Advice Needed - Lodger Agreement between "friends"

[Deleted User]

Verbal agreements are also legally valid but getting the rent refund in your hand in advance of handing back keys would be smart.

MaryNB

Steameh said:

MaryNB said:

If he forced you to pay up to the end of the contract he would be cutting off his nose to spite his face. By doing that he's saying you cannot break the contract; therefore, you have the right to stay there until the 6 months is up. 

You could get it in writing that he is accepting surrender of the tenancy on the 25th of June. However, by doing so you are then removing your own right to live there after the 25th of June. 
It's his own fault for giving you a 6 month contract. As far as I'm aware a lodger agreement can be periodic, it doesn't need to have a minimum initial fixed term. 

Exactly, he's made it quite clear he doesn't want me to stay there, so why would he enforce the contract. Unless there's a way he can prove I've moved out and enforce it anyway without me being able to move back in?

Once I have signed the tenancy agreement on the new place, is there anyway the landlord can change their mind?

Nope, it's a binding agreement. That's why they're waiting for the other tenants to move out before singing. If for any reason the current tenants don't move out, the landlord is still legally obliged to provide you with the accommodation if you both signed the agreement. 

Steameh

[Deleted User] said:

Verbal agreements are also legally valid but getting the rent refund in your hand in advance of handing back keys would be smart.

How do they hold up if he were to say otherwise though? How can you prove what was said?

Steameh

MaryNB said:

Steameh said:

MaryNB said:

If he forced you to pay up to the end of the contract he would be cutting off his nose to spite his face. By doing that he's saying you cannot break the contract; therefore, you have the right to stay there until the 6 months is up. 

You could get it in writing that he is accepting surrender of the tenancy on the 25th of June. However, by doing so you are then removing your own right to live there after the 25th of June. 
It's his own fault for giving you a 6 month contract. As far as I'm aware a lodger agreement can be periodic, it doesn't need to have a minimum initial fixed term. 

Exactly, he's made it quite clear he doesn't want me to stay there, so why would he enforce the contract. Unless there's a way he can prove I've moved out and enforce it anyway without me being able to move back in?

Once I have signed the tenancy agreement on the new place, is there anyway the landlord can change their mind?

Nope, it's a binding agreement. That's why they're waiting for the other tenants to move out before singing. If for any reason the current tenants don't move out, the landlord is still legally obliged to provide you with the accommodation if you both signed the agreement. 

Good to know, I'd be happier moving into my Mum's once I've signed the tenancy agreement.

[Deleted User]

Steameh said:

[Deleted User] said:

Verbal agreements are also legally valid but getting the rent refund in your hand in advance of handing back keys would be smart.

How do they hold up if he were to say otherwise though? How can you prove what was said?

It seems extremely far fetched to me that if there is a verbal agreement to terminate the tenancy early with no more rent due, that he would then take you to court based on a lie that such a conversation never took place. Whilst getting him to commit to revised arrangements in writing is desirable, I'm saying that it  is not essential, so don't become fixated on that point.
There is more. The act of him refunding your rent pro-rata, and him accepting the return of the keys, will be a course of conduct suggestive of an agreed surrender. Pick an agreed day for check-out, return of keys, and return of the balance of the rent.