early cancellation of lease - what can we expect back from the deposit?

[helenram]

My boyfriend recently rented a premises to host private work with his business partner. Tehy have now decided not to work together (it's on good terms) but my boyfriend is worried about the lease of the usiness premises and his partner is very pessimistic about getting any of the despoit back - which considering it's in excellent condition seems odd to me.

1. they rented it on a 6 month lease - there are 3 months to go
2. the contract doesn't state anything about early penalty fees or even anything to do with terminating the contract
3. does the deposisit need to be in a tenant scheme or is that just with private leases?

Does anyone have any ideas about what they can expect to get back? My boyfriend said he was going to call citizens advice - but I ssaid you guys were probably more knowledgeable and quicker to reply!

thank you in advance

[MrShed]

Does the contract state the 6 month term?

[helenram]

I think it does, but it doesn't state what happens if the 6 months are not fulfilled - does the law make assumptions in such cases?

[MrShed]

That is the contract - there is no assumption needed to be made.

The simple answer in this case is that the entire 6 months contract is payable I'm afraid.

[helenram]

thank you for your quick reply,

Does anyone else have any other ideas or experiences? If the landlord manages to sublet it for example, it doesn't seem logical that he gets to get twice the amount of rent.
one set from my boyfriend and the other set from new tenants. wouldn't it relate to a breach of contract and only being able to get damages? (i.e one month's rent if the property was empty for one month)

[MrShed]

Sorry, yes maybe my answer is overly generic.

If the landlord re-lets, then yes he should not continue taking money from your BF. However, recent case law means that the landlord is under no obligation to mitigate his loss - i.e. re-let.

Not an easy situation I'm afraid! I too would be interested to see other PoV on this one though.

[helenram]

great stuff - i really appreciate it. turns out there is nothing in the written contract about the length of time. It was agreed verbally with his business partner - and the landlord is a "friend" of hers. She's very bitter about the split of the business, but insists on negotiating the return of the deposit on her own, saying it is better because she is friends with the landlord. I don't trust her, especially as she is the one saying it's unlikely they will get anything back before she has even talked to the landlord.

Didn't know that landlords didn't have to mitigate losses though - that's worth knowing, thanks!

[MrShed]

That changes things slightly.

It can be argued that as the term duration was organised verbally between two parties OTHER than your BF, and the lease he signed does not state a term, that your BF never in fact agreed to any kind of fixed term period.

Ultimately the only way you could find out whether this would be successful would be by taking the landlord to court.

I assume your BF was a signatory on the lease? Who is the named party on the lease - is it the business name, or is it the two individuals?

You are welcome by the way

Also, two pertinent questions are: what is the deposit amount(per person, not total) and what was the monthly rental(total)?

[helenram]

It is the 2 individuals on the lease, they have 3 months left at £430 a month and their deposit is £1300 (in total) She's meeting with the landlord today so going to wait to see what she says she told him. Thank you again for your help - I really appreciate it - I think you've helped me before!

[MrShed]

My strong opinion would be that the best way to fight this is the basis that there was never a fixed term agreed between your BF and the landlord. The agreement between his business partner is not enough - the two tenants are listed seperately.

Good luck!!

[wolves2625]

I understand that there is no obligation on the landlord to mitigate - this makes sense as it would involve the landlord most probably paying an agent to get someone and using up his own time and energy - both things that the tenant could do if they wanted to.