Hi savvy investors,
I have a potential tenant that offered 12 months rent in advance as he has been advised by his agency to do so. Wondering how the break-clause works in this situation? Is it a common practice to put no break clause or add it with a refund clause for unused months?
Looking for common practices not to take advantage of course.
Thank you in advance for your expert advice
Victor
Don’t be seduced by an offer that many landlords would be wary of. Do your due diligence on this guy. You can include a break clause if you wish. It would mean a refund of any rent for the period after the tenancy ends though.
Not all offers to pay 12 months upfront come with alarm bells , we’ll certainly not in my case , my landlord wanted 6 months rent upfront then asked if I could pay 12 months which actually suited me as at least the rent was paid and out of the way for 12months ……….this was where I was the one that should of read the ‘alarm bell’ signs !!
We signed up in October 2022 and was told they were looking for long term tenants so we were delighted as we planned on being there a few years and they said we could just make the house our own so I asked if I could decorate and put down new carpets (all at my own cost) was told yes no problems ……mistake number one , had all rooms measured for carpets and blinds as well as decorated but decide we would wait until after Christmas to actually have it all done , come 2 weeks after new year my partner received a text would we like to buy the house!!! Well this just gave me an uneasy feeling so I thought to put my mind at rest just to ask landlady if she was looking to sell up , no leanne not at all we are really happy with you both and would dream of selling the house we would love you to stay indefinitely!! 2 days later gets a message ‘unfortunately due to mortgage problems and other finances the house will be going up for sale ……we’d been there 16 weeks , within this time we had a leak for the kitchen that the owners had fitted and this had caused kitchen laminate to lift and so I took it up and put down new only to be told I shouldn’t have done that !! But surely I was doing them a favour also paid for garage door to be put back on bracket as it just literally came off when I opened it was told the same thing , I do not hold me breath on getting my deposit back as she told me by doing these things I broke my contract
She therefore agreed an early termination and has said she will give me the remainder of my rent, i fortunately have just this week moved to my new property and wait with fingers crossed that a get my goodwill upfront rent back
Sorry for my life story but I just feel that remnants are sometimes all tarred with the same brush and this is clearly not true as I took the word of these people only to lose out !!