Renting: 'A Term Certain'

jaype

Hi - we have been living in our flat for almost 3 years, contract up in mid June. Our contract renewed yearly says it's for 'a term certain' of 12 months. Can we end the tenancy before the year is up (we need to move if possible), and how much notice do we give? Is is the standard month? Thanks!

mystery07

Ive rented a few houses & never heard of this before....generally, when you sign up, in your case for a twelve month contract, you cant give notice until the 11th month! However, these days, most tenancies are "assured shorthold" ones, which Im quite sure means that, you have no obligation to sign another 12 month contract, even though you want to continue living in the property for X months, I might be wrong, perhaps you could double check this with the CAB before you sign....but Im quite sure, once you have signed, the only way to get out of it, is at your landlords discretion...

XxX

thesaint

Have you spoke to your landlord/lady about your plans?
If you have conducted your tenancy in a satisfactory manner, he/she would probably not enforce the 12 month term.

jaype

thesaint wrote:

Have you spoke to your landlord/lady about your plans?
If you have conducted your tenancy in a satisfactory manner, he/she would probably not enforce the 12 month term.

That was the next plan of action... it's an assured shorthold tenancy, but uder the 'term' bit, it does say for a term certain. We have had lots of trouble with mould and then super messy cowboy double glazers that he sent round... but we generally have a good relationship. Just wondered abut the legal side.

Alleycat

If you don't have a break clause in your tenancy agreement, then your landlords could hold you to the full 12 months. However, it is always worth speaking to them if you would like to move sooner as if you can give them a decent amount of notice they may agree that you can end sooner. They may though say that they will not do this unless they get tenants to replace you with no gap.

Regarding the disrepair issues, this would be treated as a separate matter. You would not have grounds to end a tenancy early due to disrepair as you would be expected to go via your local authority environmental health/private rented department to try and rectify the situation. They could if needs be, take your landlords to court to get the necessary works carried out. This is the same regarding withholding rent.

jaype

It's okay - maybe I worded it wrongly, but they have really tried to sort out the damp (paid for double glazing with vents, encouraged residents committee to spend 70k on re-rendering the end of the flats) I actually feel sorry for them as they are very good at getting thinbgs sorted and the rubbish glazing men / fact the damp won't go is really annoying them. I thought that it might be the case about breaking the contract, but if you don't ask you don't get so I'll try the friendly approach on Monday. They need to totally repaint the flat (to cover the disgusting streaky bits where I've repeatedly cleaned off mould), so moving someone in straight away probably wouldn;t be possible.

Alleycat

If your landlords are hesitant about ending the contract early, could you perhaps negotiate with them and offer to paint the place? You can get cheapo white or magnolia paint from B&Q and the like, so this might be an option.