Landlords........the swines.

[no more debt 2006]

Hi All,

First thread, so really hope you guys can help me out please.

My partner and I moved into a lovely place in November 2006 for a 12 month period.

We have since had a cahnge in circumstances, and cannot afford the rent no more. We have contacted the lanlord and she says that she needed 4 weeks notice so we gave her the notice on 06/06/07, and even if we leave we still have to pay the rent until a new tenant moves in. If we moved out without a new tenant we would also lose our deposit.

Since giving her the notice we have advertised in the free adverts on the internet. We have paced a poster in the window of the flat, and in our car.

The landlord has praised us for this.

If we left now, can landlord make us pay for the rent until a new tenant is found, and can she keep out deposit????

Thank You.

[reallymadwoman]

It depends on what's in your tenancy agreement. First step is to decide what type of tenancy you have and read all the small print. You can either scan your agreement and post it on here, or take it to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau.
Do you deal direct with the landlord or through an agency?

[no more debt 2006]

we deal directly with the landlord............

[reallymadwoman]

I'm not an expert, just a generalist advisor with a well-known agency, but if you post your tenancy agreement on here I'll take a look and tell you what I think. Remember to remove any personal details.

[no more debt 2006]

will do it soon, thanks reallymadwoman.

[Joa]

Firts of all, I really really object to the title of this thread. You are doing yourself no favour generalising like that.
Secondly; read your tenancy agreement; check whether there is an "early break" clause which allows one of the parties to terminate the agreement earlier then originally stated. If such clause is incorporated in your agreement, you maybe fine. If no such clause, you are responsible for the rent payments until the landlady gets a new tenant (therefore you need to keep an eagle eye on the property to pinpoint the date when the new tenants move in).
I would also seek advice with regards to Housing Benefit- as you say that your circumstances have changed. Check with the landlady- if you had help fro HB would she let you stay?
Check your entitlement here: entitledto

[Esio Trot]

It is usual for a fixed-term contract to mean exactly that.

You moved in in November 2006 on a 12 month contract: you are liable for the rent for the term.

Although not the exactly the same, a leaseholder recently lost a high court claim regarding liability to pay rent after the premises were vacated. The court said that the landlord has no obligation to try and mitigate the tenants losses: it was up to the tenant to do this.

Looks like you will need to continue marketing the property yourself.

By the way, your liability to pay the council tax also continues for the duration of the contract, unless the property is re-let in the meantime.

[MrShed]

Esio is entirely correct. All I would add is take that case law with a pinch of salt - there is an effort underway as far as I know to get that decision overturned, and I would hope and expect that it does. With that in mind, I would still advise currently(from a personal point of view) that the landlord needs to mitigate his loss, but with the point made that it may not be legally enforceable. However, it would also be totally correct to say that the landlord has no responsibility to mitigate the loss. Something of a grey area since that judgement got passed.