End fixed term tenancy early - Landlord being unreasonable?

Guest101

jjlandlord wrote: »

No.
If the landlord does not accept the offer to surrender then the tenancy continues and the rent continues to accrue. The landlord has no loss to mitigate and has no obligation to find another tenant.

We agreed on something <high five>

jjlandlord

300game wrote: »

We had a brief (as mush as they will tell you for free type) conversation with a solicitor who also mentioned the LL mitigating his losses.

Well it's good that it was free otherwise you could ask for a refund...

That said, I don't think that your landlord (or his agent) is being smart here.
He could agree to a surrender in exchange for a decent sum of money and everybody would win.
By being inflexible you could end up doing a runner, or subletting, or what not, which would create problems for him.

Guest101 wrote: »

We agreed on something <high five>

It's the magic of Christmas.

Quimoi

thesaint wrote: »

Then, the landlord is not honouring that.

You need to ensure you have something to support your claim in this regard, and you can easily get a court to limit any claim the landlord makes.

This makes most sense to me.

Assuming that you know the new tenants you are proposing then have a think about what guarantees you could offer the landlord if he were to accept the sub-letting (e.g. you will pay for the tenant's referencing, you will pay any losses incurred by the landlord if the tenants don't move out etc. etc.).

Ask the landlord again for permission to sublet along with listing the guarantees you are offering to ensure he suffers no loss. It doesn't sound like he will accept but will give your 'unreasonable' argument more weight if it comes before a court.

300game

jjlandlord wrote: »

Well it's good that it was free otherwise you could ask for a refund...

That said, I don't think that your landlord (or his agent) is being smart here.
He could agree to a surrender in exchange for a decent sum of money and everybody would win.
By being inflexible you could end up doing a runner, or subletting, or what not, which would create problems for him.

Exactly, we are willing to settle for 3 months rent + deposit and provide new tenants, alternatively we can only afford to spread that amount out over the remaining 6 months and end up in 3 months arrears at the end of the term.

Guest101

300game wrote: »

Exactly, we are willing to settle for 3 months rent + deposit and provide new tenants, alternatively we can only afford to spread that amount out over the remaining 6 months and end up in 3 months arrears at the end of the term.

Just mentioning lodgers one more time

Kevie192

All in, you were completely foolish to go house hunting when you were in a 12 month contract with no idea whether they'd let you surrender early. If you'd have asked the LL before exchanging you could have saved all of this worry and inconvenience.

Pixie5740

If the LL does come round to the idea of sub-letting that would make the OP the LL of the sub-tenants and all the responsibilities that go along with that.

Nobbie1967

What is there to stop you subletting without the LL permission? It seems like his permission has been unreasonably refused. I'm not saying this is without issues, but not sure what great downside there would be in practice?

300game

Kevie192 wrote: »

All in, you were completely foolish to go house hunting when you were in a 12 month contract with no idea whether they'd let you surrender early. If you'd have asked the LL before exchanging you could have saved all of this worry and inconvenience.

Yes we could have, but we wouldnt have our ideal house and theres nothing to say the LL wouldnt still be looking to sell come next year.

300game

Guest101 wrote: »

Just mentioning lodgers one more time

I think this is where we are going to end up if we dont come to an agreement by January. I suppose for a decent room I could even make some money?