Tenancy Advice, Can my LL do this, Please Help

David1874

Hi, I am in so much need of some advice.
I signed a 12 month short hold tenancy agreement on 26 April 2010 and I had a guarantor because I have a mental health illness and live on Disability benefit.
The tenancy should have expired on 25 April 2011 but the letting agent will not let me leave unless i pay 6 months rent & £100 costs. If I don't pay they say they will hold the guarantor liable.

To cut a very long story short I had a psychotic episode in January (blackouts delusions & paranoia) and bombarded my letting agent with emails asking if i could resign and extend the tenancy agreement, at the time the subject of housing and benefits was very much in the news on TV and my neighbours had been making my life very difficult (names+noises)
I thought/believed they were trying to make me homeless, This is why i tried to extend the agreement. The letting agent posted me a letter titled 'Memorandum of Extension to Tenancy Agreement' I signed this and left it out for her.
I didn't tell the guarantor and 2 weeks later i was back in hospital.
The person that stood as my guarantor is also my mental health carer and when they found out they tried to withdraw the extention as I new what i was doing but the reasons why were not realistic.
now the problem is i have to move out a) i cant afford to pay the rent on my own and living alone has not worked out well, psychotic episodes have increased, the neighbours dont want me here and make it very obvious to me.
My question if any body can offer any advice, Is the person that stood guarantor really liable for the extra 6 months rent from an extetion agreement they didn't sign and didn't know anything about. and myself and the social worker tried to retract this extension within a month of signing giving a full explanation and apology, even offering 2 months paid rent so compensation.
Can They Really hold me to this agreement?
I have been offered a placement to go and live somewhere more suitable and really don't want to lose this.
and finally i have told the agent that i cant afford to stay so at some point i am going to run in to rent difficulties, i need to leave but i can't dump this problem on the person that stood up as guarantor for me.
Any Help Gratefully Recieved, Thank you
(if i don't make sense please feel free to ask, i need the help) TY

dmg24

I have answered your other thread. If you are claiming that you did not have capacity at the time, you need to contact MIND, who should be able to put you in touch with a mental health law specialist who can advise further.

G_M

David1874 wrote: »

...I signed a 12 month short hold tenancy agreement on 26 April 2010 and I had a guarantor ........

the letting agent will not let me leave unless i pay 6 months rent & £100 costs. If I don't pay they say they will hold the guarantor liable.

....... The letting agent posted me a letter titled 'Memorandum of Extension to Tenancy Agreement' I signed this and left it out for her.

1) Legally you signed a 12 month agreement, and then extended via the Memorandum for (I assume) 6 months. This is (normally) legally binding.
2) You can argue that you were not legally competant to sign the Memorandum due to your mental health problems. You would need professional evidence for this (social worker/carer/doctor?) - as advised, speak to MIND
3) If the tenancy IS binding (see (1) above), then normally your Guarantor would be liable. Guarantors are usually liabile for as long as the tenancy lasts. However:
4) check the wording on the Deed of Guarantee. Does it limit the guarantee to, for example, 12 months?
5) check that the Deed of Guarantee is correct. It must be a DEED, with the signatures WITNESSED. Many guarantees are not set up as deeds because the landlord/agent does not fully understand the law. If it is NOT a deed, it cannot be enforced in a court.