Trying to leave my fixed term tennancy

andy84

No she is not on the contract and there is a disagreement to her being here! The landlady said she would "turn a blind eye" to it if we tenants agree with her being here! But because they share a room together they don't think they should pay more! It's just infuriating! I would just leave and force them to take over my rent, but my mum is a guarantor and the last thing she needs is to be hassled by this moronic LL for rent if I skip off!

clutton_2

you are caught between a rock and a hard place.. you have a contractual obligation to pay until the end of the fixed term.. the LL is not legally bound to allow you to surrender your tenancy early... your mates are taking advantage of the situation ....

a life lesson i'm afraid....

you DO only have to give one months notice by law - but it has to end on a rent day

are you all on the same Tenancy AGreement or do you each have your own ?

andy84

I know, I'm never going to sign another 12month contract EVER again! Last one the landlord was very good, let me off without a fuss after two months and popped someone else on liek it wasn't a hassle, bit of a charge for it though but it saved me £100s in the long run. This LL though seems to be telling me its ok one minute then making a big issue the next, then I find out she has told me all the wrong things anyway!

Clutton: We all signed a copy of the tenancy agreement and we all have a copy, each copy has everyones signitures on it. It says it is Joint and Severing. So I guess we are all on one agreement?

Maybe I can put my foot down, the girlfriend isn't from around here and has a job here, so really needs to live here. I suppose maybe I can just pressure her to caugh up rent for me as of the end of this month when I move my last box of tinned food and my sleeping bag out!!!

Planner

Normally no notice is required to end the fixed term that will be the situation here if you all leave on or before the last day of the tenancy assuming you are joint tenants. However if you cant all agree to leave at the end a periodic tenancy will arise for all of you, this is when the notice kicks in. If you pay rent monthly one of you must serve one months notice on the last day of the tenancy in order to end it for all of you at the end of month 13.

G_M

Exactly what contract do you have at present? It now sounds like you have a 12 month fixed term contract, with a 6 month break clause which requires 2 months notice to activate. This is fairly standard. Is this what you have?
When did it start?

If so, any one of the 3 of you could give 2 months notice in accordance with the break clause to end the tenancy at the 6 month point.

andy84

Yes we have a 12month one with a break clause at 6 months. It's been running since the 1st of october 2009 so is due to end in september. I mean, experience with landlords in my student days, although some were terrible experiences, when I did leave early over summer months it wasn't an issue getting someone else on for a few months. This one seems to be through an agency (although it is not maintained by the agency!) and to be replaced on the contract involves a NEW contract being drawn up for anyone who remains plus the new tenant and is for 6months, ie it will run for an additional 3months mor ethan our current one due to be up at the end of september. It all seems a bit nonsensical!

G_M

Not nonsensical. Legal.

You've missed the 6 month break clause so that's irrelevant. You signed a 12 month contract so you are legally bound to pay rent for 12 months. Not hard to understand.

The only way to alter this is to end the contract early by mutual consent (as already explained).

The LL would then need to create a new contract (with whoever is willing to sign it - totally new tenants or some of the existing tenants + new, whoever).

Since LLs cannot legally remove tenants within the 1st 6 months of a new contract, they will only very rarely create tenancies for less than this period.

Fire_Fox

I don't understand why you think the landlady is being unprofessional expecting you to adhere to the legally binding contract you signed. It was unprofessional of you to take your personal grievances with the other tenants to the landlady - she is not your teacher, not your boss and not your mum! I also don't see what is wrong with asking to meet the new tenant - you were all vetted by the estate agent and, to a greater or lesser extent, your co-tenants as I assume you all knew each other beforehand. This tenant is someone not known to you and looking for short term accommodation, an unknown quantity. If I was living in your house I would probably not be happy with the girlfriend situation, but I'd be really annoyed at you trying to foist a complete stranger on me.