Re-letting fees

xdoty

Hi everyone,
Apology if this type of question may have been answered previously. Just some background I am from Australia its my first time living and working in the UK.
I rented a flat with a 12 months agreement (I asked for this) because I wanted a stable base while I settle into my new environment.

A make a long story short, I have been made an offer for work that is too good to pass up, I want to terminate the lease early to relocate. I have no problem with covering the cost of the LL to get a new tenant its only fair.
I just want to ask the brain trust if any of these prices looks unreasonable, specifically the re-letting fee which said per month that's the thing that is confusing me the most.
.
· You will accept responsibility for the payment of the charge, payable by the owner, for the cost of a check-out inspection of £59.00 and the Tenancy Agreement fee at £55 + VAT. You will also accept responsibility for the landlords re-letting costs at £126.00 Inclusive of VAT per month from the date of the surrender of tenancy until the date of the expiry of the agreed fixed term. We trust that you will appreciate we cannot look to the landlord to pay the full re-marketing costs on this letting, since it is your wish and not the landlord’s to terminate the present tenancy.

Many Thanks
xdoty

anselld

It would be more reasonable if it stated "from the date of surrender until the date a new tenancy is agreed".

The other question though is rent. What doesthe letter say about continuing liability for rent until new tenant is in place?

BitterAndTwisted

Given the current rental-market I cannot see any justification whatsoever for you to accept an ongoing liability for £126 a month until the end of the fixed-term unless the agent is certain that they will not be able to re-let at your current rent. This whole thing sounds like a complete nonsense and opportunism of the first order.

It's quite reasonable to expect to have to compensate the landlord for their out-of-pocket expenses in finding another suitable tenant and to cover the whole of the rent until they have done so but an onging £126 a month is a p!ss-take. Once they have accepted a formal surrender there is no fixed-term any longer.

G_M

Unenforcible as it tries to do two contradictory things:

A) the tenancy is being surrendered and the LL is accepting the Early Surrender
the LL is demanding a monthly payment till the end of the Fixed Term (ie rent - albeit a reduced rent)

If the LL accepte , then he cannot find a new tenant until the end of the Fixed Term. If he DID find a new tenant, he would be accepting rent for the same property from two tenants at the same time. Illegal.

You need to negotiate an alternative arrangement ie agree to pay an amount (perhaps the full rent?) untila new tenant is installed.

Unfortunately the LL is under no obligation to agree to an Early Surrender (unless there is a Break Clause in the contract?), so you must simply negotiate an agreement with him.

DVardysShadow

I am assuming that the £126/month is actually a one off reletting charge spread across a number of months

xdoty

Thanks everyone for the reply. I have no problem to continue to pay rent for the property until a new tenant is found. I will clarify the 126 GBP/month if its spread for the remaining 6 months sounds a bit excessive.
***** I clarified with the agent, the 126 is re-letting fee per month until a new tenant is found **** so fair enough in my book although strange to be doing it monthly
regards
xdoty.