Termination of a lease advice

Pipmae

Any advice welcome - I am the landlord.

The tenant is there on a 12 month lease. They are 8 months into the lease. They are two days late with rent at the moment and from an initial conversation with them they don't intend paying it (they have been late before but have always paid up).

However I have made a decision to sell the house as soon as I possibly can. Can anyone definitively tell me in order to evict the tenant legally do I have to follow scenario (a) or (b).

(a) serve a 14 day warning of rent arrears. Then if the tenant doesn't pay up I serve a 28 day eviction notice due to rent arrears. Or if they do pay up a 35 day eviction notice due to the property being put up for sale.

(b) serve a 35 day eviction notice now due to the property being put up for sale.

Obviously I'd like scenario (b) to be legal because it's faster but I want to make sure what I do is following the law.

Thanks for any advice.

Graham

Did you include a break clause in the lease to allow for the sale of the property?

I'd be issuing the 14 day notice regardless.

Pipmae

The lease doesn't specifically refer to breaking it to sell the property but it does say it can be terminated re any provision under the Residential Tenancy Act which I take to include the sale of the property.

Graham

Pipmae wrote: »

The lease doesn't specifically refer to breaking it to sell the property but it does say it can be terminated re any provision under the Residential Tenancy Act which I take to include the sale of the property.

You'd want to take legal advice from someone qualified who has sight of the lease.

Personally, I'd start the warning process regardless.

Askthe EA

ABSOLUTELY start the notice period IMMEDIATELY.

Any legal remedy you may seek is only valid if you have taken the correct legal steps and in the correct order. Be aware though, if they choose not to pay, it will take you 18 months to 2 years to legally remove them.

As regards the lease, it expires on the 12 month mark and you are perfectly entitled to sell it at that point. Issue them with a notice to quit now, in line with new regs regarding selling) that way you have served them with a really long notice period.

Id say treat the two as two separate things,

Claw Hammer

You can start to evict the tenant for breach of condition. You cannot give notice during a fixed term lease unless you are terminating the lease for breach of condition. You need to notify the tenant in writing of the breach of the obligation to pay rent and demand that the tenant rectify the breach within 14 days other wise you will be entitled to terminate the tenancy.

Graham

Claw Hammer wrote: »

You cannot give notice during a fixed term lease unless you are terminating the lease for breach of condition.

Unless the lease has a provision for early termination, aka a break clause.

Claw Hammer

Graham wrote: »

Unless the lease has a provision for early termination, aka a break clause.

Then it is not a fixed term.

Graham

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Then it is not a fixed term.

It is quite possible to have a fixed term lease with break clauses on either side.

4ensic15

Graham wrote: »

It is quite possible to have a fixed term lease with break clauses on either side.

It is possible to have a lease with break clauses but then it is only a lease such term as either of the parties decide, not a fixed term.

Graham

A fixed-term tenancy is an agreement that covers a specific amount of time. It is generally (but not always) set down in a written contract, called a lease. It may be for any period, but can range from as little as 6 months up to a year or more. It is important to note the following points about a fixed-term tenancy:

Your landlord may not end the tenancy before the end of the fixed term unless you have breached your obligations under it
In general, you may not end the tenancy before the end of the term unless the landlord has breached his obligations under it; you are exercising a break clause; you have got someone to replace you; or you and the landlord both agree to end it

Source: citizens information

Although it's not mentioned it is also possible for a landlord to avail of any specifically provided break clauses as long as it doesn't attempt to diminish any part 4 rights acquired by the tenant.

4ensic15

Graham wrote: »

Source: citizens information

Although it's not mentioned it is also possible for a landlord to avail of any specifically provided break clauses as long as it doesn't attempt to diminish any part 4 rights acquired by the tenant.

Citizens information is not an authoritative source. It is essentially ladybird level.

Graham

4ensic15 wrote: »

Citizens information is not an authoritative source. It is essentially ladybird level.

As always I'm open to sources educating me to the contrary.

4ensic15

Graham wrote: »

As always I'm open to sources educating me to the contrary.

Try Wylie on landlord & tenant in Ireland.
A lease for longer than a year must be in writing.
There is no minimum term. There are 2 inaccuracies in that quote from Citizens Info for a start.

Graham

4ensic15 wrote: »

Try Wylie on landlord & tenant in Ireland.
A lease for longer than a year must be in writing.
There is no minimum term. There are 2 inaccuracies in that quote from Citizens Info for a start.

I don't doubt it has to be in writing, not what I asked.

Even the RTB suggest a fixed-term is possible even with the presence of a break clause:

Where a break clause is provided for in a fixed term........

4ensic15

Graham wrote: »

I don't doubt it has to be in writing, not what I asked.

Even the RTB suggest a fixed-term is possible even with the presence of a break clause:

The RTB is as bad. The RTB have lost numerous cases in court over the interpretation of the Act they operate under.

Graham

4ensic15 wrote: »

The RTB is as bad. The RTB have lost numerous cases in court over the interpretation of the Act they operate under.

Relevant snippet from Wylie would be interesting.