Help needed! £400 taken from my deposit.

VKay

God, I really feel for you as I had no idea that a LL could do this! Especially if they lost no income as the next tenant moved in immediately.I can't see the need to penalise you. I too would be looking for some answers, if only to make them squirm!

Just wanted to say I sympathise and try and cheer yourself up by thinking that you will have free accommodation from now on (lucky you!). This should soften the blow of losing £400 as I'm sure that's less than you'd normally pay for a month's rent.

This has made me think I will always insist on a 6 mths tenancy agreement from now on, just in case...

PS Interesting to see what an agent's idea of nominal is! Are they a local firm (Cornwall?)or national?

N79

Oh for heavens sake. The OP has not been penalised. There is no means to leave a fixed period early without negotiation. The OP had two options.

1. Pay rent until the end of the fixed period.

2. Negotiate early release with the LL. The LL can charge whatever they want for this early release and it would normally include all the LL's costs and potential lost rent. Costs include advertising / legal fees / deposit fees / agents fees / time taken for viewings / vetting fees etc. GBP 400 is not unreasonable. This is what the OP did and now they are unhappy about it.

There really is no pleasing some people.

marcowil

But the OP is simply asking questions. Why do some (or should that be most) people on here these days seem to want to enter into an argument just for the sake of it.

I would tend to agree that perhaps the OP has gotten off lightly with ending his tenancy BUT he is prefectly entitled to ask where the £460 went (in the form of receipts)

N79

marcowil wrote: »

I would tend to agree that perhaps the OP has gotten off lightly with ending his tenancy BUT he is prefectly entitled to ask where the £460 went (in the form of receipts)

Just to be clear I have no problem with the T asking for receipts but he has no legal right to demand them. LL's almost certainly do not have to mitigate costs in these circumstances and the T was free to negotiate whatever amount they liked with the LL. The LL and T agreed a cost for the T to buy themselves out of the contract. The actual disbursements incurred by the LL are largly irrelevent.

chucknorris

The rental market has declined the LL may well have had to accept a lower rent, yes he would have had to eventually, but for the months that the OP left early would equate to a loss to the LL.

I have recently had to market 2 properties at 10% lower than the previous tenants wre paying, plus I got an email this moring from a current tenant (on a periodical) askng for areduction).

If the OP left 4 months early and the rent was 10% less that equates to £226 of the £460 (although obviously if £60 vat has been charged that relates to a total of £400 pre vat so if the LL lost out he took it on the chin and didn't pass it on. I suspect the £400 is the total agents charge for re-letting the property, I suspect that although the OP should only pay 4/12 of that the LL has probably lost out on rent achieved .

If it was me and the rent acheived was 10% less I would have charged this:

£153.33 4/12 agents fee
£226 reduced rent for 4 months
£379.33 total

Jowo_2

There might be no evident loss of income if a void period has been minimised but there would still be expenses associated with the time and effort to market the property to find replacement tenants.

Landlords do not have to agree to the early surrender of a contract. The personal circumstances of the tenant are irrelevant to their obligation to fulfill it.

Check out the Shelter website for information on how to challenge deposit deductions, either through the dispute service if its been protected in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme or through the small claims court. The risk is that the judge will side with the agent that those costs were fair but it works both ways, the tenant could win the case.

Fire_Fox

rasinkernow wrote: »

Thanks, im calling daily and leaving message for the agent but shes hard to pin down. And clearly not in any hurry to ring me. Would i be within my rights to ask for reciepts for advertising costs?

I think you have got off lightly and should be pleased with getting any deposit back. If you want to pursue this then you need to start querying this charge in writing - phone calls clearly are not working! However be aware that every time you contact them it costs them money in staff time.