notice periods

[Ellie]

;) love the new site ... i used to view the old site quite a bit, but was trying to find the answers to a few questions and decided to come back.

I know this has been asked and answered thousands of times and I can't seem to find the answers (I have looked) - if a tenancy agreement is dated the 1st of the month and the rent is paid on the 1st of the month - any monthly notice period runs from the 1st of the month????

secondly if you serve your section 21 notice and the end date is say 20th May, can the tenant then give notice to the 20th April??

sorry but thanks again for reading this - I will go back to the searching, but would appreciate your comments.

:)

Ellie

[Nora Kay]

Ellie,
The notice doesn't have to run FROM any particular date as long as the landlord gives 2 clear months notice of requiring possession on a date which is after the last day of a rental period 2 months hence. So, in the case of a tenancy which started on the 1st of the month, and assuming the fixed period had passed, you could today give notice stating you required possession of the property after 31st May.
If the landlord gives 2 months notice, the tenant is still able to give one months notice and leave before the date the landlord's notice expired.

[Paul_f]

"secondly if you serve your section 21 notice and the end date is say 20th May, can the tenant then give notice to the 20th April??"

What do you mean by this? If your AST starts on 1st of a month then the fixed period would normally end on the last day of a month but I appreciate this might not be the case here.

To enhance Nora's point you only have to serve a S.21 giving at least two months' notice for an AST to end at the end of a rent period if it's periodic, otherwise if it's served within the fixed period you can end it at anytime after the fixed period has expired, and can be mid-month if you want it to be, provided you serve it before the aforesaid two months time limit.

[Ellie]

:( if your rent is paid on say the 30th of each month and your AST started on the 20th of the month, could you then give notice to vacate the property (as per your contract) on say the 16th of the month and demand 4 days rent back??

[zoe]

Ellie

If a tenant leaves the property early they are still liable to pay rent for the full duration of their tenancy. Otherwise there would be no point in having the notice period at all. The tenant and LL might come to a private agrement though.

Zoe