Is what my Landlord did illegal?

LukeyMagic

Hello

Recently moved out of my rented accommodation, ending my contract early. Upon asking my Agent if I could sacrifice the contract he initially said no, this was until i pointed out in the contract that it allows the contract to handed over to another tenant. This is the section as written in the contract:

"Not to be sublet, part with possession of the Property, or let any other person live at the Property except that during the fixed term of tenancy the Tenant may sign the remainder of the tenancy with the Landlords's express consent which will not be unreasonably withheld. Such consent, as a variation of the tenancy agreement, to be agreed in writing."

After finally agreeing to this, he then proceeded to make things difficult giving loads of requirements that the new tenants had to meet, something we never had to do.

And then finally to get us out the contract he made us pay £1000 which wasn't written in any of the documentation that we would have to pay any fees to end the contract early. He also said that we should of applied for a rolling contract although this was never offered to us.

I spoke to shelter and they said that as of 27th May last year all agents need to display fees on website or in office, well this agent doesn't have a website and his office is not particularly accessible to the public.

Anyway long story short I had to pay the £1000 otherwise I would of missed out on owning my own property through shared ownership.

Is there anyway I can get this money back, do I have a legal foot to stand on?

Thanks

Luke

HappyMJ

Why would you have missed out on owning a shared ownership property?

To enforce the alleged debt your landlord would have had to take you to court. If you did lose that case then you have 30 days to pay the judgement and it has no effect on your credit at all.

booksurr

you asked to break a fixed term contract early. The LL asked for financial compensation of £1,000 as part of him agreeing to that

that money is a not a fee in the sense to which the legislation refers, it is compensation for you breaking a contract. On what grounds do you think you can now sue for the return of money you had to pay as a result of your own actions in breaking the contract to start with?

LukeyMagic

HappyMJ wrote: »

Why would you have missed out on owning a shared ownership property?

To enforce the alleged debt your landlord would have had to take you to court. If you did lose that case then you have 30 days to pay the judgement and it has no effect on your credit at all.

Because it I would of lost out on the property someone else would of claimed it.

LukeyMagic

booksurr wrote: »

you asked to break a fixed term contract early. The LL asked for financial compensation of £1,000 as part of him agreeing to that

that money is a not a fee in the sense to which the legislation refers, it is compensation for you breaking a contract. On what grounds do you think you can now sue for the return of money you had to pay as a result of your own actions in breaking the contract to start with?

I feel I have grounds as in the contract it said we are aloud to change tenants to move the contract over. I I understand administration fees but this amount is because he was going lose out apparently.

No where written in the contract was, you can change tenants but your going have to pay £1000 to do so.

Guest101

LukeyMagic wrote: »

Because it I would of lost out on the property someone else would of claimed it.

How would your tenancy at all affect it though?!


Its two separate things!

LukeyMagic

Guest101 wrote: »

How would your tenancy at all affect it though?!


Its two separate things!

I was offered a flat on shared ownership, I needed to end the rented accommodation because I was moving out, I'm not going turn down the chance of finally having my own place to live.

I needed to end the tenancy because I'm not going pay 6 months worth of rent on top of the mortgage payments on the new place.

Ask the landlord to end the tenancy, as sated in contract if we find new tenants that's Ok, nowhere written in contract does it state I have to pay £1000 for the privilege of finding a new tenant to move in.

Guest101

LukeyMagic wrote: »

I was offered a flat on shared ownership, I needed to end the rented accommodation because I was moving out, I'm not going turn down the chance of finally having my own place to live.

I needed to end the tenancy because I'm not going pay 6 months worth of rent on top of the mortgage payments on the new place.

Ask the landlord to end the tenancy, as sated in contract if we find new tenants that's Ok, nowhere written in contract does it state I have to pay £1000 for the privilege of finding a new tenant to move in.

You owed the LL 6 months of rent, he accepted £1,000 instead - you should consider yourself LUCKY!


You not wanting to pay rent and mortgage is not the LLs problem, it's yours!


If you go to court, the LL will probably win and you'll end up paying his costs too.

LukeyMagic

Guest101 wrote: »

You owed the LL 6 months of rent, he accepted £1,000 instead - you should consider yourself LUCKY!


You not wanting to pay rent and mortgage is not the LLs problem, it's yours!


If you go to court, the LL will probably win and you'll end up paying his costs too.

I think your miss understanding.

Forget everything and look at it at a more simple view.

Ask Agent to End contract

Find new Tenants as sated in contract as the way to sacrifice contract early.

Agent says that will also cost you £1000

Nowhere in contract does it say you will have to pay £1000.

Guest101

LukeyMagic wrote: »

I think your miss understanding.

Forget everything and look at it at a more simple view. - It's not simple, that's why you're here

Ask Agent to End contract - Ask LL to end the contract****

Find new Tenants as sated in contract as the way to sacrifice contract early. - The LL can decide which tenants are and are not suitable.

Agent says that will also cost you £1000 - You DIDNT HAVE TO PAY THIS! - but you did. If you though it was wrong, you should've just said, see you in court.

Nowhere in contract does it say you will have to pay £1000.

I think you're misunderstanding.


"Not to be sublet, part with possession of the Property, or let any other person live at the Property - The usual nonsense about who can and cannot live there - however you want to assign the tenancy. except that during the fixed term of tenancy - presumably it was still fixed term, as you say you had 6 months to pay. the Tenant may sign the remainder of the tenancy with the Landlords's express consent which will not be unreasonably withheld. Such consent, as a variation of the tenancy agreement, to be agreed in writing."


I'll highlight the important bit, it is not unreasonable for the LL to check who the tenant will be. Perhaps the LL decided that instead of assigning the remainder of YOUR tenancy, he would let you end yours and take this person on as a completely new tenant.


To end yours it cost you £1,000.


If you did not pay this, the LL could reasonably say, he did not agree with your choice of tenant. Please find another.


It would be reasonable for you to ask the LL what criteria the tenant must meet. But it is reasonable for the LL to set such criteria.

McKneff

Yes, but you'll may not have been able to find new tenants and say if you found them after say 3 months then they would have to give a months notice. So compare 4 months rent to £1k. You reallt should move on.