Leaving a rental agreement early?

cgre

I am currently in month 2 in a 6 month rental of a maisonette via an agent. I was already looking to buy before I rented but a sale fell through and I had no choice but to go into a new rental agreement.

I've now found a new house and have made an offer which has been accepted, on the proviso that I complete by end of February (its agent negotiating with builders, current owner is moving into retirement apartments and they are keen to get their cash by end of feb) now the time period is do-able but my question is if I quite my lease early apart from the remaining 4 months left on the rent will they charge me a cancellation fee or anything (bonus is the builder of the retirement apartments has offered to pay my remaining months as an incentive to move quickly which suits me fine)

only thing am worried about is getting hammered by the renting agent with some kind of fee/clause, dont mind paying the 4 months of rent etc though.

Great site this btw, and sorry for the essay

debtfreein4years

i would read your contract carefully and see what if any charges there are for ending the tenancy. I would assume none apart from standard clauses for deduction of part of deposit if damage has been done.

Before you complete I would have the builder put that he has offered to pay the remainder of your rent into a legally binding document drawn up by a solicitor so that he cant go back on his word and leave you high and dry.

Once you have got everything in place and its definetly going through I would speak to the LL and give him a heads up just to be polite and let him know that you have managed to purchase a property and would like to leave the agreement early, but of course are willing to pay any reasonable costs in associated with finding a new tenant and would still be paying the rent until someone took over the tenancy. I wouldnt mention that the builder has already agreed to pay the remainder of your rent as that could leave the LL dragging his heels over finding someone to take over the tenancy

Good luck and all the best

gxx

cgre

thanks G,

I will definitely have the offer from the builder put into a solicitors document.

End of the day the agent could be quids in as they found tenants for 2 places here within a week so they could be getting new rent from a new tenant plus mine up to April (when lease ends) so its win for them. I know they have to find a new tenant but then they charge that new tenant fees for admin etc anyway so earn off that too.

I looked through my contract which is pretty short and it doesnt seem to have anything on leaving early so I'll have to speak to them today and find out, thing is I dont want to commit to this end of Feb completion if it means I'll be out of pocket in some way on the place am renting.

tbs624

debtfreein4years wrote: »

i would read your contract carefully and see what if any charges there are for ending the tenancy. I would assume none apart from standard clauses for deduction of part of deposit if damage has been done.

When you sign up for a Fixed Term you are obliged to cover the obligations contained in the contract until the expiry date of that contract ( or the appropriate date for a break clause to be invoked) - that includes paying the full rent and any other bills.

debtfreein4years wrote: »

Before you complete I would have the builder put that he has offered to pay the remainder of your rent into a legally binding document drawn up by a solicitor so that he cant go back on his word and leave you high and dry.

Good suggestion.

debtfreein4years wrote: »

Once you have got everything in place and its definetly going through I would speak to the LL and give him a heads up just to be polite and let him know that you have managed to purchase a property and would like to leave the agreement early, but of course are willing to pay any reasonable costs in associated with finding a new tenant and would still be paying the rent until someone took over the tenancy....

This could be misleading - it really isn't a case of just "being polite" or saying that you are "willing to pay reasonable costs" as some sort of favour - there is a legal obligation to do so. The LL can *insist* that that the tenant pays for advertising costs etc until a suitable new tenant is found, and if rents have dropped in the mean time they may also look to the outgoing tenant to cover the difference between what would have been due under that original Fixed Term contract and the amount that a new tenant would pay.

The clue is in the use of the phrase Fixed Term - it provides a minimum measure of security for both LL & T.

cgre

thanks TBS, yes I know its unusual and TBH I was looking to finish my 4 months its only because of the builder offering me this incentive to move quickly (apparantly they are having trouble selling retirement apartments here at the moment hence the incentives to get their cash in quickly as they probably have people to pay)
Didnt think about the utilities tbh, but then once I moved out (its all electric) I would just switch everything off so there shouldnt be any bills as such.

tbs624

cgre wrote: »

...Didnt think about the utilities tbh, but then once I moved out (its all electric) I would just switch everything off so there shouldnt be any bills as such.

There's Council Tax too if you're liable to pay it under the contract & the property is furnished.........

cgre

ta, yes I did check about that and apparantly once I move out I inform the council the property is now empty and because its an unfurnished place you get 6 months free on it (at least until someone else moves in) but the point is once I move out I dont have to pay council tax on it.

the letting agent said its all fine I just need to pay £354 re-letting fee if I drop out early but if they re-let it then I only pay my rent up to the point of the new person moving in which is fine for me as the deal I have is willing to pay my rent up to the end which more than covers the £354 and am sure they will re-let it within a couple of weeks (2 places were up for rent in same block a few weeks ago and they went in a week)