Early vacation fee from letting property?

dearbarbie

Me and my ex boyfriend left our flat a month earlier than our tenancy was due to go into the 'break clause' period, due to relationship breakdown. Landlady agreed to let us go early because of this, and all was sorted and agreed.

Today (22 days after the keys were returned, may I add!) I have received an email asking if they can deduct an early vacation fee of £200 from our deposit. Not saying they will do it anyway. Nobody, not even the letting agency at any point in our thousands of phone calls since we moved out, has mentioned this ever. It's not a big deal as it was cheaper than an extra months' rent but...

...What if we I say no!?

clutton_2

if you leave a tenancy agreement early then the LL can ask you to pay the rent up to the end of the agreement - but s/he has to mitigate their loss by trying to get a tenant in to fill the void - you could be responsible for the advertising costs to get another tenant - however do you have this "early release agreement" in writing ? if not you may be stuffed

personally i'd just ignore it

where is your deposit ? if its in a scheme - then the LL/LA will have to argue the case as to why they want to make deductions - let them go ahead and then you argue your case

dearbarbie

i just have received an invoice. not sure if it was on the original tenancy agreement though

marcus45

They are asking you so I would talk to them..in fact put it allin wriitng to them what they promised in the first place.. its a contract you [FONT=&quot] singned ...
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tbs624

dearbarbie wrote: »

i just have received an invoice. not sure if it was on the original tenancy agreement though

It also wouldn't have been on the original tenancy agreement that you could walk away early from your contractual obligations with no further financial commitment because of a relationship breakdown.

If you have it in writing that you could leave with no further costs then challenge the invoice but to me it sounds as though your LL has tried to be helpful to you both - it's maybe now up to you to play fair too.

guppy

You shoud seek legal advice if you're concerned about this, but to me it sounds like your landlord has allowed you to surrender the tenancy. Therefore there is no contract between you anymore, and its too late to ask for more money, unless this was mentioned before, verbally or in the contract itself.