moving out before end of contract, advice please?

brokeinlondon

Hi everyone

Hope you can help me with a teensy query I have.

I have a licence to occupy a room in a shared house. It ends on April 17th. I've already given notice and have agreed to pay the rent up until the end of contract as required, minus the £200 deposit, although I'm moving out end of this month.

However, I've just discovered that my LL is advertising the room as available 30th March!

Can the LL do this if I'm paying for the room up until April 17th?

I don't really want to hand over two weeks' rent, only for her to turn around and rent the room out during that time and then not tell me, and therefore enabling her to pocket the extra cash.

I'm very tempted to just not pay the rent I've promised, even though I wanted to do the right thing!

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch.

BitterAndTwisted

I would have thought that the adult thing to do would be to speak to your landlady about what's going to happen if she finds another tenant to move in before the 17th of April. Usually, friendly discussion will often get you the result you want, not discussing it rarely will

hazyjo

Can you not just leave some stuff there to collect on or just before 17 April?

Maybe you could ask if she'll be around on 17 April to hand keys back, or if she wants you to leave them on a table or something.

If she says she thought you were moving out before, say yes but you'll be leaving a few bits until the end of your tenancy and will collect on/around 17th.

Might be better keeping her sweet like that than banging on about the legalities. As far as I know she's completely in the wrong and you're legally in the right, but do you want that conversation with her - especially as she probably hasn't even got anyone lined up yet and still might not have for a while yet...

Obviously if she objects to you leaving stuff there and collecting later cos she's going to be renting to someone else, you can then take it to the next stage...

Jx

brokeinlondon

Yes of course I will need to discuss it with her, but my question is whether she's right to be advertising it as available from that date with my contract is for a date after that?

She's already tried swindling me out of extra rent so I want to have all the facts before I go back to her with this one!

brokeinlondon

hazyjo wrote: »

Can you not just leave some stuff there to collect on or just before 17 April?

Maybe you could ask if she'll be around on 17 April to hand keys back, or if she wants you to leave them on a table or something.

If she says she thought you were moving out before, say yes but you'll be leaving a few bits until the end of your tenancy and will collect on/around 17th.

Might be better keeping her sweet like that than banging on about the legalities. As far as I know she's completely in the wrong and you're legally in the right, but do you want that conversation with her - especially as she probably hasn't even got anyone lined up yet and still might not have for a while yet...

Obviously if she objects to you leaving stuff there and collecting later cos she's going to be renting to someone else, you can then take it to the next stage...

Jx

Hmmm that's a good idea, although to be honest I just wanted to get my stuff out of there as soon as possible and never go back! She's really been doing my head in and being a bit petty about things. When I gave my notice and had a chat with her about it, she was quite insulting and spoke to me as if I were a wayward child. Really got my back up!

Niv

personally if I were you, I would cut my losses and leave it. As you had already agreed to pay until 17th April you lose nothing more than you would have if the room was not advertised as available from 30th March.

Talk to her by all means, but you have said you just want out and she has been doing you head in etc.

BitterAndTwisted

Well, you've already told her that you are moving out at the end of this month so the room will be available from the beginning of April. So far, you've given no reason to indicate that the landlady will charge both you and the incoming tenant for the same period. Should the LL find a new tenant they will most probably be moving from another rented place and they will have to give their current landlord a month's notice, so the chances are that they won't be in there in ten day's time in any case.

brokeinlondon

Niv wrote: »

personally if I were you, I would cut my losses and leave it. As you had already agreed to pay until 17th April you lose nothing more than you would have if the room was not advertised as available from 30th March.

Talk to her by all means, but you have said you just want out and she has been doing you head in etc.

So you think I should pay the two weeks' rent, even though she might get someone in before that's up, and i won't actually have use of that room?

brokeinlondon

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Well, you've already told her that you are moving out at the end of this month so the room will be available from the beginning of April. So far, you've given no reason to indicate that the landlady will charge both you and the incoming tenant for the same period. Should the LL find a new tenant they will most probably be moving from another rented place and they will have to give their current landlord a month's notice, so the chances are that they won't be in there in ten day's time in any case.

the room will be empty from start of april but not available as such because i'll still be paying for it.

i don't trust her, she's already tried overcharging me!

G_M

As a lodger, sharing with your LL, your rights and responsibilities are far less than as a tenant. The notice period you have to give is not determined by statute law - it is simply whatever you agree with the LL.

If you agreed with her that your notice and rent payment, will take you up to 17th April, then clearly a) you should pay rent till then and b) you should have the use of the room till then.

So no, she should not be advertising it as available from 30th March. She cannot have her cake (rent) AND eat it (ie rent from TWO lodgers).

If a new lodger moves in on 30th March, she should not take/you should not pay rent for April.

However, she may simply be trying to do you a favour. She knows you are actually moving out at end of March. Maybe she's trying to get a new lodger from then to save you having to pay for April? Unless you discuss this, you won't know!

However if she really IS planning to take rent from you AND from a new lodger, you need to put your foot down. Either by insisting on access till April 17th (leave possessions?) OR by not paying rent.

BitterAndTwisted

If the room will be empty then it will be available! You can do a number things:

Hand the room and keys back at the end of this month and have an adult discussion with the landlady about what happens if a new tenant is found before the 17th of April.

Tell the landlady that you will hand over the keys and relinquish the room on the 17th of April.

Hand to keys back at the end of this month and only pay the rent up until this date.

I suspect that you are minded to do the latter and just need someone to tell you that this is the right thing to do under the circumstances. If that's what you want to hear then I'm telling you to do just that.