I have been renting a ground floor flat in a converted house since 1st December 2008. I was on various fixed leases up until 1st June 2011 after which the new letting agency didn't bother sending out the lease requested (six months as before), meaning that I am now automatically on a Part 4 lease.
The flat is not well insulated against sound and the new tenants who moved in above me earlier this year are noisier than previous ones, so long-term I am thinking of moving. As I am on a Part 4 lease, my understanding is that 56 days (eight weeks) is the required amount of notice I need to give the landlord. However, most properties that I see advertised are available to 'move in immediately'. From a future landlord's perspective, s/he obviously won't want to lose out on money holding a property without rent being paid, and my current landlord equally won't want a 'void' period. It means that, at minimum in a worse case scenario, I would have to pay two months rent to each.
Is there any way of trying to reduce this cost? Do landlords ever do deals with tenants, whereby they'll hold a property for a fee with rent being required then from a certain date? If my current flat is occupied within the two months, am I legally protected against having to pay for the occupied period or it this purely down to landlord goodwill (e.g., with a fixed-term lease, unless there's some reason no sane person would disallow, you are liable for the full amount when you break a lease, irrespective of whether the property is then occupied afterwards)? I do have some good means of advertising the property for the landlord via my work so I could offer to do this to generate goodwill, assuming I'd receive some goodwill in return.
Finally, I presume Part 4 lease regulations kick in from when you first occupy the property as opposed to from when you first move to a Part 4 lease (December 1st 2008 v June 1st 2011)? Also, my understanding is that once four years have elapsed, it's treated as a new four years again. So if I'm flat-hunting from December 1st, is it 28 days notice again?
Thanks for any help with this. If I do end up moving, I want to do the right thing by the landlord and would do my best to give as much notice as possible, but neither do I want to needlessly go over and above requirements and lose money in the process.
The flat is not well insulated against sound and the new tenants who moved in above me earlier this year are noisier than previous ones, so long-term I am thinking of moving. As I am on a Part 4 lease, my understanding is that 56 days (eight weeks) is the required amount of notice I need to give the landlord. However, most properties that I see advertised are available to 'move in immediately'. From a future landlord's perspective, s/he obviously won't want to lose out on money holding a property without rent being paid, and my current landlord equally won't want a 'void' period. It means that, at minimum in a worse case scenario, I would have to pay two months rent to each.
Is there any way of trying to reduce this cost? Do landlords ever do deals with tenants, whereby they'll hold a property for a fee with rent being required then from a certain date? If my current flat is occupied within the two months, am I legally protected against having to pay for the occupied period or it this purely down to landlord goodwill (e.g., with a fixed-term lease, unless there's some reason no sane person would disallow, you are liable for the full amount when you break a lease, irrespective of whether the property is then occupied afterwards)? I do have some good means of advertising the property for the landlord via my work so I could offer to do this to generate goodwill, assuming I'd receive some goodwill in return.
Finally, I presume Part 4 lease regulations kick in from when you first occupy the property as opposed to from when you first move to a Part 4 lease (December 1st 2008 v June 1st 2011)? Also, my understanding is that once four years have elapsed, it's treated as a new four years again. So if I'm flat-hunting from December 1st, is it 28 days notice again?
Thanks for any help with this. If I do end up moving, I want to do the right thing by the landlord and would do my best to give as much notice as possible, but neither do I want to needlessly go over and above requirements and lose money in the process.