Question Title: Notice & Counter Notice
| Question: 27 | ||
| We have just given a notice requiring possession (s21) to our tenant who holds a periodic tenancy (2 months' notice). The tenant has subsequently given us one month's notice to quit, thus bringing the tenancy to an end a month earlier. Can the tenant do this ? | ||
| Answer: | ||
| Although the Housing Act 1988 is silent on this point, there appears to be nothing to prevent a tenant counter-serving a notice to quit on the landlord in this situation. It is our opinion that, provided the tenant counter-served a valid notice to quit, then a tenant is quite within his or her rights to terminate the tenancy in this way. However, in practice, tenants rarely follow the legal requirements for a notice to quit, and the landlord would be within his rights to reject any invalid notice. The requirements relating to notice given by a tenant, in summary, are: - the notice should be in writing - the notice must be for a minimum length of four weeks (one month for a monthly tenancy) - the notice must expire or bring the tenancy to an end on either the last or the first day of a period of the tenancy. Landlords can avoid this conundrum by requiring that either party should provide two months' notice to terminate the tenancy by way of a suitable provision within the tenancy agreement, or agreeing the notice terms in writing prior to the start of the periodic tenancy. | ||
| References: | Pages: | Hyperlinks: |
| Letting Handbook | Chapter 12 | product-info/products/letting-handbook-and-factsheets.html |
| Letting Factsheet No 21 | letting-factsheets/factsheets/factsheet-21-section-21-notice-requiring-possession-of-an-assured-shorthold-tenancy.html | |
Legal Check By: PRH, Date: 1004486400
Text Check By: prh, Date: 1166572800
Review Date: 0
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