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Rent Payment Squabble/Query over HMO
Hi there
Have a bit of a weird situation so I'll try my best to explain it
We are 5 students living in a HMO property (HMO application pending, not actually approved) in midlands in the UK
We are looking to negotiate with our landlord to end our tenancy early, however we do not have a break clause. In our property, our landlord has broken the contract from his side in many elements:
We sent him a legal letter outlining all of the above and stating we want to break out of the contract in lieu of us going a legal route through courts against him for deposit/damages/etc.
My query lies to that we have a rent payment due tomorrow, which is in Termly payments, not monthly. Should we pay the rent, or withhold? If we don't pay the rent, it's us withholding/breaking contract but we don't know if we have grounds to do so. Furthermore, can we pay 1 month rent instead of the entire Term, or is that still the same as paying no rent?
We ultimately want to break out of the tenancy contract as early as possible. What should our best action be? Thus far the landlord has ignored our letter's we've sent.
Thanks!
Have a bit of a weird situation so I'll try my best to explain it
We are 5 students living in a HMO property (HMO application pending, not actually approved) in midlands in the UK
We are looking to negotiate with our landlord to end our tenancy early, however we do not have a break clause. In our property, our landlord has broken the contract from his side in many elements:
- Property was not suitable as HMO from the beginning, as we moved in there were no fire alarms for the first week
- There are 4-5 people living in our garden in an illegal outbuilding, leeching off our electricity, which we pay for. Despite efforts to recover costs of this, the landlord has basically ignored us.
- Landlord has also entered our property without 24h notice
- Deposit was not protected until I asked for proof, and even then he has only protected deposit of 2/5 of the tenants at the address. The deposit was protected 3 months late.
We sent him a legal letter outlining all of the above and stating we want to break out of the contract in lieu of us going a legal route through courts against him for deposit/damages/etc.
My query lies to that we have a rent payment due tomorrow, which is in Termly payments, not monthly. Should we pay the rent, or withhold? If we don't pay the rent, it's us withholding/breaking contract but we don't know if we have grounds to do so. Furthermore, can we pay 1 month rent instead of the entire Term, or is that still the same as paying no rent?
We ultimately want to break out of the tenancy contract as early as possible. What should our best action be? Thus far the landlord has ignored our letter's we've sent.
Thanks!
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