Estate Agent refusing to remove my name from tenancy

dawn1974

I got a joint tenancy with my ex partner in April 2015 & approximately 6 weeks later I realised that he had a drug addiction.

I found it very difficult to live with & decided to leave him. I went into the Estate Agent's & requested for my name to be removed from the tenancy.

After much negotiation it was agreed that if I paid £120 I could have my name removed.

Now the Estate Agent's head office is trying to get rent from me & I have explained to them that I have paid to have my name taken off the tenancy.

They are saying that I am still liable for the rent because a new tenancy agreement hasn't been signed by my ex.

Cakeguts

The only way you can end a joint tenancy is by agreement of both the tenants. So you have decided to make a change to the tenancy but your ex partner may not agree.

When does the current tenancy agreement end?

G_M

dawn1974 wrote: »

......I went into the Estate Agent's & requested for my name to be removed from the tenancy.

After much negotiation it was agreed that if I paid £120 I could have my name removed.

What actually happened?

You paid £120? You got a receipt? What exactly does it say?

What other documentation did you get? Saying exactly what? Signed by who?

dawn1974

Cakeguts wrote: »

The only way you can end a joint tenancy is by agreement of both the tenants. So you have decided to make a change to the tenancy but your ex partner may not agree.

When does the current tenancy agreement end?

It's a periodic tenancy.

dawn1974

G_M wrote: »

What actually happened?

You paid £120? You got a receipt? What exactly does it say?

What other documentation did you get? Saying exactly what? Signed by who?

The receipt which is an A4 letter headed piece of paper from the Estate Agent's says:-

I [my name] would like to confirm that as of today 28/05/2015 I will no longer be living in the property [address] as I have now vacated.

I am happy to surrender the deposit to [my ex's name] and will no longer be responsible for this property.

Keys have been handed in today.

Signed & dated by me

saajan_12

Unfortunately they are correct, though you may be due your £120 back. You had a tenancy contract binding on all parties whereby both tenants may live in and are jointly responsible for rent, damage etc and can be terminated per the contractual or statutory notice terms outlined. If you wish to alter the contract or terminate it outside those terms, all parties must agree to the change (landlord and EACH tenant).

Your documentation represents your consent to terminate your involement, and the acceptance of £120 in exchange for the receipt indicates the LL's consent to terminate but the ex partner has not agreed. Indeed they don't have to agree to be solely liable for the rent etc when they had bargained for a joint liability. However since the LL/agent is unable to grant you the benefit of your £120 i.e. your name off the tenancy, you may be due this back.

Miss_Samantha

Serve notice to quit and demand your money back.

Guest101

Miss_Samantha wrote: »

Serve notice to quit and demand your money back.

Obviously though being wary that the LL doesn't charge double rent if the ex refuses to move out

G_M

dawn1974 wrote: »

The receipt which is an A4 letter headed piece of paper from the Estate Agent's says:-

I [my name] would like to confirm that as of today 28/05/2015 I will no longer be living in the property [address] as I have now vacated.

I am happy to surrender the deposit to [my ex's name] and will no longer be responsible for this property.

Keys have been handed in today.

Signed & dated by me

So you have nothing at all from the landlord, signed or unsigned.

Your letter is meaningless. I could write a letter today to my mortgage lender informing him I shall no longer be paying my mortgage. It ould have as much legal force.

As you have
a) a joint and several tenancy and
b) a periodic tenancy

you can serve written notice (one full tenancy period) to end the tenancy. Either joint tenant can do this and it binds both.

The difficulty arises if you don't both move out when the notice expires.

martinsurrey

saajan_12 wrote: »

Unfortunately they are correct, though you may be due your £120 back. You had a tenancy contract binding on all parties whereby both tenants may live in and are jointly responsible for rent, damage etc and can be terminated per the contractual or statutory notice terms outlined. If you wish to alter the contract or terminate it outside those terms, all parties must agree to the change (landlord and EACH tenant).

Your documentation represents your consent to terminate your involement, and the acceptance of £120 in exchange for the receipt indicates the LL's consent to terminate but the ex partner has not agreed. Indeed they don't have to agree to be solely liable for the rent etc when they had bargained for a joint liability. However since the LL/agent is unable to grant you the benefit of your £120 i.e. your name off the tenancy, you may be due this back.

Nope, you are part right and part wrong.

The tenancy still has the OP as jointly liable but the NEW contract between the OP and the landlord (agreed by his agent) means the landlord cannot pursue the OP for their liability, it is a contract (offer+acceptance+consideration).

The agents and landlord in effect have factored the OP's liability under the tenancy back to themselves.

OP stand firm.

martinsurrey

G_M wrote: »

So you have nothing at all from the landlord, signed or unsigned.

Your letter is meaningless. I could write a letter today to my mortgage lender informing him I shall no longer be paying my mortgage. It ould have as much legal force.

As you have
a) a joint and several tenancy and
b) a periodic tenancy

you can serve written notice (one full tenancy period) to end the tenancy. Either joint tenant can do this and it binds both.

The difficulty arises if you don't both move out when the notice expires.

If you wrote that letter to your mortgage company, and gave them £100 to discharge your mortgage and they agreed, you would have settled your mortgage...

they couldn't come back 10 months later and say "we've changed our minds"