Ending your tenancy
If you wish to end your tenancy you, and any joint tenants, should contact us at optionsvoids@aberdeenshire.gov.uk. You must give at least 28 days notice before the date you intend to leave the property.
You need to tell us if you normally live in the property with your husband, wife or partner because we also need their agreement. We will ask you to complete a termination notice with relevant information, including your future address. We will let you know what you need to do before you leave and what we have to do.
The termination date for your tenancy will be 28 calendar days from the date of receipt of your written notice. In some circumstances we may make the termination date less than 28 days.
If you are transferring to another tenancy within Aberdeenshire you do not have to provide 28 days notice.
What to do before moving out
When we get notification of your intention to move out of your house, we'll write to you confirming the termination date for your tenancy. We'll also ask you to clear the house and hand in all sets of keys to your local Housing office by 10am on the agreed date.
If your keys are returned any later, you'll be liable for further rental payments.
If you fail to return your keys, we'll make arrangements to change the locks. You'll be charged for this cost.
Before leaving your house you must:
- give us a minimum of 28 days notice of termination - except if you're transferring to another council property
- allow a Clerk of Works access to your property to carry out an inspection of any repairs that may be needed
- allow any minor repairs required to be done before the termination date
- make sure your rent account and any other housing debt accounts are paid in full
- make sure there is no debt left on your gas and/or electricity meters
- allow the Housing Officer access to show a prospective tenant around your property during normal working hours
- make sure the house and garden are left in a clean and tidy condition and available for accompanied viewing
- make sure there are no re-chargeable repairs outstanding
- return the keys on the termination day or by 10:00 am on the day following at the latest
- leave a forwarding address
Property inspection
After you've returned your keys to us, we will arrange for a full inspection of the vacant property to be done. The inspection will identify any repairs which weren't previously obvious and that need to be done before the house is let to a new tenant.
If we find any repairs, which are your responsibility, or have to remove any of your possessions left in the house or garden we'll charge you for this.
Meter readings
Please remember before you move out of the property to contact your gas and/or electricity supplier to arrange for final readings to be taken up to the date when you move out. You should also arrange to have your telephone disconnected and for your mail to be redirected to your new address.
Our Leaving Your Council Tenancy leaflet gives you important information about what you need to do to end your council tenancy and includes useful contact phone numbers:
Other ways your tenancy can be ended
Buying your property
If you buy your property from us, your tenancy will end on the date of transfer of ownership of the property to yourself. We'll tell you the date when this will happen. You need to make rental and other payments up to that date.
If you rent a garage from us and you have bought your council property you'll need to pay VAT on the garage.
Abandoning your property
We may also end your tenancy if we have reasonable grounds for believing that you have abandoned your property. In this situation, we may enter your property to make it secure. A Notice of Abandonment will be served stating that we believe that you have abandoned your property.
This Notice requires you to contact us and confirm your occupancy of the property, on or before the date on the Notice. If we don't hear from you by then we can end your tenancy by serving a second Notice on you.
After this, if you have left any of your possessions in the property, we'll tell you what is left and how you can reclaim it. We may store it for up to six months if the value of the items is more than the cost of storage.
If you fail to contact us or reclaim your possessions we can dispose of them as we see fit.
Eviction
We can also take action through the Sheriff Court to get an order for your eviction from your property, under Section 14 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 on any of the grounds in Schedule 2 of the Act. For example, if you breach your tenancy conditions by:
- not paying rent
- causing a nuisance to your neighbours
- neglecting the property
Full details are in paragraph 6.3 of your Secure Tenancy Agreement.
The Sheriff must be satisfied that it is reasonable to make an order for your eviction.
Joint tenancy
A joint tenant may, at any time, end their interest in the tenancy by giving four weeks notice to us and the other joint tenant.
If we think a joint tenant has abandoned the property we'll give that tenant four weeks notice to tell us if they intend to occupy the property. Afterwards, a second notice will be issued telling the joint tenant that their tenancy will be stopped eight weeks from the date of the second notice.
Further information is in Section 6 of your Secure Tenancy Agreement.
If the tenant dies
In the event of the death of the tenant, a qualifying person will succeed to the tenancy. Any outstanding debts due to us will be charged to the deceased’s estate.
Further information is in Section 7 of your Secure Tenancy Agreement.
In circumstances where the tenant no longer has the capacity to end their tenancy, for example if moving into a residential facility, the only other way the tenancy can be ended is by an instruction from someone with a legal power of attorney or an intervention order.