Early termination of a tenancy contract

Landlord Discussion Legal
1

Hello,

Long story short, we required to leave the UK and vacated the property in mid December, informing the landlord and agent, and advertising the property. The agency has told us they will also readvertise the property on rightmove and other platforms and we ordered a professional cleaning company to clean the apartment so they can start the inspections. They still haven’t done the re-advertisement. I have been approached by many on gumtree requesting to inspect the apartment, which I passed to the agency. But I don’t think they are taking this seriously and following up with the interested individuals. We still have 5 more months on the lease and I have already paid one months rent after vacating the apartment. They also still have our bond deposit. I wonder if, legally, I have any rights to stop paying the rent at some stage? With the pace of the agency and the pandemics in the UK, it doesn’t seem they will find a new tenant or have the intention of doing so, any time soon. I have even offered the landlord to pay 3 months rent and agree to end the tenancy contract but the agency refuesed to pass my offer to the landlord!

Any advice will be appreciated!
Plak

2

Did you get an agreement in writing about what would be required by the landlord/agent in order to surrender the tenancy?

You don’t have any legal right to stop paying the rent if this has not been agreed and the agent is also within their rights to be picky about who they let the flat to. I’m afraid most landlords have to be very careful about this at the moment.

If you are not returning to the UK then it is unlikely that the landlord/agent would be able to pursue legal redress against you to recover the debt if you stop paying.

3

Regarding the first point, no I did not get any agreement in writing.

4

That makes it more difficult for you as they could simply withdraw the offer and ask you to pay for the remainder of the contract. Are you planning to return to the UK in the future?