24 Jun 2021
Leaving, or have recently left, your private rented accommodation?
Do you currently live in or have you previously lived in privately rented accommodation? Have you experienced a landlord giving you, or you giving your landlord notice to leave your home (known as ‘notice to quit)? If so, we want to hear from you.
CIH Northern Ireland is carrying out research on private tenancies and ‘notice to quit’ periods on behalf of the Department for Communities. We want to learn more about the experiences of tenants who have previously experienced a ‘notice to quit’. As the department seeks to amend the legislation, it is important to us that your voice is reflected in that change.
Things we are interested to know:
- How long you lived in the property before the ‘notice to quit’
- If you found the time period sufficient and how long it took you to secure suitable alternative accommodation
- Your views on what you consider a reasonable notice period to be.
The current legislation in Northern Ireland requires landlords to issue a notice to tenants 12 weeks in advance of the household having to vacate the property. This was amended in May 2020 through the Private Tenancies Act (NI) in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, taking into consideration the risks involved in moving home and the difficulty in finding a new home in this timeframe amidst the health crisis. This legislation is due to end on 30 September 2021.
Before this, the length of the notice period was dependent on the length of time tenants lived in the property. For the vast majority of tenants, the average time spent living in a property is less than five years, in these instances the ‘notice to quit’ period was 28 days. For tenants living in property between five and ten years, landlords had to give at least eight weeks' notice to quit and for tenants living in a property for over ten years, landlords had to give a minimum of 12 weeks' notice.
*Tenants should only complete the below survey if the previous home you lived in (immediately before your current accommodation) was private rented property.
