At common law a fixed term tenancy terminates automatically when the term comes to an end. there is no need for the landlord or tenant to do anything, you can give up the tenancy simply by moving out and returning the keys to the landlord - by accepting them, he implies that he has agreed to your leaving. A fixed term tenancy is a relatively inflexible instrument if there is risk of dispute with the landlord over your departure, you can formalize the ending of the tenancy by sending him a written note 'surrendering the property. If there is no break in the clause or other provision in the lease providing for early termination, the tenancy will come to an end only when it has run its course and expires by effluxion of time .If rent is paid at longer than monthly intervals and the tenant wants to give up the property, the landlord may insist that he pays rent until the end of his tenancy period, or until he can find a new tenant.
Weekly Tenancy
When you are a weekly tenant your tenancy can be ended by one week's notice to quit and it must expire at the end
of some week of your tenancy. Thus, if your tenancy runs from Saturday to Saturday the notice must require you
to leave the premises on a Saturday, and it is wiser that the notice should be given not later than the previous
Friday week
Monthly Tenancy
The position in the case of a monthly tenancy is much the same as in the case of a weekly tenancy, except that
a month's notice must be given and the notice must expire at the end of some month of the tenancy. Monthly tenancies
are sometimes really four-weekly tenancies and in other cases "month" means calendar month. There is
now a rule that where you have a written tenancy agreement a month is taken to mean a calendar month and not four
weeks, unless there is anything to show that a month of four weeks was intended.
Quarterly and Yearly Tenancies
Quarterly tenancies are not often found and usually tenancies that appear at first sight to be quarterly are really
yearly tenancies. Where, however, you have a genuine quarterly tenancy a quarter's notice must be given, expiring
at the end of some quarter of the tenancy.
If a tenant wants to leave, he must give 4 weeks notice in writing if he pays rent weekly or monthly. Quarterly tenancies require 3 months notice and in tenancies of longer period the amount of notice is usually set down in the tenancy agreement. If the house was let for more than 3 years, a deed, drawn up by a solicitor, will have to be used for surrender.
A tenancy on a yearly basis Three months notice must expire at the end of a complete year of your tenancy and so again there is only one day in the year on which you can leave. If you want to be able to leave at three months notice at any time of the year, you should see that your agreement entitles you to give " three months notice at any time".
Please notice the distinction between a tenancy for a year and a tenancy from year to year.
A tenancy agreement which states it should be for three years "and thereafter until determined by three mouths notice," will run for a minimum of three years and three months.
In the case of yearly tenancies, the parties may have agreed that the rent is to be paid at shorter intervals. Nevertheless the tenancy can only be ended at the end of the year. Generally 6 months notice will be required unless you can agree a shorter period of notice with the landlord.
Notice is given by a landlord or a tenant in order to bring a tenancy to an end. It is by no means every tenancy that can be ended in this way. If you have a tenancy for a fixed period of time say, for three years neither you nor your landlord can end that tenancy before the three years have passed. Further, after three years the tenancy comes to an end automatically and no notice to quit is needed.
Tenancies for an indefinite period ( ad infinitum ) that is, periodic weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly tenancies, go on until either tenant or landlord serves a notice, clear direction in writing will be given to the tenant to deliver up the premises on the prescribed date complying with any statutory provisions .
Assured & Assured shorthold tenancies
WHEN NOTICE MUST BE GIVEN
If the date of commencement was one of the regular quarter days (Lady Day, March 25; Midsummer, June 24; Michaelmas, September 29, or Christmas, December 25) you must give your notice on the previous quarter day but one. Thus, if your tenancy began on September 29, your notice must be given not later than March 25 although there are one hundred and eighty-five days - i.e., more than half a year - between March 25 and September 29. On the other hand, a tenancy which began on March 25 can be ended by notice given on September 29 although the period between September 29 and March 25 is only one hundred and seventy-seven days. Where the tenancy began on some day that was not a quarter day, then a full half-year's notice - one hundred and eighty-three days - expiring on the anniversary of the day the tenancy began must be given.
Sometimes, however, when a tenancy begins between two quarter days, the agreement provides that rent, instead of being paid every three months, shall be paid on the first of the usual quarter days after the beginning of the tenancy even though this is less than a quarter, and thereafter every quarter. If your agreement is of this kind, the tenancy is considered to begin on the first quarter day for the purposes of fixing the proper date for giving notice to quit.
You will have seen from the above that " half a year " does not mean "six calendar months."
Sometimes, however, a tenancy agreement expressly says that " six months " notice
may be given. If it does, then make it six calendar months. You will remember, of course, that unless your agreement
says that the notice may be given " at
any time " your notice must expire at
the end of some year of your tenancy.
Sometimes there is some doubt as to the day when a tenancy began, the common law, however, permits a little latitude
with regard to the date upon which the notice is stated to expire . A notice to quit will be valid so long as it
is expressed to expire either on the same day on which the tenancy commenced ( or on which rent is payable ), or
upon the preceding day.
To obtain such an order, the landlord generally has to satisfy the judge that:
| 1. | The tenant has refused to pay rent or broken an important term of their agreement |
| 2. | He can provide the tenant with suitable alternative accommodation. |
| 3. | But even when those conditions are met, the judge may rule it unreasonable to make a possession order. However, if the landlord lives on the premises or provides certain services such as meals a judge must automatically give him a possession order at the end of the period of the tenancy . |
At one time a great deal of hardship caused to tenants in losing all the goodwill which they had been building up when the lease came to an end. Until 1927 the landlord could turn him out and re-let the premises to someone else at an increased rent, made possible by the tenant. who would not receive a penny compensation. An Act was passed in 1927 to remedy this which, although it undoubtedly does some good, goes by no means so far as many of us would have wished. The effect of it is, however, to entitle the tenant either to a lump sum by way of compensation for the goodwill or to an extended lease of the premises.
RENEWAL OR TERMINATION OF A PROTECTED TENANCY
If the landlord wishes to end a protected tenancy he must serve notice on you, as the tenant, which complies with the requirements of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.
If you wish to renew the tenancy, rather than waiting for the landlord to serve this notice, you may wish to take
the initiative, and within 6 and 12 months before the termination date, serve notice on the landlord requesting
a new tenancy after the current one ends, again using a prescribed form.
You may serve a counter-notice to the landlord that you are unwilling to give up possession,
If the landlord gives a counter-notice to your request for a new tenancy the notice must state his grounds for
opposition , failing which he loses his right to oppose the grant of a new tenancy.
Unless you agree the terms of a lease in the meantime, you must then apply to Court
After you have applied for a new tenancy, the original expiry date no longer applies and the existing tenancy is
deemed in law to continue at the old rent until three months after the proceedings have ended. However, the landlord
can in the meantime apply for an interim rent to be set by the court.
GROUNDS FOR REFUSING THE RENEWAL OF A TENANCY
A landlord can oppose your application for a tenancy on certain defined grounds including - your failure to repair; persistent delays in rent payment; breaches of other obligations; where he can offer you suitable reasonable alternative accommodation; where he has a firm intention to demolish or reconstruct the premises; or where he has held his interest for 5 years and he has a firm intention to occupy the premises for his own business or residence.
If your landlord brings an action to have you put out you must act quickly. You must at once apply to the court for relief - i.e., that you may be allowed to keep your lease in spite of your failure to pay rent. This will always be granted if you can pay the rent in arrears and all the legal costs to which the landlord has been put.
If the landlord has got a judgment from the court ordering you to give up the house you must, of course, obey it.
You can still, however, apply to the court for relief
CONSULT A SOLICITOR
You will often find the expressions " landlord's fixtures " and " tenant's fixtures." Landlord's fixtures are articles which are put up by the landlord or by a previous tenant and left on the premises and also those fixtures put up by the tenant which he is not entitled to take away. Tenant's fixtures are those articles which, in spite of the general rule stated above, the tenant may remove, even though they are fixed to the house or land. They fall into several classes .
Tenant's Fixtures put up by the tenant for ornament and convenience may be removed, but only so long as the removal does not do any substantial damage to the property. Thus you could remove your cupboard, your bookcase and your mirror, even though they were screwed to the wall; but you must repair any damage done to the wall in taking them away. In the same way you could remove a greenhouse which you had put up in your garden if it was not built on to a wall, but only resting on the ground. Such fixtures are regarded as articles of mere convenience which the tenant has put up for his own enjoyment during his tenancy.
Beware, however, of putting up a fixture which is
in the nature of a permanent improvement to your landlord's house.
Judges will usually decide that so long as the articles could be removed without doing any serious damage to the premises the tenant should be allowed to remove them.
Unless, from the way in which the article had been fixed and from the nature of the article itself; it seemed that the tenant's object had been to effect a permanent improvement to the premises and not merely to use the article for his own convenience during the tenancy.
Tenants have been allowed to remove the following articles of ornament or convenience hangings, minors, venetian
blinds, tables fixed to the wall, and cupboards and bookcases screwed to the floor.
The same rules apply to your garden. If you have a shed or greenhouse which is merely resting on the ground or
on a brickwork foundation, you may take it away. But if your shed is let into the round or fixed to the brickwork
by mortar you cannot remove it. The extent to which you have fixed it is important not so much in itself as in
indicating whether you intended to make a permanent improvement to the premises or merely to put up something for
your own temporary convenience. the following rules are a guide
| 1. | Is the thing you want to take away in any way fixed to the wall or ground or is it merely resting by its own weight? If the latter, you can take it away whether it is put up for ornament or convenience or not, as it is not a fixture. |
| 2. | If it is a fixture and is an ornament or for convenience, is it in the nature of a permanent improvement to the landlord's house? If it is, you cannot remove it, however slightly it may be fixed. |
| 3. | Can it be removed without doing very serious damage to the house? If not, then you cannot remove it, even though you brought it there for your temporary convenience. |
Trade Fixtures
A tenant who carries on a trade on the premises he hires from his landlord will necessarily have to bring into the building various articles which he will need in order to carry on his trade. Some of these articles he can use without fixing them in any way to the land or buildings, but in other cases the article will be of no use unless it can be dug into the ground or fixed to the building. One of the most common examples of this is the small petrol engine which is so handy in a small workroom .
All articles which have been fixed and used for some purpose of a trade carried on by the tenant, may be taken away by him at the end of his tenancy, so long as they can be removed without serious damage to the land or building to which they are attached.
A tenancy may end in a number of ways. The term may expire; a notice to quit may be served by either party; either party may exercise their option to use a break clause; the landlord may exercise his rights to end (forfeit) the lease as a result of your breach; or you may surrender the lease with the landlord's consent. If you have a right in the lease or other contractual option to renew the lease, the new terms will generally be negotiated by your respective professional advisers based on the old lease. Alternatively, the Court will have granted you a new lease under the statutory tenancy renewal procedure.
Hopefully, you and the landlord can then agree the terms of a new lease between yourselves and in practice this
is the normal route. However, if this proves impossible, the Court will have to decide.
You are entitled under a Court order to a new tenancy of your property at the time when the Court makes its decision.
The maximum term is at the Court's discretion, but cannot exceed 14 years. You can request a shorter term or the
landlord can request it if he has unfinalised redevelopment plans.
Terms of a new lease should be similar to those in place in the existing tenancy.
