Hi all,
I’m an international student and I’m looking to rent an apartment, the situation is the following:
I have my visa for only 5 months, but currently, I am in the process of discussing my visa sponsorship with my employee. The problem is that the only contract I could find is the 12 months with a 6-month break close. According to the agreement I am responsible to pay the rent for the last month as well, despite the fact that I might not be able to live there because of my visa sponsorship might not occur.
What should I do in this case in order do not to pay for the last month? Many thanks for the help!
Hi Nikita,
No (sensible) landlord will give an AST that is less than 6 months, because it’s impossible to actually evict a tenant in the first six month’s of a tenancy (unless the tenant does something to give grounds for a section 8 eviction, but even then it would take months to complete).
So if the fixed term was e.g. 5 months, then the tenant would have an unequal amount of power to end the tenancy than the landlord.
The tenant could end the tenancy on the fifth month by giving a months notice, but the landlord couldn’t do this. This is because landlords are forbidden from serving notice until the fourth month, and notice takes to months to expire (4+2=6).
Therefore, your best bet is to take a six-month (or 12 month with a six-month break clause). Then the worst case scenario is that you pay one extra month.
The best case scenario is that you negotiate a mutual surrender with your landlord at 5 months. More info on how that works here:
https://blog.openrent.co.uk/surrendering-tenancy-agreement-mutual-consent/