Leaving Assured Shorthold Tenancy Early

Jimwalks

Hi, My girlfriend and I signed an assured shorthold tenancy agreement in August 2013. The contract is for a fixed term of 12 months, and therefore does not conclude until the end of August this year. My girlfriend has been offered a new job and we will be relocating in June. Unfortunately there is no break clause in the contract. We have contacted about leaving the contract early, however, the landlord insists we pay the full fees until August. We can not afford to pay rent for two properties so this leaves us in a bad position.

The landlord has been poor throughout the period, we have been looking forward to moving out. We have had various problems with mould, furthermore the house is now falling into a bad condition - we believe the house is shifting as there are cracks in the walls and tiles are falling off the bath. We have had environmental health visit the property who advised the landlord to fit a dehumidifier for the moisture problems causing mould. They reluctantly eventually did fit this which has solved the moisture problems.

We were promised (and have written confirmation) that the garden would be renovated by September 2013 weather permitting. We signed the contract on the basis this would be completed. This has not been undertaken and as a result of this the garden has not been able to be utilised. We have contacted the landlord and letting agency on a number of occasions via email and received written confirmation it would be completed soon, but nothing has come of this. It is unlikely we would have signed the tenancy without this condition.

Does anyone have any advice on terminating the contract early? Would we be correct in thinking that legally the landlord has not lived up to their conditions of the contract in not completing the garden work?

Thanks in advance,

James

RAS

Unfortunately you are tied to paying the LL for the full fixed term regardless of any promises. Since he is not a great LL he has little if any incentive to agree an early surrender.

Is there any way she can lodge with someone temporarily and you stay in the property and take a lodger to cover her half?

mrginge

You have no right to terminate the contract early unless the LL agrees.
Two months is not that long really....
Just tell the LL that you'll be leaving at the end of the contract and that there'll be no access for viewings until then. He can either expect a nice void period while he tries to relet or he can play ball now and get someone else in sooner and without a void.
Of course, if your deposit is not correctly protected this might open up another avenue or two...

Cissi

Jimwalks wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on terminating the contract early? Would we be correct in thinking that legally the landlord has not lived up to their conditions of the contract in not completing the garden work?

No - at least not in terms of giving you a valid reason for breaching the contract at your end, sorry! There are procedures that you have to follow to get a LL to carry out essential maintenance and repairs, and you can't simply offset these against your obligations as a tenant.

Unfortunately something like this is very difficult to enforce, and I don't think you have any come-back against the LL for not doing the work - to take him to court you'd have to be able to prove that you've suffered a loss as a direct consequence of his failure. I do sympathise with your position, I just don't think that there is anything that you can do legally. And if you leave your tenancy early the LL would be within his full rights to pursue you for the rent for the remainder of the contract. I believe he has to take "reasonable" steps to mitigate your losses, ie be prepared to consider new tenants who want to move in before your contract is up - but you would have to cover the costs of advertising, vetting tenants, agents' fees etc so for the sake of less than 2 months this probably isn't worth it (especially as you may struggle to find someone who wants to move in at the start of the summer).

Is there any other way that you could do this, for example have your GF move ahead and live in temporary accomodation while you stay behind and close up things at this end? At least you're only looking at a couple of months...

Jimwalks

mrginge wrote: »

You have no right to terminate the contract early unless the LL agrees.
Two months is not that long really....
Just tell the LL that you'll be leaving at the end of the contract and that there'll be no access for viewings until then. He can either expect a nice void period while he tries to relet or he can play ball now and get someone else in sooner and without a void.
Of course, if your deposit is not correctly protected this might open up another avenue or two...

Thanks for the advice everyone. This is obviously against what we were hoping for. It seems bizarre from a tenants point of view the LL can get away without living up to their part of the agreement.

Unfortunately we are in a position where we are both committed to relocating with our jobs. So either of us staying isn't really an option.

Is it legal to refuse viewings for a property? This could give us some nice leverage for the landlord to let us out the contract early.

mrginge

Jimwalks wrote: »

Is it legal to refuse viewings for a property? This could give us some nice leverage for the landlord to let us out the contract early.

It's not a question of legality. There is no statutory right for a LL to be allowed access to conduct viewings, so in that sense it is perfectly acceptable for you to refuse viewings.

You *may* have a contract term which requires you to give access. In reality you can obstruct this right by giving, shall we say inconvenient access times, or agreeing to a viewing but then 'having' to go out instead. Alternatively you can still deny all access and the LL must go to court to enforce his rights. Given you have a two month window, thats not going to happen.

dimbo61

Nice one the garden will be done by September and your contract runs out the end of August!

dimbo61

If you are looking at renting in the new area please be more careful.
Six months AST and check the property out carefully

Jimwalks

dimbo61 wrote: »

Nice one the garden will be done by September and your contract runs out the end of August!

Different years - September 2013 :mad:

Jimwalks

dimbo61 wrote: »

If you are looking at renting in the new area please be more careful.
Six months AST and check the property out carefully

Thanks! This is definitely something we will learn from - We won't be signing a contract with anything not having been completed from now.

jjlandlord

Jimwalks wrote: »

Is it legal to refuse viewings for a property? This could give us some nice leverage for the landlord to let us out the contract early.

If you want the landlord to agree to let you go early then you should help him find new tenants.
Refusing viewings does not give you any leverage, it just makes you liable to pay the rent and bills for longer.