Can My Landlord do this?

jonnyd23

My partner and I are moving out of our rented accomodation into a new house. We did have a tennancy agreement in place which was due to expire on the 05/11/2009. We notified the landlord that we would be ending the contract early which we did understand that we would have to pay the remaining months rent if he were unable to get a new tennant in.

He has found a new tennant so we do not need to pay the remaining rent thank god. However our deposit which is being held by the DPS (Deposit Protection Scheme) the land lord said he will use the bond for the advertising fees he has paid to get the new tennant in. I do know we did end the tennancy early, but there is no mention of using the bond for that in the tennancy agreement. Plus we did give the land lord just over 1 months notice.

In the agreement it says the bond will be paid back in full if the flat is in good state of repair.

So can he use the bond for advertising?

Hope someone can help

sooz

It really depends on what it says in your agreement. It may not specifically refer to the deposit being used for advertising fees, but may say it can be used to cover all outstanding rent/bills/damages etc.

However, there may well be another clause relating to early termination, & reletting fees.

I'd certainly expect you to pay the readvertising & reletting fees if you left almost 6 month's early. But, was any of this early release confirmed in writing between you & the LL?

TotallyBroke

I don't think he can use the bond for advertising but I think he can charge an amount from you for the advertising.
Someone with more knowledge will be along soon.

roguebrogue

I'm not sure whether or not he can do that legally....but the one month's notice you gave would only really be applicable if you were on a rolling month-by-month contract rather than a fixed one, so I supposed you're very lucky he's letting you move at all.
Is he using all the bond or just part?

jonnyd23

sooz wrote: »

It really depends on what it says in your agreement. It may not specifically refer to the deposit being used for advertising fees, but may say it can be used to cover all outstanding rent/bills/damages etc.

However, there may well be another clause relating to early termination, & reletting fees.

I'd certainly expect you to pay the readvertising & reletting fees if you left almost 6 month's early. But, was any of this early release confirmed in writing between you & the LL?

no there was nothing confirmed in writing between myself and the LL. The tenancy agreement was drawn up from chase holmes originally, then when we did renew the new tennancy agreement was just a photocopy of the original version

jonnyd23

roguebrogue wrote: »

I'm not sure whether or not he can do that legally....but the one month's notice you gave would only really be applicable if you were on a rolling month-by-month contract rather than a fixed one, so I supposed you're very lucky he's letting you move at all.
Is he using all the bond or just part?

hes using the full bond of £450

sooz

For an advert???? :eek:

Is he using an agency or doing it himself?

Please confirm all details of your early move & release in writing to him. You need proof!

mlz1413

As you should have been staying until Nov and not June then your one months notice doesn't really matter, your LL used this one month to advertise, credit check and get in new tenants.

most threads on here wanting to end AST's early recommend finding new tenants, as you allowed your LL to find the tenants I'd say paying the costs is fair. BUT I would want a breakdown of those costs and then any balance of my deposit repaying.

If your deposit is in a scheme I would think the scheme would want this proof too. Put your concerns in writing to LL and scheme and send recorded delivery.

clutton_2

landlords are perfectly entitled to "mitigate" their loss if tenants leave prior to the end of a fixed term period. giving notice is irrelevant here as you should have been staying for several more months.

he is entitled to charge you all reasonable costs for him to find another tenant to replace you and any loss of rent he incurs during the void period.

he will need to prove these expenses were actually incurred if you challenge them via the DPS arbitration service.

Jowo_2

I agree with Clutton that the landlord is doing you an enormous favour in letting you out of the contract many months early because it is at his discretion and could have refused.

It is extremely normal for the party that wants to get out of the contract to pick up expenses associated with the relet, including advertising costs, agency admin fees and void periods until the new tenant comes in. If the landlord is kind enough to save you thousands of pounds when you wanted to breach the contract, the footing of legitimate expenses should come from you rather than expecting the landlord to take the hit.

Whether or not it should come from the deposit, or whether or not you should be paying this charge separately by writing him a cheque, I don't know. If I was the landlord in this situation, I would expect reimbursement directly because I would want to check the tenants out first and deduct from the deposit any damage or arrears.

Speak to the DPS about whether this is a valid deduction and take it to the dispute service, feel free to ask the landlord for a copy of the invoice.

clutton_2

OP says

""In the agreement it says the bond will be paid back in full if the flat is in good state of repair""

the implict statement here is

"in a good state of repair at the end of the fixed term"

imagine how you might feel if the LL tried to kick you out part way through the tenancy period ?