Notice period query

MarcusP12

Hi guys....just looking for a bit of advice on notice periods and how they work for tenants. To provide context, the family home is current rented out as we are abroad with a work assignment for me. We may be coming home soon so need to look into minimum notice periods etc. Now I know there is a lease agreement in place but if I'm honest, I'm not sure of the content as I paid a freelance EA to sort all that out and she's gone AWOL on me and I cant get in touch. But presumable there are guidelines around this? What is the minimum lease period laid out by the tenancy board or whatever they're called? They've been there over 2 years now and are great tenants so want to do right by them.

How does notice period work anyway? If say for example, its a 3 month notice, are they obliged to fulfill this period in full unless otherwise agreed with us? The reason I ask is that say for example we give 3 months notice period and given the market, they immediately start looking and are lucky to find somewhere that suits after say a month, am I stung for 2 months unoccupied? Reason why i'm concerned is that we will not be re-renting so the time between them moving out and us moving back in is dead time that we would have to cover the rent ourselves.....so obviously I want to minimize this without screwing over our tenants?

Any advice?

Browney7

MarcusP12 wrote: »

Hi guys....just looking for a bit of advice on notice periods and how they work for tenants. To provide context, the family home is current rented out as we are abroad with a work assignment for me. We may be coming home soon so need to look into minimum notice periods etc. Now I know there is a lease agreement in place but if I'm honest, I'm not sure of the content as I paid a freelance EA to sort all that out and she's gone AWOL on me and I cant get in touch. But presumable there are guidelines around this? What is the minimum lease period laid out by the tenancy board or whatever they're called? They've been there over 2 years now and are great tenants so want to do right by them.

How does notice period work anyway? If say for example, its a 3 month notice, are they obliged to fulfill this period in full unless otherwise agreed with us? The reason I ask is that say for example we give 3 months notice period and given the market, they immediately start looking and are lucky to find somewhere that suits after say a month, am I stung for 2 months unoccupied? Reason why i'm concerned is that we will not be re-renting so the time between them moving out and us moving back in is dead time that we would have to cover the rent ourselves.....so obviously I want to minimize this without screwing over our tenants?

Any advice?

If they have signed a fixed term lease you can't serve notice ending tenancy before the end date unless there is a break clause. I suspect they are just on a part IV lease now though so RTA notice periods apply.

I'd advise allowing tenants leave early - you need the house back and if they've no where to go at the end of the notice period do you think they'll move themselves out onto the street? Don't be penny wise pound foolish on that front as you could end up in RTB adjudications and appeals

Steve2016

I'm in a similar boat so advise needed also!

Fian

They will be entitled to 56 days notice, you should consider giving them 90 days though.

You would be mad to refuse to let them leave early, If they choose to overhold they could be there for perhaps 18 months while you and your family are paying rent out of after tax income elsewhere.

You are entitled to terminate the tenancy only for one of a small number of reasons, however needing the property for your own use is one of these.

Termination must be in writing and should follow the format the RTB have put up on their website.

https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/ending-a-tenancy/sample-notices-of-termination/

MarcusP12

Fian wrote: »

They will be entitled to 56 days notice, you should consider giving them 90 days though.

You would be mad to refuse to let them leave early, If they choose to overhold they could be there for perhaps 18 months while you and your family are paying rent out of after tax income elsewhere.

You are entitled to terminate the tenancy only for one of a small number of reasons, however needing the property for your own use is one of these.

Termination must be in writing and should follow the format the RTB have put up on their website.

https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/ending-a-tenancy/sample-notices-of-termination/

Thanks for the advice....

Just to be clear, its not that I want to refuse for them to leave early.......in the ideal perfect scenario, we will agree a date whereby they move out and we move back in or close enough with no significant gap.......but if they need to move out before the agreed notice period, are they required to still pay rent up to the end of the notice period? The nightmare scenario would be for example if we gave them 3 month notice and they immediately looked and found somewhere within a couple of weeks (very unlikely but you never know) and moved straight out, we could be looking at paying 2.5 months mortgage in addition to our own rent before we move back which would be a significant financial hit......

As I said, I don't want to screw the tenants when the time comes to move back but instead want to minimize the cost of moving back....

dennyk

For your tenant to leave early, legally speaking they'd have to give you the appropriate notice period as well, and they would technically be responsible for rent until that period ends or your own termination takes effect, whichever is shorter.

Practically speaking, it would behoove you to work with your tenant on a mutually agreed shorter notice period if they find a new place in good time. The rental situation here is quite dire and it may be very difficult for them to find a suitable place to rent on short notice. If you insist that they continue paying rent until the very end, they may well decide not to go looking for a new place until then (as they probably also cannot afford to pay two rents themselves), and if they can't find one in time, they will likely overhold and leave you stuck with nowhere to live. The "nightmare scenario" here isn't losing out on a couple rent payments, it's having your overholding tenants stop paying rent entirely and refuse to leave your property and having to spend a year or more on expensive and time-consuming court proceedings and going through all sorts of hassle to actually evict them, all while you're paying your mortgage with zero rental income and paying to rent someplace for yourselves in the current market at the same time. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish; forgoing a month or two of rent is far better than getting screwed over for months or years.

MarcusP12

dennyk wrote: »

For your tenant to leave early, legally speaking they'd have to give you the appropriate notice period as well, and they would technically be responsible for rent until that period ends or your own termination takes effect, whichever is shorter.

Practically speaking, it would behoove you to work with your tenant on a mutually agreed shorter notice period if they find a new place in good time. The rental situation here is quite dire and it may be very difficult for them to find a suitable place to rent on short notice. If you insist that they continue paying rent until the very end, they may well decide not to go looking for a new place until then (as they probably also cannot afford to pay two rents themselves), and if they can't find one in time, they will likely overhold and leave you stuck with nowhere to live. The "nightmare scenario" here isn't losing out on a couple rent payments, it's having your overholding tenants stop paying rent entirely and refuse to leave your property and having to spend a year or more on expensive and time-consuming court proceedings and going through all sorts of hassle to actually evict them, all while you're paying your mortgage with zero rental income and paying to rent someplace for yourselves in the current market at the same time. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish; forgoing a month or two of rent is far better than getting screwed over for months or years.

Thanks for the advice....makes a lot of sense.....since i'm an accidental landlord rather than a career landlord, i'm probably being very naïve to think that just because the tenants seem bang on and sound, doesn't mean that things might not turn sour if the prospect of them having nowhere to go is the alternative to going rogue tenant on us.....would it be worth talking to an estate agent in the area maybe to get their feel on it also?