I have 5 sharers renting our house. The tenancy began in Sept 2025. It is for a year.
One of them wants to leave as of early December.
What is the best way to handle this. Is it best to agree a new tenancy as of December for 9 months?
Is this possible under the amended law?
You don’t have to agree, if you don’t the tenant remains jointly liable for the rent and other tenant responsibilities etc even if they move out. They have signed a long term financial commitment as have you.
Not clear if you have talked to them all and whether remaining 4 ok with paying same total rent or if they are intending to find a replacement?
from 1 may 26 when RRA will come into force tenants will be able to give 2 months notice. So 9 months won’t mean anything.
If a new AST you need to end old one properly, return deposit and start new one with new deposit, serving “how to let” and epc all over again, change details on the insurance etc. You will want to check if remaining tenants can afford (if keeping total rent the same)
If the tenants have asked for the change you can charge them reasonable costs (OR will charge to set up a new AST etc)
Sorry if all v obvious
Good luck
Just to comment on the legal issues, as David240 says, you are not obliged to agree as theyre still in the fixed term and theyre not able to serve a valid notice. Likewise, the other tenants are not obliged to agree. However, its often a lot of hassle if you refuse and they move out anyway.
Assuming this is a joint tenancy, the individual tenants can’t act unilaterally as there is only one Tenant, comprising all the tenants. One individual tenant can only serve a valid notice once the fixed term ends and that ends the tenancy for everyone. Joint and several liability also means that each tenant is responsible for 100% of the property rent and the landlord can choose who to claim it from.
Opting to end the tenancy and begin a new one with a replacement is probably the cleanest solution and it makes it easy to deal with the deposit, which should be refunded after any deductions and re-taken from the new group. You would use a deed of surrender to end the current tenancy.
Another option is a deed of assignment between the old group and the new group, where some people are the same, although you would still have to deal with the deposit.
Finally, there are limits on what you can charge the tenant(s) for this move that vary depending on the circumstances. Make sure you understand the limits in the Tenant Fees Act.