Tenancy Agreement name removal issue

KazMags

Hi, my brother signed a short term tenancy agreement in March, for 12 months with his then partner. They parted in April and my brother moved out. The Landlord refused to remove my brother’s name from the TA unless he paid a £175 fee (which he did not at the time and cannot). Is this allowed? The Landlord still refuses to make the name change unless the fee is paid so of course although his ex-girlfriend is living there, my brother is still liable for any issues with the property, non-payment of rent etc as his name is still on the Agreement. Any advice or info gratefully accepted, thanks x

Comms69

Yes ofcourse it's allowed. AND the landlord can ask your brother for 100% of the rent.

FinallyStoppedLurking

Presumably would need the agreement of his ex partner as well to be valid. 

princeofpounds

The question of the fee is rather secondary. The most important thing is securing the agreement of the landlord and his co-tenant. Neither of them have to say yes.

saajan_12

KazMags said:

Hi, my brother signed a short term tenancy agreement in March, for 12 months with his then partner. They parted in April and my brother moved out. The Landlord refused to remove my brother’s name from the TA unless he paid a £175 fee (which he did not at the time and cannot). Is this allowed? The Landlord still refuses to make the name change unless the fee is paid so of course although his ex-girlfriend is living there, my brother is still liable for any issues with the property, non-payment of rent etc as his name is still on the Agreement. Any advice or info gratefully accepted, thanks x

So brother agreed to be jointly liable with ex for the obligations in the lease, including rent and property damage. That means the LL gave accommodation on the expectation they could recover rent / damages from 2 people. Whether brother chooses to use the accommodation or not is up to them. He can't just unilatterally change the contract so LL is still giving the same accommodation but they only have 1 person (ex) to chase for rent / damages. (what if ex can't afford rent and LL only initially agreed because brother was also on the hook).

Any change would have to be with the agreement of all parties. Brother, ex and the LL can each refuse, agree, or agree with conditions. It sounds like LL is agreeing with conditions, namely the £175, which is actually quite generous as they are giving up one person to chase for rent. 

Brother can either fulfill the condtions (ie pay £175) or refuse and stay on the contract as he had agreed. 

The alternative is for brother / ex to serve notice and both vacate. Note until the LL regains vacant possession, both are liable for rent (or double rent). 

greatcrested

The tenancy can either be

* 'assigned' from brother & ex, to ex alone, or

* the tenancy can be ended early and a new one created (in ex's name)

Both options require the consent of landlord, brother and ex.

Both options require admin/ legal paperwork

Both options leave the LL in a worse position in the eventuality of tenancy issues (arrears, damage etc) having only one person to pursue in place of two

KazMags

Thanks all, really appreciate your comments. The reason I was asking if the requested fee from the LL was allowed is because I read on here recently about the changes in the Law for fees regarding tenancy agreements, but I know 100% I’m easily confused 😂

KazMags

princeofpounds said:

The question of the fee is rather secondary. The most important thing is securing the agreement of the landlord and his co-tenant. Neither of them have to say yes.

Thank you - presumably this would only be until the end of their current TA? I know I probably sound thick and naive but I’ve never rented before and honestly (obviously 😂) don’t know very much about the legalities etc. Being a big sister can sometimes be challenging...🙄😂

Slithery

KazMags said:

princeofpounds said:

The question of the fee is rather secondary. The most important thing is securing the agreement of the landlord and his co-tenant. Neither of them have to say yes.

Thank you - presumably this would only be until the end of their current TA?

No, until the tenancy ends. If the ex girlfriend stays in the property for the next 50 years your brother is still liable until his name is removed.

As stated above this can only be done with the agreement of all three parties, none of whom are under any obligation to agree to the change.

rik111

He needs to bite the landlords hand off, he’s got away cheaply. Could end up costing him a fortune if the Ex defaults...

saajan_12

KazMags said:

Thanks all, really appreciate your comments. The reason I was asking if the requested fee from the LL was allowed is because I read on here recently about the changes in the Law for fees regarding tenancy agreements, but I know 100% I’m easily confused 😂

Yes, there have been restrictions on fees, mostly for things that would happen as a matter of course eg agreement drafting, referencing etc. The thing is you're asking for a variation of the current agreement, for which fees are specifically permitted. This could either be treated as a change in the agreement, capped at £50 unless the LL can demonstrate higher costs. This is usually when a minor clause is amended or a one tenant is changed. As you are reducing hte number of tenants, the risk for hte LL is significantly increasing, so they may instead want to terminate the contract, which doens't have a cap on the fee, and sign a new one with the ex alone. 

KazMags said:

princeofpounds said:

The question of the fee is rather secondary. The most important thing is securing the agreement of the landlord and his co-tenant. Neither of them have to say yes.

Thank you - presumably this would only be until the end of their current TA? I know I probably sound thick and naive but I’ve never rented before and honestly (obviously 😂) don’t know very much about the legalities etc. Being a big sister can sometimes be challenging...🙄😂

No, the tenancy doesn't have a fixed end date, but instead continues rolling until either 
(i) all parties mutually agree to terminate; or
(ii) LL serves notice AND court issues possession order; or
(iii) a tenant serves notice AND you both vacate

Until one of those happen, you continue to be liable. They all require at least one other party to take action.