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Not before exchange of contracts. That is the short answer, and under the rules brought in by the Renters’ Rights Act it has become an expensive one, because tenants in England must now give their landlord at least two months’ written notice, double what most tenancies needed before.
Put those two facts together and you get the squeeze catching first time buyers out right now: you cannot safely serve notice until your purchase is legally certain, completion usually follows exchange within a few weeks, and so you end up paying rent, council tax and bills on a home you have already left, at exactly the moment your first mortgage payment, legal fees and moving costs all land.
What changed under the Renters’ Rights Act
The Act came into force on 1 May 2026 and reshaped renting in England, moving tenants onto periodic tenancies and doubling the notice a tenant must give to leave, from the single month most renters were used to, to at least two months in writing. The aim was to protect renters from losing their homes too quickly. The side effect, four months on, is that renters leaving the rental market for good, first time buyers, carry an extra month of housing costs out the door with them. The Mirror covered this squeeze in August 2026 and quoted me on it, alongside brokers from around the country. My line was simple: the final rent payment is for a home nobody lives in.
Since May 2026 tenants in England must give at least two months' notice to leave.
The safe moment to serve notice is exchange of contracts, not mortgage offer.
Budget for a month or more of rent and bills overlapping your first mortgage payment.
Why you cannot safely give notice before exchange
Until contracts are exchanged, your purchase can fall through, and roughly nothing you have done before that point protects you. A mortgage offer can lapse or be withdrawn, a survey can kill a sale, a chain can collapse, a seller can simply change their mind. Serve your two months’ notice on the strength of an offer or an optimistic completion date, and a collapsed purchase could leave you with no home to move into and no tenancy to stay in. Exchange is the moment the purchase becomes legally binding on both sides, which makes it the earliest sensible moment to hand in notice. I have explained what exchange actually involves in what is exchange of contracts.
What the overlap costs and how to budget for it
Reporting on this in August 2026 put the typical cost of that extra month, rent, council tax, energy and water on the old home, at around £1,800, based on official average figures, and comfortably more in expensive areas. Treat a number like that as a planning figure rather than a prediction: your own overlap is your rent plus your bills for however many weeks sit between moving out and your notice ending. The point is to put it in the budget on day one, next to legal fees and moving costs, rather than discover it at completion. I have set out the full list of costs first time buyers face in the costs of buying a house.
Can you shorten the overlap?
Sometimes, and it is worth trying. Serve notice on the day of exchange rather than days later, because every day of delay extends the overlap. Ask your solicitor about the gap between exchange and completion: a slightly longer gap can be negotiated, and lining completion up nearer your notice end date trims the double paying, at the price of waiting longer for the keys. Check the tenancy paperwork on exactly when your notice can end, because notice usually has to line up with rent periods, and a badly timed letter can add weeks. And talk to your landlord early. Nothing stops a landlord agreeing an earlier end by consent, especially if the property will re-let quickly, and a good relationship is worth something here.
Speak to an expert
Buying your first home from a rented one? Call me on 01425 203055 or email info@htgmortgages.com and I will help you plan the mortgage and the timing together.
What I told the Mirror
When the Mirror asked me about this in August 2026, I said the part nobody in Government seems to have thought about out loud: the notice period was doubled without anyone considering the people leaving renting for good. First time buyers get the keys to their new place, then realise they still owe a month of rent, council tax and bills on the place they have left, right when everything else hits. It will not break the housing market on its own, but buyers are already starting to time completions around notice dates, and that slows chains down. The full piece is on my In The News page along with the rest of my press coverage.
A first time buyer timeline that works
Offer accepted, mortgage application in, survey and legal work under way, and your tenancy simply carries on as normal through all of it. At exchange, serve your two months’ written notice the same day. Complete a few weeks later, move, and keep paying the old rent and bills until the notice ends, out of money you set aside for exactly this when you started. The one move to avoid is the tempting one: serving notice early to save a month’s rent. If the purchase slips, you have gambled the roof over your head to save less than the removal van costs.
Planning the money side
The overlap is one line in a bigger budget: deposit, legal fees, survey, moving costs, and now a month or more of double housing costs. Getting the mortgage right sits alongside getting that cash flow right, and both depend on your own numbers. My first time buyer guide covers the whole process from start to finish, and working out what it all means for your situation is what an advice appointment is for. Call me on 01425 203055 and I will go through it with you.
Need Personal Mortgage Advice?
Every buyer’s situation is different. While this guide explains the general rules, the right mortgage for you depends on your income, deposit, credit history and future plans. If you’d like tailored advice, I’m here to help, with whole-of-market coverage.
