Ending your tenancy

If you decide you want to move out, you’ll need to get in touch with us first and complete some paperwork. This is called giving notice.

Even if you’ve let us know that you want to move out in person or over the phone, we still can’t officially accept it until we’ve received your notice in writing. You can do this by completing the notice of termination of tenancy form with your housing officer.

If you're not sure how to get in touch with your housing officer please fill in this form and we'll be back in touch.

Here’s some things you’ll need to do:

• Make sure you include the date you’ll be moving out
• Keep a copy of your notice of termination form and get proof of postage, just in case it gets lost on its way to us and we don't get it
• Check we’ve got your notice of termination form after a couple of days if you’ve not heard from us
• Let us carry out an inspection of your home early on in your notice period
• Don’t post your keys - we’ll let you know how you should return your keys to us before you move out
• Keep paying rent up until the end of your notice period (known as a tenancy end date)

How much notice you need to give depends on your tenancy agreement.

If you’re on a weekly tenancy, we need at least four weeks’ written notice. If you’re on a monthly contract tenancy, we need at least one months’ written notice. You’ll find the amount of notice you need to give in the agreement you signed when you moved in.

If you want to move out earlier than your notice period, you’ll need to contact us by joining our Live Chat or visiting our get in touch page. You have a right to feel happy and safe in your home and if you want to move out quickly we’d like to help where we can. We’ll discuss the circumstances with you, though in most cases you’ll need to give the same notice as per your tenancy agreement. 

Some reasons you might want to leave your tenancy early include:

• You’ve got a new job or your job has moved
• You need to move to care for someone else
• Your relationship has broken down
• You need to escape a dangerous situation or domestic violence (remember there are lots of organisations that can offer you additional support in situations like this including Women’s Aid and Men’s Advice Line)

If you want to move because you think we’ve breached or broken our contract, please contact us by joining our Live Chat or visiting our get in touch page to discuss this.

When your notice period is nearly up and you’re packing to leave your old home, we need you to remember a few important points:

• Make sure all of your utility bills are paid up to date and that you’ve told your suppliers the date that you’re moving
• Don’t forget to give us all copies of your keys - if you don’t, we’ll probably have to charge you for the cost of changing the locks, or we might even have to keep charging you rent until we have them back
• Leave your home in a tidy, empty and clean condition - everything should be put back to the way it was when you moved in, we’ll have been out to visit you to check if there are any repairs that need to be finished before you move out too, so please make sure they’re all done
• If we have to do any repairs which should’ve been your responsibility, we’ll have to charge you for the work
• If you’ve made improvements to your home with our permission, you may be entitled to some money back if you haven’t already claimed for this - please check with us if you’re not sure
• We’ll need you to leave us a forwarding address in case we need to send you anything or contact you in the future
• We’ll probably need to show some new people around your home while you’re still there, so we can let someone else move in when you leave - don’t worry, we’ll always be there to show them around and we’ll always pick a time that works for you
• Your rent still needs to be paid in full until the very end of your tenancy because the property is still yours until the end of the notice period - this does mean that if you suddenly stop paying, even if you’re leaving soon, we still might have to take legal action (if you leave and owe us money, other housing providers might not give you a home in the future too, but we’ll always try to work with you to avoid any action being taken)

If you’ve changed your mind about moving out of your home you need to tell us as soon as possible. If there’s still time, we might be able to stop the process and let you keep your home. Please be aware if the notice period is up and your tenancy has already ended we might’ve already let the property to someone else. You can still join our Live Chat and talk to a member of our team though and we’ll do our very best to help.