Leaving sooner than contract - help needed

[DSM]

Dear all

My husband and I moved into our current home in April this year on a 6 month contract that ended in October. We have now extended for another six months to April 2007. The problem is we are looking at leaving the country end of July 2007 and this will not fall within the normal 6 months contract that we are signing. Is there any way that we can live in our house and still get our deposit back, because our agreement says the landlord could hold on to our entire deposit if we leave.

Trying to seek a solution before its too late

Dee

[LondonPam]

Why not contact your landlord now and ask him if he would extend your tenancy until July. As he knows well in advance he may be willing to do this.

[MrShed]

Ripped from a post I made a while ago:

The simple answer is, no you cannot end the tenancy as such early. However, there are still several options available to you, I shall attempt to detail them below(in order I would do them):

- Check your AST for a break clause. It is quite possible that in such a long term contract there may well be such a clause, allowing you to give notice during the tenancy. However, this is still unlikely, but definitely worth checking.

- Negotiate with the landlord. A landlord may be quite receptive to you just sitting, talking to him, and telling him that you would like to leave if possible. They may also be receptive to a financial settlement to break the contract, a couple of months rent may be amenable.

- Give notice and leave. In this situation, you are responsible for the rent still, however the landlord must make every reasonable attempt to find a new tenant, and realistically finding a new tenant should not take any longer than 2 to 3 months - of course depending on the property and the area. I do not think that the notice period would matter, as you are more giving him notice to look for new tenants than giving notice that you are breaking the tenancy and stopping rent payments. But I wait to be corrected on this. However, it is obviously advisable to give as much notice as possible.

- Assignment. As long as it is not prohibited in your AST, you have the right to assign your tenancy to someone else. This means that you can find someone else to take over the tenancy from you, and this cannot reasonably be refused. However, I think they have to pass the same credit checks etc as you did.

- Sublet. Again, as long as it is not prohibited in your AST(most do prohibit it) you can sublet the property to someone else. NB: it is an unfair term to prohibit both assigment and subletting, so if both are, then you can basically choose either, as the terms are null and void.

- Remember that you are only responsible for the rent until a new tenant is installed, and the landlord must make every reasonable effort to mitigate his losses i.e. find a new tenant.

Only thing to add to this, no he cannot keep your whole deposit. However, he can make reasonable deductions for the cost to him of reletting.

[Nightmare4banks]

DSM in reply to your post and in my opinion:

1.Basically as it stands now,you and your husband are liable for the rent for the full 6 month tenancy term.Once the 6 month tenancy agreement expires in April 2007 there is no need to renew it for a further fixed term period.As long as you pay the rent and the landlord accepts it you have a "periodic assured shorthold agreement" by default.

2.You will then need to give your landlord 1 month notice to vacate i.e.give your notice in June 2007 and in writing by recorded delivery(to avoid any potential confusion/dispute further down the line) to your landlord's registered address.

3.Be flexible with access(within reason) during the last month of the tenancy so that your landlord can show around new potential tenants.

4.There should be no reason why your landlord withholds your deposit due to the notice issue as this would be unfair.However,anything to do with deductions for any other reasons i.e. reasonable wear and tear etc read through other posts to educate yourself further.

I hope you find this information useful.

If you have any more questions,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[DSM]

Thank you so much for your contributions. I have read the tenancy agreement and there seems to be no provision for a periodic assured shorthold agreement. However, in the next fortnight I am going to arrange for us to meet with our landlord and see if he is agreeable to rolling a month at a time until we leave.

Will keep you posted.

Dee

[Nightmare4banks]

DSM,in reply to your last post:

There is no need for there to be a provision for a statutory periodic assured shorthold agreement to be written in your tenancy agreement because once the fixed term expires,this is automatically created by default in accordance to the appropriate housing act.

This is the law of the land for this type of scenario,so you should both be fine.

I hope you find this information useful.

If you have any more questions,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[DSM]

What a nightmare! We have just received a letter from our landlord wishing to terminate the contract as of April, which leaves us in a difficult situation. We will only have 3 months before we need to leave the country and finding another house near here for 3 months could be a hassle. Our landlord has just instructed Christies to come and do an inventory check.

I am a bit shocked as I spoke to him on Friday and told him that our arrangements for Africa were still on. So he casually said that someone had been enquiring over the property and that he would see whether they would be willing to hang on until August. I did not think much of this until today. In his letter, he also says that he will be on holiday until 18 March, but is expecting us out by 11 April.

Is there any way we can stay on? The hassle of moving for a few months has already started to eat me up. Help

[MrShed]

Did you at any point give formal notice? Has he supplied you with formal 2 months notice?

[DSM]

Thank you for coming back so quickly Mr Shed. Well, we received the letter today and yes it is roughly 2 months to the end of the contract which is 11 April. We had not given him any formal notice as yet.

Dee

[MrShed]

There is no "rough" about it. If he has not given you a CLEAR 2 months, then the notice is invalid. He has, in effect, given you from the 19th of February to the 11th of April. He will not be able to get a court order for possession with this notice. And, you have NO obligation to leave without a court order being in place.

[DSM]

Do you recommend that we write back and highlight the fact that its less than 2 months? What is the best way to go about this?

Dee

[MrShed]

PMing...

[Cpt Black]

IMHO, it might be just the landlord getting itchy feet about you moving to another country, i.e. he doesn't want you to leave with the house in a mess or running off with all his stuff. Would it be possible to stay with friends/relatives for the 3 months or move abroad early