Leaving Tenancy Agreement Early (Autism, Mental Health)

[Cynthia1996]

I was wondering if you could help me.

I'm autistic and have other mental health issues too.

I need to end my tenancy, so I sent an email to my letting agency telling them that I was providing a month's notice.

They responded saying that I can't end my tenancy without paying them an extra month's rent in 'relisting fees', and that if I don't do that, I have to keep paying rent for several more months.

I wasn't aware that I apparently couldn't just tell them when I wanted to give a month's notice to move out. I've been renting for about 10 years and that's how it's always worked before. The rental contract is about 20 pages long, and it only mentions anything relating to interrupting/ending the agreement near the end.

Do I have valid grounds to rescind the contract (based on lack of mental capacity), and if so, exactly how do I do that? If I do rescind the contract, I presume I would have to leave immediately?

Alternatively, what other options do you think might be a good idea?

I've already paid rent for the next couple of weeks.

Thank you so much. It's hard enough on a good day with autism. Things like this really knock me over. Scared and sad.

[islandgirl]

What is the contract you have? Is it an AST to a certain date in the future or has the original AST expired and you are now on a rolling periodic contract?

[Cynthia1996]

It's an AST that expires in a few months.

[islandgirl]

Then I think you have a commitment to pay until the end unless you are released or unless the contract allows for notice to be given - what does it say on that issue?

[Cynthia1996]

It doesn't allow it, and from what I've seen researching around, what you said above would be the case typically.

However, I did also find, through my research, something called 'rescission', basically meaning that a contract is rolled back (as if it never existed) in various cases, one of which is that one (or more) of the signed parties lacked (at time of signing) capacity to act. Mental illness is one of the things that can be used as a factor to determine lack of capacity.

This is why I think this might be something useful to consider in my case.

I'm also curious whether some terms that may typically not be deemed 'unfair' in contracts may well be deemed unfair given my mental health issues, for example with autism, there are issues with executive function and planning ahead. Is that also something sensible to explore?

[islandgirl]

I am sorry I have no idea about the proof needed to rescind the contract but given that you have rented property for 10 years and had the capacity to do so it may well be extremely difficult to prove. If you have been offered a release from the contract without having to pay for the full term this may be the thing to do - perhaps try to negotiate paying less due to the problems you have. Other people may be along soon to give further advice and I wish you well. You could also post your problem in the specialist LL and tenant forum Landlordzone (google it) and see if anyone there has more knowledge to help you. Good luck.

[Cynthia1996]

Thank you! I'm grateful for your thoughts.

Maybe, though with my condition it's pretty much:

"here, you need to sign this in order to live here/do whatever else"
"ok, thanks"

It just never came up until now because no one ever declined me giving notice before. Was completely unexpected. I wasn't even aware that I might not even be able to technically make a contract at all based on my mental disabilities. I guess it makes sense, to try to stop us being taken advantage of, but you just never think of this until it becomes relevant. Life just is random sometimes. Maybe this kind of thing is just obvious to neurotypical people, I wouldn't know.