Ending tenancy as amicably as possible when you can no longer pay rent.

armour

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I don't think there is a right way to word such a letter. Just give them all the facts: make it clear that you have firm plans to leave on a specified date and promise to hand over the property in good condition then. If the council have told you how much benefit you will get, let them know the figure.

As other posters have said, your husband continues to be legally liable to pay the rent (assuming his name is on the tenancy agreement) so pass on any details of his employment, new address and so forth: they will be able to use these to serve court papers in order to recover the rent from him.

Sound advice. As long as you're ok with the LL showing folk round during the next 6 weeks, he'll probably think it's a result to only lose 2 weeks rent.

silvercar

Is there a deposit? As you have been there before the tenancy deposit protection rules were put in place, there isn't any issue of whether it was protected or not, but it could be used by the landlord to cover any missing rent.

If you pay your rent in advance and give notice before 15 July, full rent is owed until 14 August. So you are talking about any arrears plus whatever rent you still owe for 15 June and the rent due 15 July. You have to work out what you can /will pay for those dates plus what housing benefit you will receive that you can pass on to your landlord. Any money still owed could be taken from your deposit.

Werdnal

You month's notice assumes you are in a statutory periodic tenancy and not still within a Fixed Term agreement, where you would not be able to give notice until the FT ends.

It is all very well saying your husband has GONE, but legally if you stopped paying rent today, the agents/LL will sue you and HIM for the remaining rent. He could get a CCJ if he doesn't pay up, as could you.

As above, your 1 month's notice must co-incide with the rental/tenancy period, so you cannot just give this at any time and expect to walk away within the next month, or only be liable for half the next month's rent if you need 6 weeks to move out. Monthly rent is due on a monthly basis - however, agent may agree or LL may allow this if they are sympathetic to the situation.

I think you need to sit down and calmly explain this situation to the agents. Don't be too emotional over it - I know this must be a difficult time - but set out the points clearly. I don't want to put words into your mouth, but you seem to be struggling, so something along these lines may be appropriate:

Dear

I am writing to advise that due to the recent breakdown of my relationship, my husband (Name), has vacated our property with immediate effect. I understand we are both still legally responsible for the full rent against this tenancy, but I have no control over his finances and cannot force him to support the tenancy any longer. This has now left me in the difficult position of being unable to afford to continue my tenancy here. I have already completed an application for Housing Benefit, but this will take a few weeks to process, and my allowance will not cover the full rental payments.

I am therefore requesting to give notice on the property, and have managed to find a suitable room to rent elsewhere. However, I understand I am required to give notice in-line with my tenancy period, but as the room I have lined up will not be available until XX (date), I would like to ask whether it is possible for me to give my notice with effect from (tomorrow's date - date of service is not counted in notice period), and leave the property on XX (date).

I understand this is not following the statutory notice period, but I am doing everything possible to secure alternative accommodation and prevent myself creating any rent arrears against this property. I would be very grateful if you would give this request your consideration and let me know today whether you would accept surrender of my tenancy.

Send to the agent, first class with free proof of posting, and send another copy to the LL (if you do not have the LL's address, send it to the agent with the LL's name and c/o their address).

However, bear in mind the LL does not need to accept this, as you - and your hubby - are bound by a legal agreement to pay money and abide by the correct, formal notice requirements, regardless of your personal crisis. If the agent/LL decides to sue your hubby for the missing rent, that is their right and nothing to do directly with you, so leave it to them to chase him.

As mentioned above, is there a deposit? You can use this to offset rent arrears to help you reduce what you owe!

BitterAndTwisted

On the last AST-renewal you signed did you have a guarantor in place? I notice you said that they got the guarantors details wrong on the one they most recently produced. This could mean that your guarantor is still legally-bound, so if they don't agree to a mutual surrender they could chase your guarantor for any rent shortfall. That's if the original was signed as a Deed.

vuvuzela

If your tenancy agreement has a guarantor on it, then can and will chase them for the money (as long as they can find them...).

Lostlove

silvercar wrote: »

Is there a deposit? As you have been there before the tenancy deposit protection rules were put in place, there isn't any issue of whether it was protected or not, but it could be used by the landlord to cover any missing rent.

If you pay your rent in advance and give notice before 15 July, full rent is owed until 14 August. So you are talking about any arrears plus whatever rent you still owe for 15 June and the rent due 15 July. You have to work out what you can /will pay for those dates plus what housing benefit you will receive that you can pass on to your landlord. Any money still owed could be taken from your deposit.

Rent on 11th June has already been paid.

They do have our deposit, it is registered with a DPS and we were given the prescribed info too when they did that. We have been working on the assumption that we probably wouldn't be getting our deposit back anyway.

Rent is £560, deposit is £525.

Lostlove

vuvuzela wrote: »

If your tenancy agreement has a guarantor on it, then can and will chase them for the money (as long as they can find them...).

The tenancy expired in Feb, we did not sign the new tenancy as they had the guarantors details wrong (and some other details too). She has not signed this year's renewal either (obviously). So now we are on a rolling contract but with nothing signed or formally agreed.

BitterAndTwisted

Please bear in mind that you still might have a guarantor in place.

Quite honestly, if you admit that you cannot afford the full rent on your own any longer, give them a decent amount of notice and mention in your letter that you fully intend to be as flexible as possible about consenting to viewings by prospective new tenants, your landlord should be fine about it. If they are a decent type, that it.

All the best Lostlove.

Lostlove

OK, I have just been ching my calendar.

My Housing claim start date is next Monday 24th.
My notice date would be 15th July (3 weeks, later)
which would make my moving out date 15 Aug - which should suit me to move into my new place. (7 weeks later).

SO I will be owed 7 weeks housing benefit by my final leaving date which equals £475 aprox and I will over those 7 weeks owe £560 rent (as already paid up for the next 3 weeks) so I need to find just £85 - which they could take from the deposit anyway???

Cissi

Lostlove wrote: »

OK, I have just been ching my calendar.

My Housing claim start date is next Monday 24th.
My notice date would be 15th July (3 weeks, later)
which would make my moving out date 15 Aug - which should suit me to move into my new place. (7 weeks later).

SO I will be owed 7 weeks housing benefit by my final leaving date which equals £475 aprox and I will over those 7 weeks owe £560 rent (as already paid up for the next 3 weeks) so I need to find just £85 - which they could take from the deposit anyway???

I don't know how HB works but your sums sound right, so I don't think you have too much to worry about Why do you think you wouldn't get the rest of your deposit back? It may be worth fighting for this too as they can't just withhold it without good reason. Even if there is some damage you may still be entitled to some of the amount back. Try to make them pay it back to you rather than your ex as he should really pay at least half of the last rent, whether or not he lives there.

A small detail: I think your moving out date needs to be August 14, not 15