Ending tenancy early but paying for full month?

The tenancy I give to my tenants in England clearly states that you are liable for utilities and council tax up till the end date of the contract, irrespective of weither you move out earlier. So in your case the full month's notice.
This is also the default position on the new Wales rental rules.
In practice if my tenant offered to give me access to the property earlier I would likely accept especially if remedial work was needed. However, legally if I accepted the keys back midway through your month's notice the tenancy ends on that date and I would have to refund you the rent for the remaining time

Interestingly in the new Welsh rules it doesn't stipulate that notice must run inline with rental periods simply 28days notive

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Rattew at 03/02/2023 - 17:20
I would say I am 75% sure holding two months future rent is classed as a deposit, I seem to remember I read a judges ruling on this matter.
I would be worried unless you put the two months in the deposit scheme.
I would also take issue with "They can then get most of their 2 months' advance rent refunded", I am not trying to target you, I am interested in the how, but that statement seems to say they cannot get all their 2 months rent back, I take one months rent and it is their last months rent and that by law is all I can use it for.
Your reply to Seething Landlord seems to lean towards you will use that "rent payments" towards Council tax or repairs, which turns those funds into a deposit not rent.
I could be misreading or minunderstanding your posts, or you might well placing the rent in the deposit scheme, if not then you might be leaving yourself open to a claim / hassle.

Deposits are only for returnable funds. There was a case where a tenant paid 6 months' advance rent and it was ruled as rent, not deposit. We have had tenants who have paid a year in advance for a small discount. The deposit scheme keeps the money to the end, which would not work. With the advance rent, the last two months' rent of the contract are paid in advance. Generally, they are for July and August. Given that we never kept deposit in decades of taking them until a few years ago, and have tenancies of 3 to 12 months, the deposit scheme would be a waste of money.

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Rattew at 03/02/2023 - 17:54
I understand that, the reply you made hinted they might get some of the two months rent back, if they did not owe for Council tax or utilities changes that, I do not take deposits, agree it is a useless system made only to benefit tenants and the gov making millions on interest and holding on to deposits.

Reply to the comment left by Chris H at 03/02/2023 - 20:11
We include utilities in the rent, so that is not an issue. The tenant deals directly with the council for council tax. Given that the refund is discretionary, we can account for any of our extra costs. We have on occasion refunded all the advance rent, but that is where tenants have to leave for reasons beyond their control, for compassionate reasons, or where they have found tenants for more than one of our flats on leaving.

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Rattew at 03/02/2023 - 20:31
From what you have said I believe it is more than likely that a court would hold that what you describe as advance rent is actually a deposit which should be restricted to 5 weeks rent and protected.

I would say that the same applies to taking the final month's rent at the beginning of the tenancy, it is security for a future payment that is not yet due, which is how a deposit would normally be defined.

Whatever wording you use, the court will look at the overall position and come to a conclusion about the true purpose of the payment based upon all the facts.

You do not need me to lay out the implications of breaching the Tenant Fees Act or failing to protect a deposit.

There was a case where a judge ruled that advance rent was a deposit, but that was overturned. The deposit scheme can apply only where money is held to be returned to the tenant at the end of the tenancy. In the case of advance rent, there is nothing to be returned at the end of the tenancy. Rent is not counted as a fee under the Fees Act. For shorter tenancies, we charge the whole rent in advance, but most of our tenancies are 12 months long.

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Rattew at 03/02/2023 - 22:03
You are probably thinking of Johnson v Old. It is worth reading the whole Court of Appeal judgement to note the close analysis that is necessary to establish whether so-called rent in advance is actually a deposit. There is an interesting report of the case on Landlord Law Blog and the comments at the end of the article illustrate that the decision is not as straightforward as some seem to think.
https://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2013/04/23/court-of-appeal-decision-in-johnson-v-old-good-news-for-landlords/?doing_wp_cron=1675470110.4605209827423095703125#:~:text=Landlords%20everywhere%20will%20be%20relieved%20to,tenant%20to%20pay%20six%20months%20rent&text=Landlords%20everywhere%20will%20be,pay%20six%20months%20rent&text=will%20be%20relieved%20to,tenant%20to%20pay%20six

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 04/02/2023 - 01:06
I checked the links. That all seems perfectly clear and reasonable. I would also point out that our fixed-term tenancies give the tenant, subject to not breaking the tenancy terms, security for the term - usually 1 year. The government is trying to move everyone on to contracts with less security than this, which would not suit our tenants.

Reply to the comment left by Chris Bradley at 03/02/2023 - 17:23Chris, I don’t think you do have to refund the balance of the notice in that instance. I remember it from a post quite some time ago. I remember it because I was surprised by it and it was a solicitor who explained it, so it was from someone who was a reliable source. I doubt I’d be able to find it now, but I’d double check that. You’re tenancy states one month notice must be given and therefore the whole month must be paid for regardless if it’s used. I’ll see if I can find some evidence of this position.