You will need to let your landlord know in advance if you want to end your tenancy – this is called giving notice.
You must give notice in the correct way otherwise you may have to pay rent and certain bills even after you’ve moved out.
When and how much notice you give will depend on the type of tenancy you have and what your tenancy agreement says.
If you are not sure what type of tenancy you have, you can check here: Tenancy checker – Shelter England
Most tenancies in the private rented sector are assured shorthold tenancies. Assured shorthold tenancies can be ended by the tenant once the tenancy is outside of the fixed term of the agreement. There is information on how to do this on the Shelter website: How to end a periodic tenancy – Shelter England
If your assured shorthold tenancy agreement is still within the fixed term, or you can’t give the right amount of notice you might be able to agree with your landlord to end your tenancy early. This is called ‘surrendering your tenancy’. There is information about how to do this on the Shelter website: How to end a fixed term tenancy early – Shelter England
Rent
You should make sure all rent payments are up to date.
Bills
You should make sure you are up to date with all bills. Failure to do so may impact your credit rating and references.
Property care
You should clear out all your possessions, clean the property, dispose of rubbish, and note the final meter readings. Try to leave the property in its original condition – you can refer back to any pictures you took at the start of the tenancy to help. You can check against the inventory list too.
Return the keys
You should return all provided keys. By doing so, you avoid lock replacement charges, which your landlord can charge.
End-of-tenancy inspection
If possible, try to be present during end-of-tenancy inspections to check deposit deductions are fair. If you’d like to challenge proposed deductions, you should follow the deposit protection scheme’s dispute resolution process.
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