Ending your Tenancy - Victory Housing

Ending your tenancy - By You

Your Neighbourhood Officer can give you a standard form to end your tenancy, and help you to fill it in. There are three types of form depending on your tenancy type:

Notice to Quit (Joint Tenancy)

Notice to Quit (One Joint Tenant)

Notice to Quit (Sole Tenant)

You must:

Give at least four weeks’ notice to us in writing. The notice period must end on a Sunday;
Ensure your returned keys are made available, or put into the key safe provided by us midday on the Monday after the termination date. If you do not return the keys you will be charged extra rent;
Allow our staff and/or contractors access to the property within the final four weeks of your tenancy. The time and date of the visit(s) will be arranged in advance. You should also allow the new tenants to view the house;
Leave the property, including loft spaces, garden and any sheds or garages clean and tidy;
Remove all furniture, clothes and other personal belongings;
Remove any rubbish;
Clean all surfaces, fixtures and fittings, including toilet, bath, basin, kitchen units and sinks;
Remove and dispose of all floor coverings unless they are in excellent condition and it has been agreed beforehand;
Leave the structure of the property and any fixtures and fittings (such as light fittings and kitchen units) in a reasonable condition;
Remove any fittings that belong to you and repair any damage caused; and
Make sure your rent is up to date and leave us a forwarding address.

If you fail to leave the property totally empty we will arrange to clear what is left and charge you for doing this. We may also charge you for any repairs needed to the structure, fixtures or fittings that are not the result of wear and tear.

Before you leave your home for the last time you should make sure you have:

Read any gas, electric and water meters and sent the readings to the suppliers so they can close the account;
Told the Council Tax department at the local authority;
Told other service providers such as telephone and television services;
Re-directed your post to your new address. Your local post office will be able to help you do this; and
Tell us. If you leave the property without telling us, you will be responsible for the full rent and other bills until the date the tenancy ends legally.

Ending your tenancy - By Us

We can end your tenancy in certain situations. To do this we will need to get a Court Order. We will need to show the Court that there are certain grounds for ending your tenancy.

The grounds we will use are:

Not paying your rent;
Breaking the conditions of the tenancy, including your refusal to us to access your property to carry out repairs or annual heating appliance service checks;
Causing damage to the property;
Causing damage to any furniture we have provided;
Being involved in anti-social behaviour or using your home for illegal purposes;
Providing false evidence to get the tenancy; and
If one partner has left due to suffering domestic violence and is unlikely to return. In this case the remaining partner will no longer have the right to stay in the property.

If we wished to end your tenancy we would serve you with a Notice of Seeking Possession. This tells you that we are thinking about taking legal action. You must contact us during the Notice Period to make arrangements to sort out the problem. If you do not we may start possession proceedings through the County Court.

There are other circumstances in which we may need to end your tenancy, for example, redevelopment of your home. If this were the case we would offer you alternative accommodation that suits your needs. We would still need the Court’s agreement to end a tenancy in this way. Your Tenancy Agreement also has details on how your tenancy can be ended by us.