Still got 8 months left on 18 month contract

Lou67

But my husband has lost hours at work, and my job changed and is less pay. Our rent is £650 a month, and there is a possibility we may get social housing sometime soon. We have been on the list for 4 years and every few weeks, we pick something to keep the application active. The other week, we got shortlisted! (Shockingly..) So we MAY get housed soon (ish)

So as we can barely afford the rent now (we only qualify for £50 a month housing benefit,) what would happen if we just bailed on the tenancy? (say 6 months before the end (like November... ) Basically, small two bed properties with the council cost HALF of the private rent, AND we would have a permanent contract. We would let the landlady keep the bond (£700) and pay an extra month's rent as a goodwill gesture. But if we get a council house, we won't turn it down. But could the landlady sue us for the other 6 months rent? (or whatever it turns out to be....) Another point is, she is not a brilliant landlady and can't be arsed with most repairs as she claims she can't afford it...

Yes I know it sounds awful, and it's 'wrong' but to be honest, if we are offered a long term tenancy with the council with rent half the price; no WAY will we turn it down. I have no loyalty to the landlady and she is not a very good one really, and we have really looked after this house, pay the rent early and have done repairs she couldnt be arsed with.... What's more; me and my husband and daughter come before her anyday. If she gets the bond AND a month's rent, she will have TWO MONTHS to find someone else.

Fire_Fox

There are loads of threads on surrendering a tenancy early, run a search. You can't just bail because you are in a legally binding contract, you are liable for the rent and the landlord is not permitted to take possession until the contract is formally terminated.

Write to your landlord explain your circumstances have changed considerably and you will soon have difficulty meeting your financial obligations. You therefore wish to surrender the tenancy ASAP, you understand you are legally liable for the rent up to the date the property is tenanted again AND any costs incurred in finding new tenants. Any issues you have with repairs are a totally separate issue, don't muddy the waters. If she has any sense she will be happy to release you before you are unable to pay the rent so push that as your reason.

Lou67

Thanks Firefox. TBH I am just peed off with the landlady at the mo, and feel like I couldn't give a sh*t if I just bail, but I guess 'being nice and reasonable' is the best way. It could be that we don't get a council house til Feb or something anyway, when we will only have a couple of months left anyway.

Fire_Fox

Lou67 wrote: »

Thanks Firefox. TBH I am just peed off with the landlady at the mo, and feel like I couldn't give a sh*t if I just bail, but I guess 'being nice and reasonable' is the best way. It could be that we don't get a council house til Feb or something anyway, when we will only have a couple of months left anyway.

You are in a legally binding contract, you will be liable for eight months rent and/ or the legal costs of evicting you if you do not do this properly. She can take you to court for any shortfall if your deposit does not cover her losses: ultimately you will be out of pocket unless you vanish (remember she may have your work address/ references).

Lou67

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You are in a legally binding contract, you will be liable for eight months rent and/ or the legal costs of evicting you if you do not do this properly. She can take you to court for any shortfall if your deposit does not cover her losses: ultimately you will be out of pocket unless you vanish (remember she may have your work address/ references).

Thanks Firefox. I guess if we were to be housed by the council, say in Jan or feb, we could leave and move in and take that tenancy, as the council rent is so cheap it seems insane to turn it down, and then maybe just try and pay the last few months rent on this house... Maybe we won't pick too many houses on the council list til after Christmas. Or as you say, we could explain that we can't afford to stay and ask her and the property agent to try and find someone else...

thelem

I'd appeal to the landlord's better nature, especially as it's a private arrangement and not a faceless corporation. I wouldn't initially offer to pay any extra rent, deposit or cover void periods, although I'd be open to do that during negioations. Be friendly though - she's more likely to be generous if she likes you.

If it were my landlord I suspect she would be happy to take a couple of months notice and some cooperative tenants to keep the place clean and help show prospective tenant around. She would be happy to get rid of you as risky tenants. Time of year might play a factor too though - it's very easy to fill rental property in September because of all the students soaking up the availability, but come December it's difficult because no one wants to move over Christmas.

It sounds like you're talking about ending the tenancy before you've even been offered a council place though. What will you do in the mean time? That could be a long period, and if you rented somewhere else you might get tied into a contract there.

slopemaster

I agree, you should approach the LL and/or the agent and try to negotiate an early release on the basis that you are likely to default on the rent...
Personally I wouldn't put anything in writing yet, try to negotiate something verbally and THEN confirm in writing.
Any sensible LL would prefer a tenant to leave, than to stay but not pay rent. However, there is no guarantee that your LL will be sensible

ceh209

18 months seems like quite a long contract - have you checked for any break clause which could help you?

Yorkie1

ceh209 wrote: »

18 months seems like quite a long contract - have you checked for any break clause which could help you?

I was going to ask this too.

Lou67

Thanks folks.

I think I will talk to the property agent soon, and say that there is a chance we 'may' be housed soon by the council (the reason being is because we were shortlisted not long back: We picked a house and there were 80 who picked it and we were in the top 10, so it appears that we 'are' getting closer to being housed.)

And in response to thelem; no we wouldn't give up this tenancy before getting a council one. I didn't say that we were going to do that... The idea is to ask the property agent and landlady if they would release us, if we 'were' to get an offer before the contract ends in late April.

When we asked the property agent this question about a year ago, out of curiosity, they said if 'we' can find new tenants, we can go. But the people who ran the property agency have moved since and new ones have taken over, so they might say different. I thought that answer was a bit daft tbh, as how are *we* supposed to find new tenants? It's their job to find them, surely? Were they suggesting we advertise for them ourselves? It seemed like an odd response.

And no, there isn't any 'get out' clause that I know of. The landlady wanted a long contract for security for 'her.' If we have not been housed by the council by April, then we are going to ask for just a 6 month contract; if she refuses, we will move into another 6 month let with someone else, (a cheaper rent one,) and not sign any longer contracts than that, as we really want to be housed by the council, for the security *and* the much cheaper rent.

poppysarah

Lou67 wrote: »

And no, there isn't any 'get out' clause that I know of.


The landlady wanted a long contract for security for 'her.' If we have not been housed by the council by April, then we are going to ask for just a 6 month contract; if she refuses, we will move into another 6 month let with someone else, (a cheaper rent one,) and not sign any longer contracts than that, as we really want to be housed by the council, for the security *and* the much cheaper rent.

What does it say in the tenancy?

You can go onto a rolling contract after this one 'ends'