*PLEASE HELP!* Renting - Need To Leave Contract

rosannalauragale

I am a student renting a flat with 2 others student. We pay individually by direct debit each month but rent the flat not the individual rooms. The property is managed by a letting agent for a private landlady.

The contract has been signed until the end of June (so for a further 6 months) but due to an illness in the family I am having to leave university and move back home. I am desperate to leave and be rid of any responsibilities for the flat, but the letting agent is making my life extremely difficult.

I was told to find someone to simply fill the room, worker or student, and change the contract over. They even gave me the council tax details to advertise incase a worker wanted to move in. Having found someone to move in, I was very rudely told it would have to be a student taking my place. However now I am told that they must even be of a close age to the other remaining tennants (they are both 19) or they will not accept them.

Also I am struggling in the first place to find a body to fill my place, as it is halfway through the academic year.

PLEASE HELP ME! Is there anything I can do to leave the contract?? I cannot afford to pay for a flat that I am not living in!

Thanks.

PasturesNew

You are responsible for the full time until the end of June.

However, if you/the landlord manages to find another tenant then that might get you out of it.

There is no other way out.

If you try to cut and run the landlord will hunt you down like a dog and take you to court.

The part about them having to be a student will probably be because students don't pay council tax. If a worker moves in they will have to pick up the whole council tax bill (less 25% discount for being a sole person paying it). And I can understand the others wanting it to be somebody their own age and somebody they approve of.

You'll just have to ramp up your advertising efforts. Try http://www.gumtree.co.uk but half way through the year it could be tricky. You need to find somebody who hates their current flatmates, but they will have the same problem leaving where they are at the moment too.

Sorry. Not what you wanted to hear.