breaking tenancy agreement

peppapig14

we signed a 12 month tenancy agreement in Nov 19 on the basis we would start looking for a property to purchase towards the end of the tenancy.
however a perfect property has come onto market and our offer has been accepted on the basis we complete within 10-12 weeks.
how do I go about breaking our tenancy agreement ( should we be honest and say we are purhasing a property ) and what is the best way to approach this? what kind of charges will we incur ( I'm assuming it's the estate agents advertising costs and needing to pay rent untilla new tenvt moves in)
we have o my spoke to our landlord once before and not sure what to do

AdrianC

It's three months since you agreed to a contract legally binding you for a minimum of twelve months... Twelve weeks (if that happens) is another three months - so that takes you to six.

You can't "break" it. You can ask your landlord very nicely if they'd mind agreeing to let you out of it. How much you are asked to pay is up to the landlord, but it would indeed be reasonable to be asked to pay for the costs of remarketing the property and to cover the rent until the new tenant can move in - basically, leave the landlord in the financial situation they'd have been in if you'd stayed with the contract. Obviously, your absolute maximum exposure is the rent for the rest of the tenancy.

pmlindyloo

Look at your tenancy agreement and see if you have a break clause.

theartfullodger

You can break the agreement & move out any time you like - e.g. 3:47 this afternoon.....

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- but you remain liable for rent & probably council tax to end of tenancy: Negotiate!

shinytop

We did the same thing and when we have a better idea of dates, we're going to ask the landlord nicely whether we can leave early and save some money.  It's not such a big issue for us as it's only a 6 month tenancy and I won't be surprised if they say no.  Worst case is we have some expensive storage for a month or two.         

peppapig14

AdrianC said:

It's three months since you agreed to a contract legally binding you for a minimum of twelve months... Twelve weeks (if that happens) is another three months - so that takes you to six.

You can't "break" it. You can ask your landlord very nicely if they'd mind agreeing to let you out of it. How much you are asked to pay is up to the landlord, but it would indeed be reasonable to be asked to pay for the costs of remarketing the property and to cover the rent until the new tenant can move in - basically, leave the landlord in the financial situation they'd have been in if you'd stayed with the contract. Obviously, your absolute maximum exposure is the rent for the rest of the tenancy.

Thanks for the advice. would u advise being honest with landlord and telling him we want to purchase a property? or couod that potentially go against us ( we could just say we can't afford it , especially as the rent is £400 more than our last property )

peppapig14

shinytop said:

We did the same thing and when we have a better idea of dates, we're going to ask the landlord nicely whether we can leave early and save some money.  It's not such a big issue for us as it's only a 6 month tenancy and I won't be surprised if they say no.  Worst case is we have some expensive storage for a month or two.         

are u going to the landlord directly or the estate agents? 

peppapig14

peppapig14 said:

we signed a 12 month tenancy agreement in Nov 19 on the basis we would start looking for a property to purchase towards the end of the tenancy.
however a perfect property has come onto market and our offer has been accepted on the basis we complete within 10-12 weeks.
how do I go about breaking our tenancy agreement ( should we be honest and say we are purhasing a property ) and what is the best way to approach this? what kind of charges will we incur ( I'm assuming it's the estate agents advertising costs and needing to pay rent untilla new tenvt moves in)
we have o my spoke to our landlord once before and not sure what to do

Thanks for the advice. 
should we approach the landlord directly before contacting the estate agents?
My concern is if we tell him we want to purchase a house he could be like " well that's not my problem, uve got funds to buy a property so u can rent untill the end of tenancy"
I'm thinking we should say we was naive with the costs involved as the rent is £400 more than we were paying in our previous property, there is no gas in the property so it costs a fortune to heat ( which we need as we have a 5 year old)
any advise would be appreciated thank you

tom9980

There is no need to lie tell the truth the sooner your landlord knows the sooner they can plan and limit their costs and in turn yours. 

[Deleted User]

Saying you were naive with the costs would gain very little either. Unless you are in arrears, the landlord has no reason to search for a new tenant until your contract is up or you leave.  
Honesty is the best policy,  speak to the letting agents and ask that they start looking for a new tenant to move in.   However, you might find that the home buying process has a habit of dragging on so you run the risk of playing games, finding a new tenant, the new house not being ready, so you either lose the new tenant or move out into temporary accommodation.

Can you swallow rent and mortgage for a few months if they overlap? Budget for the worst case scenario which looks like it is paying rent and mortgage for up to 6 months.  If you cant afford that then dont exchange contracts on the purchase until you have a new tenant for your rental

lees80

The rent is what you agreed to pay when you signed the agreement - you don't just all of a sudden notice a £400 difference, nothing to do with the current situation. Heating and having a 5 year old - again, nothing to do with your current situation. 

The situation is this - you signed a 12 month agreement, now you've changed your mind and want to buy sooner than later. That isn't really anything for your landlord to help you with. If they do help you, great. If they don't, nothing you can do.