Deed of surrender

[roithamer]

Hello. First post, hope this is the right section.

 

Our landlord wants to sell the property and since we don't have a break clause (we moved in 3 months ago for a 2-year lease), we as tenants agreed on breaking the contract under the conditions: 3 months of free rent and moving out in Apr.

 

Now the next step is to sign the deed of surrender and, since I'm new to this kind of paperwork, I'm seeking for an opinion on the clauses in the agreement.

 

 

DEED OF SURRENDER

 

Agreement

 

1. The Tenant hereby surrenders to the Landlord the Tenancy Agreement and the property on XXX 2013 and the

Landlord hereby accepts such surrender.

 

2. It is hereby agreed that the Tenant shall not be liable for any payment of rent for the period from XXX 2014

onwards.

 

3. It is further agreed that the Landlord shall return the deposit paid on the grant of the Tenancy Agreement in the

sum of £X,XXX in line with clauses 17 and 19.2 of the agreement

 

4. The Tenant agrees to cover the checkout inspection in line with clause 14.1 of the Tenancy Agreement.

 

5. The tenant agrees to cover the cost of professional cleaning at the end of the tenancy in line with clause 4.4 of the

Tenancy Agreement.

 

6. In consideration of the Landlord accepting the surrender of the Tenancy Agreement and the Property, the Tenant

hereby releases the Landlord from all future claims, demands, liability and obligations in respect of the obligations

in the Tenancy Agreement to be complied with by the Landlord.

 

7. In consideration of the Tenant surrendering the Tenancy Agreement and the Property the Landlord hereby releases

the Tenant from all future claims, demands and obligations in respect of the obligations in the Lease to be

complied with by the Tenant.

 

8. With the Tenant agreeing to surrender the tenancy due to the Landlord wanting to place the property on the

market for sale it is agreed the Tenant will provide access with reasonable notice and during working hours 7 days

a week between 8am and 8pm to allow the appointed sales agent to conclude a sale of the property.

 

9. The Tenant is aware and agreeable that the Landlord will not be addressing any cosmetic maintenance works and

will only undertake any urgent works that affect the property being habitable for the Tenant ,i.e. heating, electrics

and plumbing.

 

-----

 

Does this look like a reasonable deed of surrender? I'm slightly concerned with

 

- clause 8: seven days of week of flat viewings seems excessive maybe? And does this mean that they're allowed to come in even if we're not home?

- clause 3: since we're doing the landlord a huge favour by allowing him to sell it, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect a full refund of the deposit?

 

Well, thanks for any help or opinion on this

[renegadeimp]

The viewings are only to be peformed when YOU are available and with a good amount of notice. He cant say that he wants access 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Youa re still tenants, and it is still your home.

[roithamer]

Thanks a lot for the reply. So do you think I should suggest a re-wording of that clause or is it ok as it is?

[renegadeimp]

Always suggest a rewording if you dont agree with it. That agreement as it stands seems more favourable to the LL than anything else. There are a few parts where you come out on top, but these things are to be expected after he knows he has basically done wrong.

 

You must get that access clause changed though. Perhaps change it to 9-5 mon - fri with at least 3 days clear notice. It is still your home and you are entitled to privacy and no distractions unless you allow them.

[citizenB]

You could also run this past Shelter, they have a department which deals with this type of thing

 

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/private_renting

 

 

Ring 0808 800 4444

 

8am-8pm Monday-Friday

8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

 

Calls are free from UK landlines and main

mobile networks (Vodafone, O2, EE and

Virgin Mobile).

[marmaris30]

I'm not an expert but I have the following observations:

- The moving-out date is not mentioned, unless this is meant to be in Clause 1.

- Although neither you nor the landlord are obliged to accept a surrender, the landlord would still be legally entitled to sell with you as sitting tenants (possibly at a reduced price), and you would probably find that your existing agreement makes provision for visits, with reasonable notice of course. You're doing him a favour, yes, but don't overestimate it!

- Allowing viewings on any day of the week gives the seller flexibility but doesn't mean there will be people there every day, and you could state a limit per week. However, if you wanted to be really restrictive by insisting on being present, I don't think you would get three months free rent in return. It is normal for people selling non-rented houses to allow estate agents unsupervised access.

- It is reasonable to expect your deposit back on termination of the tenancy, less any reasonable deductions (is it protected?) for damage. If your landlord agrees that there are no deductions, then you get it all back. It is probably best not to confuse this with the 'favour' value, and remember that the landlord takes a certain risk if he gives the deposit back before moving out.

- However, with the three rent-free months, it raises the question of whether termination occurs on surrender (with a three-month licence to occupy free of charge), or on moving out (simply a variation to the original tenancy - maybe £1 pcm would be more advisable - followed by delayed surrender).

- Clause 9: if you're going to make a list of non-excluded maintenance then it would need to include more than just heating, plumbing and electrics. What if the roof blew away?

- Remember that deeds need to be witnessed.

[marmaris30]

Agreed that 12 hours of access is a bit excessive!

[renegadeimp]

Agreed that 12 hours of access is a bit excessive!

 

it's 12 hours a day 7 days a week that is excessive. If it was 12 hours, once or twice a week, and at no other time, then it MIGHT be seen as fair.

[marmaris30]

Maybe even 0900-1800 on weekdays only would be a reasonable compromise, depending on the tenant's circumstances. I think it is important to recognise that the landlord could still sell with sitting tenants, and that the tenant is being offered three months of free accommodation as well as (apparently) full and early return of their deposit, which gives plenty of time to organise replacement housing. I would consider this reasonably fair as a starting point, but I do agree that privacy and the right to 'peaceful enjoyment' are important issues to be taken into account in the surrender negotiation.

[roithamer]

Thanks for replying, marmaris30

 

I'm not an expert but I have the following observations:

- The moving-out date is not mentioned, unless this is meant to be in Clause 1.

While taking out the actual dates, I wrongly changed 2014 to 2013 - anyway, the clause is:

"The Tenant hereby surrenders to the Landlord the Tenancy Agreement and the property on 6th April 2014 and the Landlord hereby accepts such surrender." So I guess that should be the moving out date.

 

- Although neither you nor the landlord are obliged to accept a surrender, the landlord would still be legally entitled to sell with you as sitting tenants (possibly at a reduced price), and you would probably find that your existing agreement makes provision for visits, with reasonable notice of course. You're doing him a favour, yes, but don't overestimate it!

So do you think then that the 3 months of free rent is a good compromise then and we couldn't have asked for more?

 

- Allowing viewings on any day of the week gives the seller flexibility but doesn't mean there will be people there every day, and you could state a limit per week. However, if you wanted to be really restrictive by insisting on being present, I don't think you would get three months free rent in return. It is normal for people selling non-rented houses to allow estate agents unsupervised access.

You're right, I'm sure they wouldn't be here all the time for viewing, but I'm not sure what you mean in your last sentence - this is a rented property.

 

- It is reasonable to expect your deposit back on termination of the tenancy, less any reasonable deductions (is it protected?) for damage. If your landlord agrees that there are no deductions, then you get it all back. It is probably best not to confuse this with the 'favour' value, and remember that the landlord takes a certain risk if he gives the deposit back before moving out.

The deposit's protected by a TDSL scheme on deposits.co.uk. So, again, leaving the deposit clause unchanged is something to be expected and is reasonable, right? I'm just a bit worried that he might want to propose some unreasonable deductions, since unfortunately he hasn't proved to be very reasonable so far during our tenancy. There are some additional minor scuffs on the walls, and we think he might want to charge us for redoing the painting in the whole flat because of those. Out of curiosity, would you happen to know how much would that cost?

 

- However, with the three rent-free months, it raises the question of whether termination occurs on surrender (with a three-month licence to occupy free of charge), or on moving out (simply a variation to the original tenancy - maybe £1 pcm would be more advisable - followed by delayed surrender).

Clause 2 is "It is hereby agreed that the Tenant shall not be liable for any payment of rent for the period from 7th January 2014 onwards.", so together with Clause 1 it is my understanding that the surrender is on the 6th of April which is the same date as the moving out. Does this make sense to you?

 

- Clause 9: if you're going to make a list of non-excluded maintenance then it would need to include more than just heating, plumbing and electrics. What if the roof blew away?

Yeah, it is a bit weird to only have those 3 listed. Not sure how I could ask for a complete list of issues to be addressed, I would trust their common sense on this.

 

- Remember that deeds need to be witnessed.

This deed is from Foxtons, so I suppose they would be the witnesses? The agreement is required to be signed by us the tenants and the landlord - do we need any other signatures?

 

Thanks again!

[roithamer]

We got back to them saying that 12hours a day with 7 days of week availability for the viewing is too much, but they (Foxtons, grr) said that they won't amend anything on the agreement and that we basically have to deal with it. And that they're "the most successful agency" because they're always available to view houses at any time. They even wanted to view the flat today and we haven't even signed the agreement yet!

 

I'll just swallow it and get on with my life, dealing with this bunch of terrible people (Foxtons) is too much for my health.

[Batfink]

Tell them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine and you'll see out your tenancy agreement then.

[renegadeimp]

Simply tell them that if they do not modify it, then they lose the right completely for anyone to come. Should they do so while you are out, then you will take legal advise for either trespass or breaking and entering.