About to move out, but also need to sign new tenancy agreement - what should I do?

thelem

I'm currently living in a shared house on a joint AST that has rolled over so I am now on one month's notice. One of the housemates is about to leave, and we will therefore need to sign a new tenancy agreement for 6 months. In the past the landlord has promised that although she has a right to force us to stay for 6 months, she will in fact only hold the old tenants to one month's notice meaning the change of tenant in one of the rooms doesn't really affect us.

However, one of the other tenants has indicated that they are likely to leave shortly before christmas, and the landlord has suggested that she may change her policy and hold them to the full 6 months - or at least until after the difficult christmas/new year period.

She doesn't know it yet, but I'm also hoping to move out shortly before Christmas (depending on conveyancing - it could be mid January, or it could still fall through), so don't really want to be tied in for 6 months. I will know before I am asked to sign the new contract whether or not I want to stay for Christmas.

I think my options are:
a) Sign the new contract, and rely on the landlord's good will
b) Move to a short term let in the next couple of weeks
c) Refuse to sign the new contract but stay where I am, paying rent, and let her try and evict me

None of these sound like good options. What would you do? Do I have any other options?

Angie_B

I have lived in many shared houses (all in London) and have been in the same situation as you previously, where one housemate moves out. My landlords/LA have never had a problem with this providing you find someone to take over the room and there is no 'void' period (plus LAs then get a nice £150 or so from the incoming tenant for doing some referencing and changing the name on the tenancy).

Can you propose to the LL/LA that you will be responsible for finding someone to take your room when you go, which will hopefully take away their worry of the "difficult Christmas/new year period"?

V_Chic_Chick

Seeing as the landlord has to give 2 months notice to quit, perhaps you could delay a bit and not sign the contract so that if / when the landlord issues notice to quit, it falls around the time you want to leave anyway ie January? Even if he issued NTQ tomorrow, you would still be there until after Xmas.

Fire_Fox

You have misunderstood the legal implications of the contract you have signed. If you are on a joint tenancy you are relying on the landlord's goodwill anyway - the AST means you are jointly and severally liable, you are effectively one tenant and you are all individually responsible for the FULL rent.

The tenancy does not end until the landlord or tenants serve notice AND you all move out or a new AST is signed, no need for the landlord to evict you. One person leaving does not end the tenancy unless the landlord says so in writing. Best option is to move out when the other tenant goes and ensure you are off the AST, the meters read and you are removed from the bills - do this YOURSELF trust nobody.

thelem

Angie_B wrote: »

Can you propose to the LL/LA that you will be responsible for finding someone to take your room when you go, which will hopefully take away their worry of the "difficult Christmas/new year period"?

They will probably be OK with this, but that still leaves me potentially needing to cover any void period (which hopefully won't be 6 months at least).

thelem

Fire_Fox wrote: »

The tenancy does not end until the landlord or tenants serve notice AND you all move out or a new AST is signed, no need for the landlord to evict you. One person leaving does not end the tenancy unless the landlord says so in writing.

I'm not sure how that helps. Surely if we want someone in that room then we all need to sign a new AST with the new tenant on it.

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Best option is to move out when the other tenant goes and ensure you are off the AST

The problem there is I'd need to move twice, as my new place isn't ready yet.

rpc

thelem wrote: »

I'm not sure how that helps. Surely if we want someone in that room then we all need to sign a new AST with the new tenant on it.

You could do a deed of assignment, which effectively replaces the old T with the new T on the original agreement.

It does mean that the new T is strictly liable for any damage that has occurred prior to them taking over the tenancy which may or may not be a deal breaker.

franklee

I'd be very wary of signing a joint tenancy with people you don't know as that means you are all jointly and severally liable for damage/unpaid rent any of you cause. So person A moves without giving proper notice and persons B C and D or any combination of them could be chased for the shortfall. A landlord is more likely to go after whoever they can get hold of and whoever can pay.

You could sublet to the new tenant so his tenancy falls when yours does.

Another option is to have each person on a separate AST. This removes the joint liability and need to match end dates as each tenancy operates individually.

Or you could all sign a new joint agreement but with a fixed term of two months and not the six.

It would depends on what the landlord and flatmates can agree on.

It would be bonkers for those of you wanting to leave soon to sign up for another six months. I suggest you all have a full and frank discussion of who wants to leave when otherwise two more of you leaving (how many housemates are there?) will leave the new tenant on their own with a big headache.

If all else fails then I'd refuse to sign anything as your option c.

G_M

How many joint tenants are there in total? From what you say, you and two others all plan to leave between now and christmas? Are there more tenants?

Options:
1) do not inform LL of anything yet. When one or other tenat leaves, you continue to pay the (full) rent, ideally getting a continued share from whoever leaves (ideally in advance!), since by leaving they are not ending the tenancy or their liability for rent. However I accept this might be hard

2) Find a replacement tenant and ask the LL to assign him to the existing tenancy. The current (monthly periodic) tenancy continues - the only change being one name removed and one name added. This must be done by a deed of assignment signed by all tenants old and new, and the LL, and a witness. There may be a charge for this document.

3) Give a months notice (actually not a calender month see here),end the tenance, and sign a new one - yup, probobly 6 months though you could ask for a 3 month one and see what the LL says.

4) ask the LL to agree to an immeniate 'Early Surrender' of the tenancy. Then new tenancy as 3 above.

As Fire Fox says, the tenant who is leaving is breaking their contract by not giving notice (or have they? in a periodic tenancy ANY individual tenant can give notice which ends the entire tenancy for ALL tenants)

I also agree with franklee - it is unwise to sign joint tenancy agreements with strangers since you become liable for their debts.

Fire_Fox

thelem wrote: »

I'm not sure how that helps. Surely if we want someone in that room then we all need to sign a new AST with the new tenant on it.

The problem there is I'd need to move twice, as my new place isn't ready yet.

I understand what your issue is, but there is no simple and legal solution, I was trying to explain that in a joint tenancy you are all one tenant not multiple individual tenants so either you are all or none bound by a contract; all or none would have to be evicted. The only way around this is getting the landlord and all the other tenants to agree to keep ending contracts and start a new AST every time someone leaves, which you have indicated he is unwilling to do. The landlord does not have to accept any new tenant, or accept the hassle and cost of preparing and signing a new contract every couple of months.

Your options A and B are a correct assessment. C means that either the entire household would have to be evicted or the outgoing tenant is still bound by the contract and the incoming tenant is not bound by any contract. That is unfair on all your housemates and on your landlord who has appeared to have been very flexible to date. Sorry that we can't come up with the ideal solution but that is the nature of the joint tenancy you signed up to, unfortunately.

thelem

A bit more background - it's a four bed, so we have one leaving in Nov, potentially two (inc me) leaving in Dec and one who is staying. Apart from the tenant leaving in Nov everyone might still change their mind (just to complicate things further).

I understand the drawbacks of a shared contract for a tenant, but unfortunately that's the agreement that the landlord uses and it is non-negotiable. It's pretty standard in my area, so I'd struggle to find a room in a good house with an individual contract.

#9 option 1: The tenant who is leaving will not pay rent after their leaving date. They have given their notice so it would be unreasonable to ask them to anyway.

#9 options 2/3: I think this is probably the route I need to go down - tell the landlord that I want it in writing that I can break the contract on one month's notice, and if they don't agree then I will also leave the house in Nov based on the notice given by the other tenant.