Leaving in early termination

ANDRESANDRES · 10 April 2018 at 9:49AM

Hello there

My partner and I are looking for advice in relation to our current tenancy contract. We have the opportunity to purchase our own home which we are pursuing with much vigour! Our estate agent is proving difficult and insisting that we are eligible for all rent on our current (rented) property and looking at our contract we are not sure if that is the case, it seems to be poorly worded. Please see the below extract from our contract.

"The Tenant may bring the Tenancy to an end at any time before the expiry of the Term (but
not earlier than 24 months (It ends in October 2018) from the Commencement Date or the date of this Agreement whichever
shall be the later) by giving to the Landlord not less than two months written notice that the
Tenant wishes to give up possession of the property.

The tenant agrees to pay all reasonable remarketing costs for breach of tenancy and early
termination, to be re-let for a minimum period in line with original tenancy agreement;"

We are more than happy to pay all reasonable remarking costs and have written directly to our Landlord to express that however we have unfortunately not had a response. Please could we ask you to have a look and see if we are in fact liable for all rent until October of this year, or able to leave early with reasonable penalties to be paid.

Thanks
Andres

saajan_12 · 10 April 2018 at 10:17AM

ANDRESANDRES wrote: »

Hello there

My partner and I are looking for advice in relation to our current tenancy contract. We have the opportunity to purchase our own home which we are pursuing with much vigour! - part of deciding if you 'have the opportunity' is if you can afford rent at the same time or have the opportunity to leave your rental contract too.. Our estate (letting) agent is proving difficult and insisting that we are eligible for all rent on our current (rented) property - ofc you're liable for all rent per your agreement.. why is that being difficult. All rent may not be the full fixed term if there's a break clause but all rent per the agreement. and looking at our contract we are not sure if that is the case, it seems to be poorly worded. Please see the below extract from our contract.

"The Tenant may bring the Tenancy to an end at any time before the expiry of the Term - what are the Term dates? (but not earlier than 24 months (It ends in October 2018) from the Commencement Date which is? or the date of this Agreement - which is? whichever shall be the later) by giving to the Landlord not less than two months written notice that the Tenant wishes to give up possession of the property.- seems clear to me: a break clause where you can give 2 months notice, expiring earliest 24 months after start date

The tenant agrees to pay all reasonable remarketing costs for breach of tenancy and early termination, to be re-let for a minimum period in line with original tenancy agreement;" - so if you early terminate you pay reletting costs. The bit about breaching is irrelevant as invoking an allowed break clause isn't breaching. IF you did breach then you can't rely on this clause, the LL can demand whatever they choose.

We are more than happy to pay all reasonable remarking costs and have written directly to our Landlord to express that however we have unfortunately not had a response. Please could we ask you to have a look and see if we are in fact liable for all rent until October of this year, or able to leave early with reasonable penalties to be paid.

Thanks
Andres

Please confirm
1. Date of agreement
2. Tenancy commencement date
3. Fixed term end date

If 24 months after the latter of 1 & 2 is indeed Oct 2018 and this is before 3 then earliest you can terminate is Oct 2018, giving 2 months notice and paying costs. If the fixed term ends there then you can ignore the break clause and leave before the end of the fixed term without notice. However nothing above suggests you can leave before this per the contract.

The only alternative is to negotiate an early termination with the LL, subject to whatever they choose (not limited to reletting costs as you'd be creating a new agreeemnt)

ANDRESANDRES · 10 April 2018 at 11:05AM

Hello

2. Tenancy commencement date
October 2016

It ends in October 2018.

However, we have tried to contact the Landlord sending a post mail because we don't have another way to contact him but we didn't have any news from him (maybe he doesn't live there anymore). Also we have treid to speak with the agency and basically thy told us we had to paid till Octoebr 2018 end of the story. They didn't any chance to negociet with the Landlord.

So we don't know what can we do ?

Thanks
Andres

Cakeguts · 10 April 2018 at 11:42AM

So 24 months is October 2018 and after that you can give notice to move. Until then you have to pay the rent. It takes several months to buy a house so you may not have completed on the house you are buying by then anyway.

saajan_12 · 10 April 2018 at 12:10PM

saajan_12 wrote: »

Please confirm
1. Date of agreement
2. Tenancy commencement date
3. Fixed term end date

ANDRESANDRES wrote: »

2. Tenancy commencement date
October 2016

It ends in October 2018.

Please answer ALL 3 dates requested if you want advice. If the fixed term ends Oct 2018 then the break clause allowing you to terminate 24 months after Oct 2016 but before the end of the fixed term never applies and is entirely irrelevant. You can leave at teh end of the fixed term without notice.

Nothing there permits you to terminate before Oct 2018, so you're subject to whatever the LL agrees to, if anything.

ANDRESANDRES · 10 April 2018 at 1:04PM

saajan_12 wrote: »

Please answer ALL 3 dates requested if you want advice. If the fixed term ends Oct 2018 then the break clause allowing you to terminate 24 months after Oct 2016 but before the end of the fixed term never applies and is entirely irrelevant. You can leave at teh end of the fixed term without notice.

Nothing there permits you to terminate before Oct 2018, so you're subject to whatever the LL agrees to, if anything.

Hello

Thank you for your replies.

What is goin on if the Landlord doesn’t come back to us? We have tried to contact him a lot of time and nothing. And speak with the estate agency is like speak with a wall.

Thanks

EmmyLou30 · 10 April 2018 at 1:11PM

The letting agents don't care about you wanting to leave, the law states you are liable for rent till October 2018 (from the info you've provided) so why do they want to waste time and effort finding a replacement tenant just to help you out even if you will pay any costs incurred? That's work and letting agents don't like doing work!

Chances are you'll only have 2 months crossover even if you find somewhere soon, so as long as you can afford that I'd say let it go - it's nice to have the ability to clean and do some decorating before you move in anyway and not have the stress of trying to time completion on your new house with the end of a tenancy.

ANDRESANDRES · 10 April 2018 at 1:26PM

EmmyLou30 wrote: »

The letting agents don't care about you wanting to leave, the law states you are liable for rent till October 2018 (from the info you've provided) so why do they want to waste time and effort finding a replacement tenant just to help you out even if you will pay any costs incurred? That's work and letting agents don't like doing work!

Chances are you'll only have 2 months crossover even if you find somewhere soon, so as long as you can afford that I'd say let it go - it's nice to have the ability to clean and do some decorating before you move in anyway and not have the stress of trying to time completion on your new house with the end of a tenancy.

Hello

We already bought the house. Our solicitors told the following

"We are awaiting the signed contract and transfer from yourselves. We plan to request the deposit from yourselves on the 24th April.

We are awaiting replies to enquires and transfer from seller (we wait until replies have been responded before you sign off the contract)

We are also awaiting the water and local authority search results to come back which are due in a weeks time on the 16th."

I don't think it will take more than 2 months (I wish it takes more than 2 months!)

So is possible to buy a house and freezing the mortgage till we move in? Ex. If we have all ready to move in June. Could we speak with our lender etc to the freezer it until October?

Thanks

ANDRESANDRES · 10 April 2018 at 1:39PM

Please confirm
1. Date of agreement
2. Tenancy commencement date
Commencement date. 1 st November 2016
3. Fixed term end date
The Term 24 Months

I am not sure where I can find all the information you are asking. I am checking the contract and I can see anything else in relation with your questions. If you want I can share the contract with you as a private massage

gingercordial · 10 April 2018 at 1:41PM

ANDRESANDRES wrote: »

Hello

We already bought the house. Our solicitors told the following

"We are awaiting the signed contract and transfer from yourselves. We plan to request the deposit from yourselves on the 24th April.

We are awaiting replies to enquires and transfer from seller (we wait until replies have been responded before you sign off the contract)

We are also awaiting the water and local authority search results to come back which are due in a weeks time on the 16th."

I don't think it will take more than 2 months (I wish it takes more than 2 months!)

So is possible to buy a house and freezing the mortgage till we move in? Ex. If we have all ready to move in June. Could we speak with our lender etc to the freezer it until October?

Thanks

There is no way your lender will allow you to "freeze" the mortgage and not start repaying until October.

Also, you have not "already bought the house" if you have not exchanged contracts - clearly you haven't as your solicitor is waiting for you to sign it and pay the deposit, and if you had exchanged you would already have the moving date set.

You could try to negotiate with the seller of your house that you delay purchase until later in the year, or ask to exchange now but delay completion until a date as far away as they will agree to, but they might walk away and find a buyer who can buy it more quickly.

Or, since you haven't bought the house yet, you could stop trying to buy this one and wait until you are actually in a position to do so.

Does your mortgage lender know that you are tied into your rental contract until October, as presumably that has a big impact on your affordability calculation?

EmmyLou30 · 10 April 2018 at 1:42PM

Oh dear, in that case you've rather jumped the gun on purchasing a new house before sorting out the early termination of your tenancy agreement. Don't forget once you exchange on the new house you'll be liable for insuring it, and after completion most insurers won't let you be absent from the home for more than a short period (differs from company to company but 30 days has been the norm for policies I've taken out in the past).

You'll also start making mortgage payments and paying council tax and the utility bills at the new house. So having two houses in tandem gets very costly very quickly. I did it for 4 months and it was a lot more costly than I would have liked!

You're really at the mercy of the landlord being nice to you and releasing you early by the sounds of it. The letting agents are obliged to provide you with his name and address if you ask I believe? Someone else may be able to clarify this for you. But if he doesn't respond I'm not sure you can 'make' him do anything unfortunately.

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Leaving in early termination

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