Tennant Notice Period

[kellyr4]

I know this probably isnt posted in the right section but I was wondering if anybody could answer my query.

I am a landlord and my tennant has today given me 2 weeks notice of him moving out. I have checked this out on the Threshold website and it states that, as my tenant is renting the property for between 6 months and 1 year, he must provide me with a minimum of 5 weeks notice.

I took a 4 week deposit from him when he moved in, how much of that should I withold due to the short notice period?

 

[Howitzer]

Have you registered with the PRTB? If son retain the deposit and go to them for a resolution.

 

[Dreamerb]

I know this probably isnt posted in the right section but I was wondering if anybody could answer my query.

I am a landlord and my tennant has today given me 2 weeks notice of him moving out. I have checked this out on the Threshold website and it states that, as my tenant is renting the property for between 6 months and 1 year, he must provide me with a minimum of 5 weeks notice.

I took a 4 week deposit from him when he moved in, how much of that should I withold due to the short notice period?

Don't. While it's obviously irritating to have someone leave with such short notice, withholding deposits may not be justifiable and will almost certainly be appealed to the PRTB [and if you aren't registered, that will open up a very large can of squirming worms], who usually find in favour of the tenants - about 80% of the time, in fact.

If you really must withhold, then a general principle is that you should not withhold more than the amount by which you are damaged. As such, you should advertise as soon as possible, attempt to find a new tenant quickly, and if you are unsuccessful in finding a new tenant within the five week period you might possibly be able to justify withholding as much as three of the four weeks' deposit, i.e. bringing it up to the 35 days' notice to which you were entitled; otherwise, you could withhold for whatever proportion of that three week period the unit remains vacant.

However, if you decide to do this you should bear in mind that your tenant will be most unhappy, and an unhappy tenant is not likely to leave the unit in the condition you might wish for. In my view, far more hassle than it's worth unless you think you'll have severe difficulties re-letting, and even then you should think very carefully about it and recognise you may be overruled.