Tenant leaving before fixed term ends

RubyHouse

Hello.. Just looking for some advice for a friend.

She is 1 month into an AST agreement for a 2 bedroom house. The house was advertised as 3 bedrooms. She could not view it herself as was moving over 6 hours. I did on her behalf but could not check the third bedroom as there was no electricity and the third room was in the attic. We were assures that it had a velux window and was a 3 bedroom house.

She has decided to leave the house due to a number of issues listed below but mainly as she feels very unsafe and has 3 young children
- Bailiffs arriving around once per week looking for a previous tenant
- rising damp in living room & lack of 3rd bedroom which has no window and is accessed via another bedroom
- next door neighbours like to grow & smoke plenty of 'foliage'

She paid her deposit and 2 months rent upfront.

She spoke to the landlord on Sunday who agreed to end the tenancy early and was very sympathetic.

She has since been advised from the letting agent that she cannot end the tenancy until a finders fee has been paid of £260 and her deposit will be held until this is paid. There is no mention of this in the contract. The only clause is that the tenancy agreement can be cancelled upon mutual agreement with the landlord.

She also discovered today that they had not protected her deposit until today - 41 days after they received it.


Is is true that she will have to pay the finders fee?
Also, what an she do regarding the deposit?


Thanks all!

SmashedAvacado

£260 sounds very cheap to get out of the tenancy - because to be honest, she doesnt necessarily otherwise have a right to do so. She could propose to to pay half to the agent or something but whislt i am sure its a big deal for her - this is a lot less than it could otherwise cost her to walk away from something that at the end of the day was probably your / her mistake. (You should always properly look around the house and if something isnt right, you should make any deal conditional on being satisfied that it is shown to be right).

Pixie5740

RubyHouse wrote: »

Hello.. Just looking for some advice for a friend.

She is 1 month into an AST agreement for a 2 bedroom house. The house was advertised as 3 bedrooms. She could not view it herself as was moving over 6 hours. I did on her behalf but could not check the third bedroom as there was no electricity and the third room was in the attic. We were assures that it had a velux window and was a 3 bedroom house.

She has decided to leave the house due to a number of issues listed below but mainly as she feels very unsafe and has 3 young children
- Bailiffs arriving around once per week looking for a previous tenant
- rising damp in living room & lack of 3rd bedroom which has no window and is accessed via another bedroom
- next door neighbours like to grow & smoke plenty of 'foliage'

She paid her deposit and 2 months rent upfront.

She spoke to the landlord on Sunday who agreed to end the tenancy early and was very sympathetic.

She has since been advised from the letting agent that she cannot end the tenancy until a finders fee has been paid of £260 and her deposit will be held until this is paid. There is no mention of this in the contract. The only clause is that the tenancy agreement can be cancelled upon mutual agreement with the landlord.

She also discovered today that they had not protected her deposit until today - 41 days after they received it.


Is is true that she will have to pay the finders fee?
Also, what an she do regarding the deposit?


Thanks all!

For information about the deposit read the Tenancies sticky at the top of the board.

wesleyad

The LL overrules the LA (the agent works for the LL), so they are talking rubbish, if the LL wants to release her then he can. However they will then charge him for finding the new tenant which is where the £260 probably comes in.

As Smashed says above, £260 really is a bargain. Depending on the legality of the advertised 3rd room she could be held to the entire fixed length so If it really is that bad and they are willing to give a reference and deposit returned then I would definitely take their offer.

Comms69

RubyHouse wrote: »

Hello.. Just looking for some advice for a friend.

She is 1 month into an AST agreement for a 2 bedroom house. The house was advertised as 3 bedrooms. She could not view it herself as was moving over 6 hours. I did on her behalf but could not check the third bedroom as there was no electricity and the third room was in the attic. We were assures that it had a velux window and was a 3 bedroom house.

She has decided to leave the house due to a number of issues listed below but mainly as she feels very unsafe and has 3 young children
- Bailiffs arriving around once per week looking for a previous tenant - irrelevant
- rising damp in living room & lack of 3rd bedroom which has no window and is accessed via another bedroom - that is important, however did she raise this with-in 14 or 30 days?
- next door neighbours like to grow & smoke plenty of 'foliage' - irrelevant

She paid her deposit and 2 months rent upfront.

She spoke to the landlord on Sunday who agreed to end the tenancy early and was very sympathetic.

She has since been advised from the letting agent that she cannot end the tenancy until a finders fee has been paid of £260 and her deposit will be held until this is paid. There is no mention of this in the contract. The only clause is that the tenancy agreement can be cancelled upon mutual agreement with the landlord.

She also discovered today that they had not protected her deposit until today - 41 days after they received it. - excellent.


Is is true that she will have to pay the finders fee?
Also, what an she do regarding the deposit?


Thanks all!

Yes the finders fee will be payable.


She can leverage that against a claim for 3x the value of the deposit.

Comms69

wesleyad wrote: »

The LL overrules the LA (the agent works for the LL), so they are talking rubbish, if the LL wants to release her then he can. However they will then charge him for finding the new tenant which is where the £260 probably comes in.

As Smashed says above, £260 really is a bargain. Depending on the legality of the advertised 3rd room she could be held to the entire fixed length so If it really is that bad and they are willing to give a reference and deposit returned then I would definitely take their offer.

Actually the 3rd bedroom is key; as long as she complained with-in a prescribed time.

saajan_12

RubyHouse wrote: »

Hello.. Just looking for some advice for a friend.

She is 1 month into an AST agreement for a 2 bedroom house. - not really relevant but did the AST specify this or is the 2-bed your evaluation? The house was advertised as 3 bedrooms. - irrelevant once you've viewed the house, and the ad probably had a disclaimer anyway She could not view it herself as was moving over 6 hours. I did on her behalf but could not check the third bedroom as there was no electricity and the third room was in the attic. We were assures that it had a velux window and was a 3 bedroom house. - if the 3rd bedroom was important to friend, she should have waited to agree to the tenancy until this could be confirmed. Signing an AST is for the whole property, as is.

She has decided to leave the house due to a number of issues listed below but mainly as she feels very unsafe and has 3 young children
- Bailiffs arriving around once per week looking for a previous tenant- not the LL's fault. Show the bailiffs friend's tenancy agreement to show the previous tenant is not there and her ID.
- rising damp in living room - report to the LL by writing to the 'address for serving notices' and follow the Shelter process for enforcing a repair if the LL doesn't follow up.
& lack of 3rd bedroom which has no window and is accessed via another bedroom - The time to check this was before agreeing to rent the property as is. Besides, surely a window was visible from out side and the access through another room evident at the viewing, when you didn't see a door / stairs in the hallway?
- next door neighbours like to grow & smoke plenty of 'foliage' - Neighbours are not the LL's fault.

She paid her deposit and 2 months rent upfront.

She spoke to the landlord on Sunday who agreed to end the tenancy early and was very sympathetic. - great, that's nice of the LL! Did they agree any fees / plans for deposit etc?

She has since been advised from the letting agent that she cannot end the tenancy until a finders fee has been paid of £260 and her deposit will be held until this is paid. - The LA is the LL's agent, so if the LL is happy for you to leave without cost, then you can ask the LL if they are willing to cover the agent's fees. There is no mention of this in the contract. The only clause is that the tenancy agreement can be cancelled upon mutual agreement with the landlord. - Fees don't have to be mentioned in the contract, because you're lookign to CHANGE the contract by ending it early. The LL may ask for certain fees in return for their agreement, eg costs of reletting (though they can demand what they like, as friend is the one wanting to change the contract)

She also discovered today that they had not protected her deposit until today - 41 days after they received it. - so she could claim the penalty of 1-3x deposit, though as its only a few days late, I expect it will be at the lower end. However I expect that woudl sour relations and the LL could refuse the early termination, meaning friend is liable for the rent for the full fixed term at least.. which would likely exceed the penalty.


Is is true that she will have to pay the finders fee?
Also, what an she do regarding the deposit?


Thanks all!

None of your issues are valid reasons to force a termination of the tenancy - the neighbours / bailiff issues are outside factors which are nothing to do with the LL and the 3rd bedroom was something friend took a gamble on and should have checked before agreeing to rent.

So, you're left with negotiating an early termination - which the LL can refuse or demand any compensation in return for agreeing. Typically I'd expect a LL to ask for their costs from the tenant's actions eg
- rent during void
- reletting costs of finding & referencing new tenant
- time for additional admin the LL has to do

£260 is fairly cheap to release the tenant from liability for the full tenancy. If she really wants to leave, I'd get the termination agreement in writing with a a leave date, how much rent will be paid (eg pro rata or not) and what happens to the deposit.

Options:
1) Pay £260 and leave on good terms
2) Claim 1-3x deposit penalty now -> LL may refuse to terminate, meaning friend is liable for full rent for the rest of the fixed term
3) Pay £260 and leave, then claim 1-3x deposit penalty -> depending on how early surrender is worded, LL could argue the £260 is full and final settlement of the tenancy in view of the deposit and tenant's want to leave, meaning they can claim back penalty and potentially court costs
4) Stay on the lease for the fixed term (and / or claim deposit)

If friend wants to leave, sounds like (1) is the cheapest option.

Comms69

saajan_12 wrote: »

None of your issues are valid reasons to force a termination of the tenancy - the neighbours / bailiff issues are outside factors which are nothing to do with the LL and the 3rd bedroom was something friend took a gamble on and should have checked before agreeing to rent.

So, you're left with negotiating an early termination - which the LL can refuse or demand any compensation in return for agreeing. Typically I'd expect a LL to ask for their costs from the tenant's actions eg
- rent during void
- reletting costs of finding & referencing new tenant
- time for additional admin the LL has to do

£260 is fairly cheap to release the tenant from liability for the full tenancy. If she really wants to leave, I'd get the termination agreement in writing with a a leave date, how much rent will be paid (eg pro rata or not) and what happens to the deposit.

Options:
1) Pay £260 and leave on good terms
2) Claim 1-3x deposit penalty now -> LL may refuse to terminate, meaning friend is liable for full rent for the rest of the fixed term
3) Pay £260 and leave, then claim 1-3x deposit penalty -> depending on how early surrender is worded, LL could argue the £260 is full and final settlement of the tenancy in view of the deposit and tenant's want to leave, meaning they can claim back penalty and potentially court costs
4) Stay on the lease for the fixed term (and / or claim deposit)

If friend wants to leave, sounds like (1) is the cheapest option.

It depends, the 3rd bedroom could be key; the agents may have misrepresented the property and by allowing a tenancy to be agreed without a viewing they could be in a bit of bother.


When I was helping my dad move, the agents were happy for me to be his representative; but insisted I viewed the flat on his behalf so as to avoid any claim of misrepresentation.