Leaving rental tenancy early

[Deleted User]

startoveragain said:

I see. When I say Consumer Law. I refer to the fact that the property was advertised for rent to share with 2 other females, and she ends up sharing with a male too. She was only there just over 1 month and although didn't feel comfortable with the situation, as she was entering a household where the other 2 (actually 3) occupiers already knew each other she didn't feel comfortable addressing the situation, hoping Covid restrictions would be over soon and the boyfriend would return to his flat. However, meanwhile she lost her job,making it even more difficult to remain. Maybe she has a case under Consumer Law / Misdescription.
Otherwise as you say she will likely expect a claim through the courts. Thank you so much for all your advice.

This is a bit of a fudge. You have perceived the advertisement as an undertaking by the landlord regarding the composition of the household. However, the tenancy agreement makes your daughter the joint custodian of who visits or occupies the property under the particular terms. If there is a breach of tenancy agreement here on the basis of the boyfriend living there, the landlord is the party who is the victim, and your daughter is the offender. 

saajan_12

startoveragain said:

I see. When I say Consumer Law. I refer to the fact that the property was advertised for rent to share with 2 other females, and she ends up sharing with a male too. She was only there just over 1 month and although didn't feel comfortable with the situation, as she was entering a household where the other 2 (actually 3) occupiers already knew each other she didn't feel comfortable addressing the situation, hoping Covid restrictions would be over soon and the boyfriend would return to his flat. However, meanwhile she lost her job,making it even more difficult to remain. Maybe she has a case under Consumer Law / Misdescription.
Otherwise as you say she will likely expect a claim through the courts. Thank you so much for all your advice.

You keep talking about things the other co tenants did as if you can use them against a contract with the LL. You can't. Think of it this way: daughter + friends are team A. The Landlord is team B. The tenancy agreement is a contract between team A and team B. If someone in team A breaches the agreement, then team A must, between them, resolve it and be liable for any resulting damages that the LL suffers. And vice versa. The max occupiers etc are part of tenants' (team A's) obligations, so if they breach that, the LL can complain / seek damages (can't think of any for this example) but team A can't complain. This is the essence of joint & several liability: part of team A is responsible for the whole of team A's obligations under the agreement.

Crashy_Time said:

Agreement seems broken to me, tell the landlord that your daughter is taking a "rent holiday" and let them take it from there, she will probably lose any deposit? Can see this scenario happening more and more, many landlords must be panicking by now.

It would need to be a material breach to break the agreement entirely. Think house fell down, there is no accommodation provided, agreement is frustrated and impossible to continue. A minor breach would just mean the damaged party can seek monetary damages or get the other side to comply, but the essence of the agreement continues. eg if rent was paid 1 day late, the LL may be able to claim costs of chasing / lost interest / charges stated in the agreement, but that doesn't mean the whole thing is null and void and everyone has to leave the property. That would be crazy!  

Ultimately the issues are nothing to do with the LL, so no 'misdescription' or broken agreements with them. If the tenants don't pay the full rent between them, then the LL could sue any / all of them for the entire missing amount. You need to focus on the verbal agreement with the other tenants and/or getting someone else to occupy the rent and cover daughter's share of rent. If the other tenants end up covering daughter's share of the rent, they could sue daughter based on the verbal agreement that she would pay 1/3. You could try to argue the girlfriend also breached the agreement, and therefore it should be altered by reducing daughter's share, but I can't see her share going to 0.