Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

[jimjim]

HI, I have a tenant on a Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement which started on 15th September 2012 for 12 months. She now has informed me that she is giving notice to leave on the 10th August. Just wanted to understand how to approach this as I believed that she would have at least have to give 1 month. Her rent payment day is 11th of each month. Thanks :-)

[teaboy2]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

As it was a 12 month tenancy then as the full 12 months is not yet up they may surrender at anytime and do not need to give 1 months notice. If however the original tenancy term had been completed and there tenancy was therefore a periodic tenancy, which means that the original fixed-term has ended and the tenancy now runs from week to week or month to month (depending on when the rent is paid i.e weekly/monthly) then yes they would have to then give 1 months notice.

So i am afraid you don't have much choice to accept their surrender of tenancy in writing - Though if i was you, you should request that they agree to an appointment so that you may inspect the property prior to them vacating.

[PlanB]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

HI, I have a tenant on a Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement which started on 15th September 2012 for 12 months. She now has informed me that she is giving notice to leave on the 10th August. Just wanted to understand how to approach this as I believed that she would have at least have to give 1 month. Her rent payment day is 11th of each month. Thanks :-)

Your tenant cannot surrender a twelve month tenancy agreement early under any circumstances unless by mutual agreement and you don't have to agree to this. Unless you've got a break clause which kicks in after six months in that contract which is quite common. You need to check what you've signed. Even so that break clause will spell out exactly the terms on which the contract can be surrendered including the amount of notice period which must be given.

If there is no break clause then the tenant is liable for all rent up until the 12 months expires regardless of whether she has vacated early or not. You can safely deduct the amount of rent outstanding from her deposit if she does a runner Let the TDS clear up the mess if she raises a dispute.

If any of my tenants want to leave early I tell them that's ok by me so long as I get a replacement tenant at their expense (i.e. they pay the rental agent's fees). Why not make that suggestion to her.

[PlanB]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

As it was a 12 month tenancy then as the full 12 months is not yet up they may surrender at anytime and do not need to give 1 months notice.

So i am afraid you don't have much choice to accept their surrender of tenancy in writing.

^^^^ I'm afraid this is not true :nono:

Read this for confirmation:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...term_agreement

[Inca]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Another case of 'Check your facts before posting Teaboy'
Admitting your advice is wrong AFTER the fact isn't helping OP's,,it's got to be up to date exact facts or deferred to someone who knows what they are talking about...REAL people REAL lives REAL problems have to be furnished with the correct answers,,and I'm not being confrontational,just concerned that wrong advice could one day turn round and bite LB on the bum.

[PlanB]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Sometimes the law is open to interpretation, and sometimes it is black and white. This was a black and white situation.

[jimjim]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Thanks PlanB. Its my first remtal property and your advice is much valued. I will suggest this tomorrow. Am i right in saying that she must give me a months notice on the last day of this 12 month agreement thus she pays up to 14th October if i do not find a replacment?

[labman]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

This answers your question, but would be a good read for you judging from the two questions asked so far. I know it's written for tenants, but it still gives you answers to the questions above and many others:

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...de-for-tenants

[PlanB]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Am i right in saying that she must give me a months notice on the last day of this 12 month agreement thus she pays up to 14th October if i do not find a replacment?

jimjim.

There's shed loads of case law on this issue in favour of the Landlord but my approach is to stay out of court and do a deal What's the point in getting a county court judgment if the tenant can't/won't pay? The judgment would only relate to rent owed until the end of your current AST (September) in money terms. So if your tenant felt pissed off with you because you took them to court they might decide to sit tight which would add a further 2/3 months (at least) to the eviction process.

I don't know where your property is located but the rental market has a season. September is hot hot hot. October is Ok up until half term, but after that it's a struggle until the Spring season in March (at the earliest).

Give me some more information to work with

[jimjim]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

PlanB,
your a star with wise words. Deal done all go for moving forward :-) until the next time, many thanks

[PlanB]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

PlanB,
your a star with wise words. Deal done all go for moving forward :-) until the next time, many thanks

You're welcome, and you know where to find me the *next time* because I guarantee there's bound to be a *next time*

Take care xx

[teaboy2]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Another case of 'Check your facts before posting Teaboy'
Admitting your advice is wrong AFTER the fact isn't helping OP's,,it's got to be up to date exact facts or deferred to someone who knows what they are talking about...REAL people REAL lives REAL problems have to be furnished with the correct answers,,and I'm not being confrontational,just concerned that wrong advice could one day turn round and bite LB on the bum.

I think you will find that i did check my facts:

"
How an assured shorthold tenancy can be ended

Your tenancy cannot simply run out. It will continue until it is ended properly - either by you or by your landlord. This can happen in one of three ways:

• you and your landlord agreeing to end the tenancy (known as surrender)
• you serving a valid notice
• your landlord taking action to evict you (see below).

Surrender

It is possible for a tenancy to be surrendered at any time. Get your landlord's agreement in writing if possible to avoid problems later.

Notice

If you have a periodic tenancy (which means that the original fixed-term has ended and your tenancy runs from week to week or month to month), you have to give one month's notice in writing, or longer if you pay your rent less often. The notice should end on the first or last day of the period of a tenancy. Once the notice ends, your tenancy ends and you no longer have any right to live in your home.
If you have a fixed-term tenancy (ie for one year) you will only be able to give notice during the fixed-term if your tenancy agreement says it is allowed. The length of notice you have to give depends on what your tenancy agreement says.
It's possible to leave on the day your tenancy ends without giving any notice, but this is not usually advisable. It is best to give your landlord notice if you can, especially if you have paid a deposit and need it back."

And guess what its from the same site that PlanB posted a link for - http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...hold_tenancies


The OP asked if the Tenant is allowed to end the tenancy agreement before the full time has passed - Answer is Yes they can. Nothing was asked about whether the tenant would still have to pay the rent for the remainder of the tenancy agreement - The OP merely believed the tenant would have to give 1 months notice, which is not necessary the case (Unless it is stated in the contract, which i assume it is given the OP believed he was entitled to 1 months notice), as it can be surrendered at anytime, unless it was a periodic tenancy where 1 week or 1 months (determined by whether the rent is weekly or monthly) notice would be required!

End of the day the OP has to decide whether he wants an tenant that is wanting out, and therefore going to be unhappy and could just move anyway, forcing the OP to take court action for the remaining months rent. Or whether to agree to them ending the tenancy (whether he asks for the remaining months rent or not is up to him) and get a new tenant in. The tenant will just move out anyway once the tenancy agreement ends in September - So would it be in either parties interest to haggle over the last months rent/tenancy if the tenant wants to leave just over a month before the end of the agreement?

[labman]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

I really don't think this is worth arguing about. The question was about how the Landlord should approach the situation, so Plan B is correct.

I can see Teaboy's confusion.

IF the question had been 'Can my tenant leave from an Assured Shorthold Tenancy early?' technically Teaboy is correct, I think, but he is being VERY pedantic. This is because there are two forms of surrender; there is surrender as in an agreed surrender of the tenancy / contract as mentioned by Plan B. There is also implied surrender which is basically where the tenant removes their possessions and leaves, so the implication is they have surrendered the tenancy - the landlord then has the right to go in and change the locks etc... and to pursue the tenant through the courts for any rent outstanding.

I've spent nearly two hours researching this and really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. It was worth reading around just to find the term 'effluxion of time' - how quaint is that?

However, the OP is clearly implying the tenant wants to do things properly, but has just misunderstood the law, and thinks they can give notice after 11 months to leave after month 12 (the fixed term). Plan B's answer is absolutely spot on for this situation if we are not pedantic and read the OP's question as 99.9% of people would read it.

[Inca]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Who's arguing?

[labman]

Re: Tenant wishes to leave early from lease

Who's arguing?

Exactly my point about pedantic.

Dictionary Definition:

Argument: A discussion in which disagreement is expressed

So to answer your question Teaboy was expressing disagreement with you and Plan B, so I guess you three. As I said, it's not worth arguing about though. I did find it really interesting and informative reading around the subject though - it's not an area I'd ever even looked at before, let alone read various pieces of legislation, guidelines etc...