect a deposit but I will not get into that here.

Personally if it was me I would offer the month's notice in order to avoid the potential hassle over the deposit unless you can afford to have a large sum of money potentially hung up in a long dispute. It seems wrong that tenants should have to compromise like this but sometimes it is the best way.

Finally why is your rent due date (28th) different from your tenancy end date (9th)? I am assuming you possibly moved in on the 9th and paid a partial rent till end of month to allign rent due day with salary dates? These differing dates can have repurcussions in any future dispute.

Hope this assists.

BeanFlicker

Thanks again G.

Yea that's right, moved in on the 9th.

Just to give an update on the situation, alls good, getting deposit back when he does his final inspection on the 9th, taking 50e for small jobs, giving ref etc so all went well.

Saw it advertised on daft and the rent is gone up by 50e p/m, no wonder he was happy for us to move on, haha, best for both parties so good outcome.

Cheers,