My contract was ending 27 Feb 2024. I paid rent for January on 27 Dec 23. Starting of the December they asked me that will I continue to contract or not. I told them I am not. They raised notice on 14 December for till end of my tenancy 27 feb 24. ( Monthly rent : 850 )
I found new property to move in on 3 January and I had this contract and started to live there.
I told my landlord and her agent that I am not terminating my contract but you may remarket to flat and find new tenant. (They would already put market because of my notice by the way. ) If you find new tenant , I can terminate accordingly and you do not have any empty days after me and also I may save money if they find it early.
They remarketed it on 22 Dec 23 and found new tenant in last week for 19 January.
Today I received information that I need to pay 500 pound reletting cost. I was aware below clause is written on contract but this amount money is not reasonable to me since I am just leaving from contract one month earlier and LL would already pay this end of my tenancy. So LL just making this payment one month earlier.
âââââ Should the Tenant wish to leave their contract early, the Landlord is entitled by way of damages, that the Tenant shall pay the costs of re-letting the Premises as well as all rent due under the Tenancy, until the start date of the new Tenancy. These costs will be no more than the maximum amount of rent outstanding under the Agreement. âââââ
But I could not find anything to support my case. there should be fair calculation to pay some fees I am okey with that but LL is trying to get all cost from me while LL has not got such damage or loss.
Currently I did not agree to pay 480 quid and I tried to negotiate but LL is so strict and saying law is law.
Pay until the end of your contract (one month), or
Pay the associated fees.
The LL is trying to get as much money as he is entitled to under the law. You did sign a fixed term after all.
However, his fees need to be the actual fees / costs for the new tenant (and reasonable). Ask for a copy of the bill from him. If he uses OpenRent his costs are £49 for rent now⌠If he uses an estate agent possibly more, but he would have a bill.
If you feel itâs unreasonable, go down the route of challenging the deduction from your deposit.
I do not believe that law will make LL profit. Obviously there is massive profit by LL here. Contracts for to protect both side and to prevent loss and damages. My LL loss here is not 480 quid. It should be scaled. Honestly If I would leave my contract earlier than 3 4 months, I definetely pay this fees without asking. Because I would have made LL to pay its comission and marketting costs frequently within one year.
Here there is already risen notice , LL and agent already about to start to seek new tenant. It is like they are trying to use advantage of this clause and make additional profit from me
I would tell them I had no intention of paying the fee and allowed them to re-let early only as a courtesy and that if they insist I would refer the matter to whichever redress scheme they belong to and/or Trading Standards, as they have now re-let the property with no void period and their administration costs have simply been brought forward by one month. Furthermore they owe you a refund of 9 days rent for the overlap with the new tenant.
The above assumes you had a fixed term rather than contractual periodic tenancy.
The clause in your contract is there to compensate the landlord from a tenant potentially leaving mid way through the fixed term. It is fair although in your circumstance leaving 1 month early, it seems harsh on you.
It sounds as though your landlord uses a letting agent to manage the property. It is not uncommon for a letting agent to charge somewhere in the region of a monthâs rent for a âtenant findâ service and slightly more for full management.
Are you communicating directly with the landlord⌠What often happens is the agent will tell you that the landlord wonât bend when in fact it is the letting agent who are protecting their fees.
Is that fair that LL making profit with that way. While there is no damage or loss like that why it should be covered by me. There is no any legally solved case as far as I researched about that. In my opinion if the annual cost is 480 quid, its monthly cost can be assumed as 40 quid something. There should be scaling with that point of view.
IT is mentioned in tenancy acts , reasonable costs. Type is reasonable but amount is not in my opinion.
You keep stating that the LL is profiting. You are bound by the terms of the tenancy agreement and the LL is also (I assume) bound by the contract with the letting agent. The letting agent would no doubt enforce the terms of the contract so that they get the fees they are due from either the tenant or the LL. The tenancy agreement doesnât state that the fees due would be pro rata.
I have never used a letting agent myself and I am not legally trained. I am just looking at it as a lay landlord.
As there is a letting agent involved I have to assume that the property is fully managed by the letting agent. With this type of service the agent collects the rent and they take their fees before passing it on to the LL. I suspect if anyone is profiteering it would be the agent.
I have been on this forum for a while and have read many posts where a LL wants to leave a letting agent and most agreements will not allow the LL to leave mid tenancy without the LL being liable for the fees in full.
The general working principal of agencies mostly service fee ( marketing, viewings etc ) and %8-10 comission from annual rent. If nobody surrender contract or tenant leaves from the property at end of the tanancy agreement , LL always do this two payment to agent anual basis. In my case, it happen just 5 weeks early.
Tenants acts rely on to cover loss as I understood, not profit . You should not do things which is just because written on the contract. Some of clauses can be prohibited as well and tenants may not be aware of it.
In my case LL made this payment from new tenant rent, and want to deduct all from me. I believe this is not fair however to support this I do not have concrete sample. I am just relying on tenanct act which says costs to be deducted should be reasonable.
To me, it is not reasonable to charge whole cost from tenant because just terminated contract 5 weeks early than tenancy end. Also they asked me and gave me date to terminate it.
My thinking was that they donât have to release you from your obligation to the 12 month tenancy and could force you to pay the rent for the last month. Them actually suggesting the date you should terminate is them agreeing to release you early. Once the new tenancy started you should not be responsible for any payments. They canât charge both tenants for the same period.
The loss here is that just LL making payment 5 weeks earlier than expected. It can be scaled by dividing cost to 12 to calculate cost monthly bases. This was my opinion.
But, what you donât want to hear is that the LL may have to pay the agent for the remainder of YOUR contract anyway, and will lose money.
Unless you know, you cannot assume he is using the money towards the new tenant. He may be obliged to pay the agent.
Also, with your reasoning about âpro-rataâ then a tenant leaving after 1 months should pay pro-rata, another one leaving after 5 months another fee. It just get ridiculous.
The rule is there to ensure that the LL gets compensated if you leave before the agreed time.
Also, make note. If I was your LL and you made this into an issue (and did not agree) I would not have released you from your contract AND I would state in your reference that you did not adhere to the contract.
I think you need to realise that the money, even if you go to arbitration, is gone if the LL can show a receipt of the incurred costs. It is in the contract you signed.
That you feel that it is not fair, well, what about the LL who rented to you for a period and you left without honouring the contract? Is that fair?
The thing is I told them I am not terminating my contract but it would be better to find new tenant to prevent any vacant day of property. I helped them on that point as well. When they found tenant, we terminated the contract accordingly.
Justice is exist for the fair award/punisment etc. Clauses on the contracts does not show always correct. They can be manipulated or they may not be clear enough. Since the Act mainly rely on loss of Landlord, and nobody believed this requested cost is the actual loss for LL, I will not be agree on it.
What is not fair to LL is that LL made this expenses just 5 weeks early than expected. I got it and I want to cover it but not with whole annual cost. She will not do these expenses till end of new tenant tenancy.
Does your contract say 12 months ? In this case, nothing can be manipulated and is clear enough. Itâs still 12 months youâre responsible to pay rent for. If your LL was kind enough to let you go earlier, you are responsible for rent and utility bills till the new date agreed, even if you find a new place earlier. Again, nothing to manipulate (even though youâre trying) and everything is clear enough.
In your favour, life is too short, and not every LL will bother going through court. However, if LL finds a TT before this date, you can mutually agree that that will be the date of the end of your tenancy.