Continuing saga of my spiteful landlord

sussexchick

Hi All

So the saga continues ! :mad:

After offering 3 months rent upfront to end the remaining 6 months of a 12 month AST early, my LL has informed me that he does not wish to take up my cash offer.

I have offered everything under the sun to the LL in an attempt to end this agreement, and for him to secure a new tenant, paid for by yours truly, but to no avail. I am moving over 160 miles away (for my job) and I'm expected to stump up for his buildings insurance ! as it breaks the clause of the property being empty for more than 14 days, I'm expected to return to cut the lawn and expected to keep the house ventilated and warm (incurring utility charges) in the process. If I fail to carry out any of the above, he'll see me in Court.

I've tried the damage limitation methods and they simply don't work !

Is there ANY Law or Section that protects the tenant when tenant is attempting to reduce mitigating losses ?

Any help greatly appreciated.

tim123456789

Nope,

If he doesn't want to accept early surrender there's nothing that you can do to force him

ACG

Its your circumstances that have changed, not his.
Im surprised he hasnt bitten your hand off but he hasnt so you have to deal with it.

Im not sure why you have to pay for his insurance - does your agreement say you have to be living in the property or cant spent more than x nights away? If not then thats his bad luck.
Also why do you have to cut the grass? Does that form part of the agreements?

If not tell him your not doing either of those but you will pay the rent as agreed OR he can accept your offer and terminate your agreement.

sussexchick

ACG wrote: »

Its your circumstances that have changed, not his.
Im surprised he hasnt bitten your hand off but he hasnt so you have to deal with it.

Im not sure why you have to pay for his insurance - does your agreement say you have to be living in the property or cant spent more than x nights away? If not then thats his bad luck.
Also why do you have to cut the grass? Does that form part of the agreements?

If not tell him your not doing either of those but you will pay the rent as agreed OR he can accept your offer and terminate your agreement.

I've checked the AST and it states that the lawns must be cut during the summer months, borders to be kept clean and tidy, weeded etc and property must not be left unattended for more than 14 days.

The porch roof leaks and the steps are dangerous too. So when it freezes, the front door step becomes an ice rink. He's asked me to repair it !

ACG

ouch, seems like his contract is pretty tight.
Tell him your not repairing it, its his house and that is not something you would reasonably be expected to repair and you would gladly go to court if he tries that one on.

As for the rest, sorry but i think your stuck. Its covered off in the contract. Im guessing you cant sublet it? I think you may have to put this down as an expensive lesson to read what your signing and not expect people will back down if you change your mind. Im surprised he hasnt as im sure most other landlords would but you cant expect it.

Soubrette

If you only have to mow in the summer months then I would point out that this starts 21st June and you will start mowing on that date weather permitting.

Can you not advertise for another tenant? (Sorry haven't read previous thread).

sussexchick

ACG wrote: »

ouch, seems like his contract is pretty tight.
Tell him your not repairing it, its his house and that is not something you would reasonably be expected to repair and you would gladly go to court if he tries that one on.

As for the rest, sorry but i think your stuck. Its covered off in the contract. Im guessing you cant sublet it? I think you may have to put this down as an expensive lesson to read what your signing and not expect people will back down if you change your mind. Im surprised he hasnt as im sure most other landlords would but you cant expect it.

The AST is stacked very heavily in his favour. My obligations are 4 pages long, his is 1/4 of a page !

May my mistake be a very valuable lesson to anyone signing an AST - read it, read it, read it ! As I think with many tenants that need to move in fast and desperate circumstances, there are always the downright unscrupulous landlords out there waiting in the wings to snare an unsuspecting victim.

Worse thing about it all ? - the house is actually vile !

pmlindyloo

Sorry to hear about your LL being so uncooperative.

Have read your previous threads about this and just wanted to check that the landlord has registered your deposit in a Deposit protection scheme and you did receive the correct information about this.

If your deposit hasn't been registered and/or you didn't receive the prescribed information then you could take LL to court and win 3 times the deposit.

Apologies if you did answer about this - couldn't find it. Just wanted to see if you had any leverage on the LL. (just by threatening the court action.) Don't usually say this but although the LL is legally entitled to hold you to the contract I think he is being very unsympathetic and pure blo*dy minded particularly since you have offered him a very generous sweetener.

terryw

This OFT document might be worth reading:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf

bw

Soubrette

sussexchick wrote: »

The AST is stacked very heavily in his favour. My obligations are 4 pages long, his is 1/4 of a page !

May my mistake be a very valuable lesson to anyone signing an AST - read it, read it, read it ! As I think with many tenants that need to move in fast and desperate circumstances, there are always the downright unscrupulous landlords out there waiting in the wings to snare an unsuspecting victim.

Worse thing about it all ? - the house is actually vile !

Might be worth going to a solicitor and seeing if the contract actually stands up as it may have unfair clauses in it, especially if its so far weighted in his favour.

pmlindyloo

I am going to put up this suggestion and see what others think.

This came to mind mainly because of the clause about not leaving the property empty for longer than.....................

What if I just walk away?

Walking away or posting the keys through the letterbox is called 'abandonment' and will not end your agreement. Your agreement with the landlord will continue even though you've left and the landlord can continue to charge you rent, so you're likely to build up rent arrears. If your agreement is fixed-term, you can be charged rent until the term ends.
The landlord can apply for a court order to make you pay what you owe. The court will decide whether you should have to pay your landlord the money or not. If the landlord has managed to let out the property they can't claim rent from you after the new tenant moved in.
Doing a runner may also make it harder for you to find a new home. Most private landlords ask new tenants for references from previous landlords and are not keen to rent to anyone who has abandoned a tenancy or licence in the past or has a history of rent arrears. (Shelter)

If you did walk away the LL may be forced to get a new tenant because of the clause in his insurance policy. He could not receive 2 lots of rent. Therefore you would only be liable for his 'losses' which you would pay (having already offered more than that)

Now, possible problems might be his taking you to court but if you have everything well documented it might be considered that the LL was being 'unreasonable' in the circumstances.

Of course it might go the opposite way.

Mmmmm what do others think!

Personally I wouldn't be giving up the offer of a job in todays 'climate'.

Just one more thought - have you spoken to your new employer and appraised him of the situation - perhaps they would be willing to offer some financial help?