Moving out of your Rented Property

Practical moving from your rented property to a new property can be tricky. This is normally because the tenancy agreement is for a fixed period, and the completion date on new properties is unknown.

Each tenancy agreement is different, and you will need to check your individual tenancy agreement.

As most tenancy agreements are for a fixed term, you can normally only leave if there is a break clause, coming to the end of your agreement or if your landlord agrees to “surrender the tenancy”.

If there is a break clause in your agreement, it will state how much notice you will need to give to the landlord and any other conditions that need to be met.

You will need to give notice in writing and send it to the landlord by recorded post or by hand. You can only give notice to your landlord by email if it explicitly states in your contract that you can.

If there is no break clause in your contract, and your landlord agrees to surrender the tenancy, ask your landlord to confirm the agreed leaving date in writing.

You should only give notice on your tenancy when you have had an offer accepted on a property. Once you have given notice it’s worth having a back up place to stay just in case, and it’s quite common for property purchases to be delayed. The more people that are in the chain, the more likely delays are to happen.

It is also worth negotiating your completion date. If you need to give a month’s notice on your rental property, you could ask to complete on your property purchase a month later, therefore only having to give a months’ notice, and there being no risk of the purchase falling through.

If you are on friendly terms with your landlord, it might be worth giving them a heads up that you are looking at purchasing a property. This could give you more flexibility if the purchase is delayed, and you need to stay longer.

It is also important that you have money available in case you are required to pay rent and your mortgage at the same time. Hopefully you have given notice at the correct time, and the purchase has gone through. If for some reason this hasn’t happened and you have both properties available to you, it usually means that moving is less stressful, as you will have more time to move.