Hi
Please can you advise, in the contract there is a break clause often set at 4 months. Does this need to be agreed by the landlord and tenant or can either envoke the clause?
Hi, you can see the OpenRent tenancy agreement here, including the break clause and the terms of using it:
You can also learn about adding custom clauses here:
Hi
Thanks I have read the contract, it still doesnt make it clear if we both must agree to ending the contract early?
Hi Yousef,
A break clause that can only be used with the agreement of both parties would be redundant, since a landlord and tenant can end a tenancy agreement at any time without such a clause so long as they mutually agree to surrender their agreement. So in general it is safe to interpret (professionally drafted) break clauses as giving the unilateral ability for one party to end the tenancy as long the terms set out in the clause are followed.
I’m sorry if you didn’t find the clause to be clear. The clause says:
12.5. Any time after 4 months from the start of the Tenancy Agreement either party can exercise the break clause by giving two months notice in writing to the other party. This means that the earliest time that the tenancy can be ended by this clause is after the expiry of 6 months from the commencement of the Term.
I have emboldened the relevant wording that intimated that either party can use the break clause, as opposed to requiring action from both parties.
I hope this clears the break clause up for you 
Sam
Hi Sam. I am interested in a small point where your AST differs from the RLA one and am wondering whether there is a reason for it. The RLA AST includes a clause asking the tenant to give notice one month before the end of the fixed-term (should they wish to leave at the end of the fixed term) but the OR AST is a little more ambiguous and instead sites a break-clause after 4 months for both parties of 2-month period notice (bringing it to the end of the fixed term of 6 months) which seems to me isn’t really a break-clause exactly. I am trying to work out whether there is any legal significance here - I thought it would be a break-clause if the tenant was locked in a term longer than the 6 months - but they aren’t. Thank you. Deb
I similarly find it very strange that one day before the contract ends and the tenant can just move out with no notice.
I have now added the clause in manually but the contract seems heavily weighted towards the tenants. If a tenant wants to use the break clause they can and just move out with notice but if a landlord does and the tenant says no we have to go to court under s21 currently.
Luckily we are able to add clauses in.
Deborah13 and Yousef, I think the Open Rent Agreement is clear: " 12.5. Any time after 4 months from the start of the Tenancy Agreement … by giving two months notice in writing to the other party.
This means that the earliest time that either party can request the tenancy to come to an end is at 4 months: it can be any time after that, say at 9 , 24, 58 months! As this clause States that two months notice is required, the earliest date by which the tenant is expected to leave is after the expiry of 6 months from the commencement of the Term. If the request were made in the ninth month, then the earliest date we can expect the tenant to leave is at the end of the eleventh month.
I hope this makes it clear.
Adding in an additional clause of one month or three or anything else contradicts the two month criteria, so confusion can arise and the landlord would have to use a solicitor to argue the case.
Hi @Deborah13 and @Yousef,
My understanding is that case law has settled that tenants can move out on the last day of the tenancy, regardless of any clauses in the tenancy agreement saying otherwise. So you can include a clause saying “tenant must give a minimum of one months notice if ending the tenancy on the final day of the last fixed term rental period”, but if the tenant didn’t give notice, and you tried to pursue them for further rent via the courts, you would not be successful. That is my understanding. The RLA may have included that clause in because it is ‘comforting’ for landlords or because it would encourage tenants to believe they had to give notice, when they in fact do not have to.
Sam
Great, thank you for clarifying - that’s really helpful.
Best wishes.
D