Many thanks for the suggestion - and yes - I will do my own advertising shortly - but that is a back up as the new tenant would be an illegal subtenant unless approved by the agent - whose only interest is in milking the situation. I just want to ask the landlord to release me from the contract. At the moment I have no way of even proposing anyone else. So the question is - how long is reasonable for a landlord to reply in 'administering' a contract - and what can I do to get a reply?

Hi - my first post. I unwittingly signed (via an agent) a 12 month no break clause contract to rent a house, since I had made it clear to them that I wanted to leave after 6 months I assumed the contract was just 'the way things were done' and they re-assured me that I could leave in August if I gaev 2 months notice. Now they have said I cannot leave. I wrote on 2 July both to argue my side, but also to ask the landlord to release me from the contract, so that I can start to negotiate on who pays for finding a new tenant. 24 days, 7 phone calls and one email later, all the agent will say is that they are waiting to hear back from the landlord. Surely there must be a reasonable timescale for a response form the landlord, what do people think - and how can I force a response? Or do I just have to wait as long as they want me to?