Being made redundant

GarethK

As of 9th Jan i will no longer have a job :mad:

Already finding it hard to meet ends as work had been slowing down and i wasnt hitting much bonus, there will not be enough for the rent to go out, which is £765 a month, plus the CT at £130.

My other half has just gone back to work part-time and we have a 9 month old baby boy, so its not going to be a good Christmas for him unfortunatly.

We took this place on with no guaruntor and with outgoings of just under £1300 a month before food and fuel, we were ok, as i was getting £14-1500 a month, the other half £500 a month and WTC/CTC based on last years earning.

Obviously losing such a huge amount is a kick in the nuts.

What i need to know is, can we surrender our tenancy agreement based on the fact that i have lost my job? We will have to move in with relatives whilst i find another job (not looking forward to that in this climate), i will be lucky to find a job that pays as good as this one as its bonus based and i am not qualified to do anything else apart from washing cars...

With regards benefits, i dont think we will be entitled to much and certainly not enough to cover the shortfall in rent and CT, but if anyone has any suggestions i'll take them on board?

Gareth

ceridwen

Well..you must have been given a copy of the tenancy agreement yourself. These things can be a bit long and technical I believe - but have a read of it and see if there is any provision for surrendering the tenancy due to unforeseen circumstances.


Errrrrr....I have to say I very much doubt whether there are any clauses like that ever in tenancy agreements.....so the answer to your question is almost certainly "no". Looked at from the other way round - a landlord is going to think that their tenants circumstances are nothing to do with them and expect an agreement to be kept to regardless.

In short - I would go to my landlord direct and say "I know that I am obliged to keep to the tenancy agreement and stay the length of time I agreed to. I know you could keep me to that agreement - and I understand you are entitled to do so if you choose - but I have lost my job and I wonder if you would accordingly please let me change the agreement". They may, they may not - its up to you. All you can do is ask nicely and hope.

GarethK

There isnt anything in my tenancy agreement, maybe if a landlord were put in the position where a tenant has lost his job due to redunancy and the tenant then gave good notice that he/she wants to surrender do to the lack of income, it is up to the landlords discretion if they say 'tough' and we are stuck here and then end up having to go to court for unpaid rent despite me explaining the circumstances.... i guess it all depends how easy going our landlord is.

If i were a landlord and put in that position, i think it would be better to get the house on the market and try to get a new tenant than saying tough to the existing one and there being no guaruntee of the rent being paid, because then they would be out of pocket further if the tenant couldnt pay, if that makes sense?

What i really need is a landlords view!

MissMotivation

A couple of questions first.....

1) Do you rent privately or through a Letting Agent, if through a letting agent do you have any contact with the Landlord?

2) When did your Tenancy start and how long did you sign for 6, 12 months? Is there any break clause?

Unfortunately unemployment is not grounds to break your tenancy early, however, depending on how reasonable your Landlord is you may be able to leave the tenancy early "IF" you are able to find new tenants. This may mean some cost to you initially as you would be liable for the advertising costs and any cost to the Landlord in breaking your tenancy early.

eamon

People, companies & governments break contracts all the time. Its a fact of life and if you have no money and or assets then don't worry about it. On the 9th/10th of January you must sign on and claim housing benefit. Your landlord may not like it and may choose to evict you. On the other hand any rent is better that no rent. All this talk about fees etc is just nonsense!

Eamon

ceridwen

Eamon

There would be no point in anyone making any contracts ever if people broke them at will - we'd all be wasting our breath - as no-one could ever be trusted to do something they had agreed to.

Contracts are made to be kept to. I sympathise with OP's predicament on the one hand - but have to be strictly fair and try to find a way to help him without his landlord/landlady finding THEY are suffering because of it. Hence my suggestion about explaining the circumstances to the landlord and asking if they are agreeable to the terms of the contract being changed. I am thinking that - if I were the landlord - I would not intend to suffer a financial "hit" because a tenant of mine had done so on the one hand - but would be prepared to re-advertise the accommodation for the balance of the tenancy - provided I wasnt out of pocket from doing so (ie the cost of the advert and any rent lost in the transitional period between tenants was covered by the outgoing tenant). If I were the landlord - I would be prepared to accept a straight swap of tenant for just the cost of a new tenancy agreement for the incoming tenant - provided I was happy with the household that had been proposed to me as incoming tenants. I wouldnt have thought it would cost much for the outgoing tenant to pay for the cost of a new tenancy agreement - so, if they found a suitable new tenant for me, then it wouldnt cost them much at all for me to allow them to break the agreement.

If I were a landlord I would be as reasonable and helpful as I possibly could be to a tenant in these circumstances - provided I didnt lose any of MY money because of a change in THEIR income. I think thats fair.

A practical suggestion here for O.P. - if you really cant find the money to cover the landlords costs in replacing you - perhaps you could offer "payment in kind" - gardening, decorating or some other service that you have the skill to do and that he would otherwise have to pay for as a way to ensure he wasnt out of pocket. That way - you could do what suits you, but without harming anyone else.

briona

GarethK wrote: »

...we have a 9 month old baby boy, so its not going to be a good Christmas for him unfortunatly.

Ok first off, a 9 month old neither knows nor cares what Christmas is, and wanting to shower him with gifts, whilst understandable, is probably more for your benefit than his. What I'm trying to say (albeit quite bluntly) is don't guilt trip yourself into buying lots of gifts – at the expense of paying the bills – for a baby who would probably be just as happy playing with the discarded wrapping paper anyway!

Are you being made redundant? If so, have you checked if you would be entitled to any redundancy pay? The statutory minimum is 1 week's pay for every full year worked if you are under 41 and have over 2 years' service. (If you are over 41, you get 1.5 weeks' pay for every full year worked). Redundancy pay is not liable to tax, so you would get more than you would normally take home.

With regards to the rent, I would contact your landlord ASAP. I'm assuming you would have to give a month's notice to quit. If he's a private landlord, more than likely you can surrender the tenancy but you would need to pay him any rent outstanding plus the rent for the month's notice. Of course, if he could fill the accommodation inside of your notice period, he may even refund the period covered by both your rent and the new tenant's rent. On the other hand you may find that he is quite happy to accept housing benefit. My former landlord insisted on working tenants – he absolutely would not accept housing benefit, that is until one of the tenants lost his job and had no choice but to claim HB. My landlord accepted the situation and two years on, the tenant's still there.

To find out what benefits you may be entitled to, visit entitledto.com.

Briona

GarethK

I am fully aware that my son will actually remember nothing about his first Christmas but that doesnt stop me wanting him to enjoy the spirit, regardless of gifts because to be quite frank, we dont have the money and you are quite right, destroying the wrapping paper and eating it will give him far more enjoyment than a cuddly toy that he wont even look at because its boring!

Contracts are made to be kept to. I sympathise with OP's predicament on the one hand - but have to be strictly fair and try to find a way to help him without his landlord/landlady finding THEY are suffering because of it. Hence my suggestion about explaining the circumstances to the landlord and asking if they are agreeable to the terms of the contract being changed. I am thinking that - if I were the landlord - I would not intend to suffer a financial "hit" because a tenant of mine had done so on the one hand - but would be prepared to re-advertise the accommodation for the balance of the tenancy - provided I wasnt out of pocket from doing so (ie the cost of the advert and any rent lost in the transitional period between tenants was covered by the outgoing tenant). If I were the landlord - I would be prepared to accept a straight swap of tenant for just the cost of a new tenancy agreement for the incoming tenant - provided I was happy with the household that had been proposed to me as incoming tenants. I wouldnt have thought it would cost much for the outgoing tenant to pay for the cost of a new tenancy agreement - so, if they found a suitable new tenant for me, then it wouldnt cost them much at all for me to allow them to break the agreement.

If I were a landlord I would be as reasonable and helpful as I possibly could be to a tenant in these circumstances - provided I didnt lose any of MY money because of a change in THEIR income. I think thats fair.

I agree fully with what you have said, the landlord doesnt rent a property out to make any friends, its to make some money at the end of the day. We rent through a letting agent but i will be requesting the LL details so i can write to her direct and explain our circumstances. All i ask for is some understanding and in return i will ensure the LL does not suffer financially from this in the same way i have.

I will not be entitled to any redundancy pay because i've only been in the job 4 months, and i moved here mainly for the job and so my OH could also go back to work so we would be substantially better off.

Sadly, it has backfired, we never thought my trade would suffer to the extent it has done so far (i SMART repairs used/new cars) and what is annoying is that my department IS making money and still 55K this year, but we are losing our base, and if this goes, we are stuffed! The consultation is on Wednesday but to be honest its not going to solve the short term issue and convince the powers that be that its worth keeping a huge PDI centre open just to run a small sideline repair business.

If i continue with the outlook 'everything is going to be alright' we will be in trouble and the rent amount PM is huge to cover, so i am frantically looking at work alternatives and worse case scenarios to get our family though this.

ceridwen

Ah! then I think I might just have seen something you could "trade" as a service to the landlord/landlady then - car maintenance. If you're lucky - they might need their car servicing anyway and the cost of that saved to them might about equal the cost of drawing up a contract for a replacement tenant??

Dont know if this is actually allowed? Dont know what the timing will be like as regards upkeep necessary on your landlords car? But..I'll chuck it in as a thought......
(I'm not a car owner myself - hence not au fait with whats what in that direction....but anyways its a thought for consideration).

The use of barter is apparently a large constituent part of how societies manage to function a lot better than the amount of money in circulation would indicate they will when problems arise.

Conor_3

Well you're going to be entitled to JSA at £60 a week plus you've about another £60 a week child tax credits so there's around £600 a month. If your OH is working 16 or more hours a week, you'd probably get some WTC as well. You can inform them of a change in income and they'll adjust the payments - you're not stuck on having to go by last years.

I would also have a punt at putting in for a LHA and CTB claim as well. You've nothing to lose.

GarethK

I though the amount you were awarded was based on last years earnings, and as such next years award will be based on this years total earnings which will be about 3-4K higher than last year. I should really contact WTC/CTC, as claim both with CTC at a higher element, so we dont do too bad to be fair.

After the 9th i will be straight down the council and applying for HB/LHA etc in case the LL isnt happy with us terminating early.