Getting out of my tenant's agreement early

gafffe

Hi,

I recently (10 days ago) signed a 6 month tenancy agreement with an estate agent and moved into a flat in Southampton with a friend, who signed the same contract.

I've now got a job offer in London that I wasn't expecting so I need to move there by end of next month (and I found a flat in London two days ago).

I now need to call someone up to talk to them about my circumstances - how should I approach this?

Should I contact the landlord directly?
Will the contract have to be rewritten or could I just find someone else to replace me and change the name on the contract?
Will I lose my deposit?

Any advice on how to deal with this while minimising my costs as well as my housemate's would be welcome.

Also, another question - at the moment the rent for the 2-bed flat is £725pcm which works out to £362.50 each. However my flatmate's room is ensuite and slightly larger (about 2m x 0.5m). I have my own bathroom too but it's not ensuite. Roughly how should the rent be split?

Thanks for the help!

olly300

You should have sorted out how you would have divided the rent before you moved in. Now you have moved in and want to move out I would leave this issue well alone as you will be relying on the good will of your friend to help you find a suitable replacement if you are allowed to.

READ your tenancy agreement and see what it says about break clauses or replacing yourself during the term of the agreement. Most agreements have them. If you can then start advertising your room. However in the meantime pay all your rent and bills.

gafffe

When we signed the contract the direct debit forms were already printed out with those amounts (rent split exactly in half), so my housemate and I had agreed to sort out the difference between ourselves. I was just looking for a rough figure of how it should be split.

I did READ the tenancy agreement however I don't have it at hand as the letting agency hasn't posted it to us yet, as they promised they would. I don't remember the break clauses word for word.

I was just looking for general advice as to what is generally done in these scenarios...

clutton_2

you have signed a legally binding document for the period of the term in the agreement. If your landlord does not want to release you, s/he is perfectly entitled to charge you rent until a suitable replacement is found - if one is not found, you are liable for the rent for the whole period.

You cannot move anyone else in without your landlords approval.

Squabbling about room size now, is utterly irrelevant.

If no substitute tenant is found, the landlord is within his/her rights to keep your deposit.

If you had wanted to stay, and the landlord had wanted you out 10 days after you had signed the agreement - what would you be saying about that ?

Renting is a two way street - each party has rights -- each party has responsibilies. Sounds like you may need to face up to yours.

If you walk out, your flatmate is then legally bound to pay all of the rent till the end of the term.

barnaby-bear

clutton wrote:

you have signed a legally binding document for the period of the term in the agreement. If your landlord does not want to release you, s/he is perfectly entitled to charge you rent until a suitable replacement is found - if one is not found, you are liable for the rent for the whole period.

You cannot move anyone else in without your landlords approval.

Squabbling about room size now, is utterly irrelevant.

If no substitute tenant is found, the landlord is within his/her rights to keep your deposit.

If you had wanted to stay, and the landlord had wanted you out 10 days after you had signed the agreement - what would you be saying about that ?

Renting is a two way street - each party has rights -- each party has responsibilies. Sounds like you may need to face up to yours.

If you walk out, your flatmate is then legally bound to pay all of the rent till the end of the term.

Poor flatmate.
If you do dump liability on him, he would be able to pursue you for your share.
Are you getting a relocation package? That may cover your rent, but really there's no way to get out.

Gorgeous_George

Not much to add to the above posts.

Speak to the agents and the landlord pronto.

It may be difficult to find someone to share with your friend so another option may be for both of you to move out and the property be re-let. The LL is legally obliged to minimise his losses so he should re-let it at thye earliest opportunity.

Your deposit is against damage to the property when the agreement ends. It is not used to cover missed rent.



GG

gafffe

Thanks for the advice GG. I didn't know that about the deposit.

Just to make it clear - I'm not going to run away without paying or leave my flatmate to pay for everything. I'm not sure where I made that sort of insinuation. He knows I'm moving out and he's fine with it.

clutton - You're wrong - if I did walk out, I'd still be liable for paying my part of the rent as I'm on the agreement too.

I do know what a contract is, but sometimes circumstances change and as a result you try and renegotiate something with the other party.

I just want to reach an agreement with the landlord and came here to ask what to expect and maybe read somebody else's experience, not to be judged and patronized by someone who says I have to face up to my responsibilities.

There hasn't been any "squabbling" about room sizes. It's more of a slightly larger ensuite room vs. one which is not ensuite. Splitting the rent to account for that is my flatmate's idea, not mine.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply.

Rick62

Clutton & Barnaby Bear certainly got out of bed the wrong side today - why you criticising the poster for having been offerred a job in London?

Best bet is probably to find someone else to take over your room, I think you would need the landlords approval but he could not withhold his agreement (and expect you to pay your rent) without good cause.

If you cant find anyone and you both moved out then you would be liable until the flat was re-let (or the 6 months was up).

clutton_2

Rick62 - you appear to have given the OP pretty well the same advice i did - and yet "i got out of bed the wrong side ??" The title of the thread says it all.

I can just imagine the uproar on here if a landlord were to want his house back and tried to get a tenant out after 10 days into an agreement ...... we would be called scum of the earth and all the other names we get called,

But, when a tenant wants to deprive a landlord of his income by walking out after 10 days on the grounds that "the tenant might lose his income/job" - folks rush to his defence.

Strange values if you ask me - not ok for tenant to lose income - ok for landlord to lose income.


Lets at least have a level playing field here

Re deposit - GG may have not expressed it clearly - if a tenant walked out and owed me rent, and had not damaged my property, yes, i am legally entitled to keep that deposit for unpaid rent, and yes i would keep it.

Gafffe - what i meant to say was if a flatmate moved out and did a runner (i am not suggesting you will ) - then the remaining flatmate is responsible for the complete rent - he can, of course, sue the departed flat-mate for it later on if he wishes - if he can find them.

I agree that negotitation is the key - all i meant to say was that my first post is the legal situation and if the landlord will not negotiate - you Will have to face your responsibilities as desribed above.

Why did you sign an agreement if the results of a job interview were still pending ?

prudryden

Clutton is right GG. I can understand the confusion on what the use of a deposit is for. Quite often, in general discussion, the deposit is referred to in the same breathe as damages - because in most cases this is generally where a conflict developes.
However, in many contracts, mine included, it only says tenant will pay a deposit before moving into the flat. It actually doesn't say what it can or can not be used for. Therefore, the LL could hold back this deposit for unpaid rent.
But if it says deposit for potential damages to the flat, then you are probably right.

olly300

gafffe wrote:

When we signed the contract the direct debit forms were already printed out with those amounts (rent split exactly in half), so my housemate and I had agreed to sort out the difference between ourselves. I was just looking for a rough figure of how it should be split.

I did READ the tenancy agreement however I don't have it at hand as the letting agency hasn't posted it to us yet, as they promised they would. I don't remember the break clauses word for word.

I was just looking for general advice as to what is generally done in these scenarios...

You have got other replies but:
1. Lots of landlords decide how the rent will be split between the occupants if they are not related. This is to ensure there are no arguments. So you landlord could rightly refuse to charge you different amounts of money even if your rooms are different sizes etc. If you are ever in that situation again then try and involve the landlord and get this written as part of your contract if they are willing to do this.

2. Agents can photocopy documents or print out another copy. Never leave a letting/estate agency without a copy of the document because it is a legal contract. However pushy the letting/estate agent is you have a right to have a copy of your contract even if it's unsigned and you just have the wording.

Also if you want specific legal advice the Shelter (http://england.shelter.org.uk/) website contains useful information.