Periodic tenancy agreement problems

Hello everyone,

In August 2019, on the 11th, I sent the agency notice that I would move out by the 25th of September (the rent is due every 25th). I was in a joint tenancy agreement that had started in 2015 and then new tenants had replaced the original ones with an addendum. I had moved in October 2018. Nowhere on the agreement or the addendum it said this but, since it was a periodic tenancy agreement now, the agency said that tenants could leave anytime as long as they found a replacement. Perfect, I did that I found a student who could replace me (I am a professional but they accept students as long as they have guarantors) and his parents would have been his guarantors.
The guy completed all the procedures but the agency did not sent a contract. Both him and I contacted them many times, until two days before he was due to move in he said that he would not go through with it because of this absurd situation. The day before that finally one of the agents said that she did not know when he was going to move in and that’s why she did not send a contract.
They said that it was still my responsibility to find a replacement so I found another student, but what I did not know that she being from an EU country her parents couldn’t be her guarantors. I had to go on a trip and the rent was due in another two days so I left her the keys so that she would move in ten days later and I was sure that everything was going to be fine because the agency knew of the urgency and they hadn’t told me the “rules” about guarantors.
it is now late January and the situation has not changed. First they told her that the guarantor could be only someone who had been living in the UK for 5 years and with enough income, they suggest her an agency to buy a guarantor and she did that but they refused that guarantor because ours is a rolling contract without explaining early that she should have explained the circumstances. In the mean time she also offered to pay six months in advance (so they know that she has the money already) but they did not accept that. Finally they said that she could have two guarantors, they accepted people who have been living in the UK for three years. Before the holidays she and her guarantors did again all the procedures but yesterday they wrote that they could not verify the income of the second one.

She has one guarantor who she has paid but he can’t cover the whole sum. Now she and my ex-housemate asked me to be her second guarantor, to cover £200 only and they say that even if my name is as a guarantor we can make a written agreement between me and my ex-housemate where it says that she is the guarantor and that I don’t have any responsibilities.

Would this kind of thing be valid?

Thank you for your help.
Miki

Hi Miki,

There’s a lot going on here and I will try and cut through it.

It sounds like you want to leave this tenancy and not be repsonsible for paying the rent anymore. I will assume this is correct. Tell me if not.

In a joint tenancy agreement, if any one of the join tenants serves notice, and then moves out and stops paying the rent, then the tenancy has been terminated for all parties. If the other tenants remain and continue to pay rent, then there’s a complex situation, where those tenants and the landlord may be understood to have created a new tenancy. But as far as the tenant who served notice is concerned, that has nothing to do with them.

So if you serve notice and moved out, then you can just stop paying the rent, because you actually ended the tenancy when you did those things. Then just leave it to all remaining parties to decide what they want to do.

Does this help?

Sam

Hi Sam,

Thank you for your reply. Indeed this is what I want to do at this point.

Just leave and forget about the whole mess.

So, being that the rent is due on the 25th, if I give notice on the 3rd of February when will be the last day? I have to give 60 days’ notice.

Miki

If you are a tenant, then you usually only need to give one month’s notice minumum, ending on the last day of a rental period. Even if your tenancy agreement says two months, this may not be enforceable due to the strenght of the one-month convention. If you agreement says two, then it may be worth seeking legal advice on this point.

From what you’ve said, it sounds to me that if you serve notice on the 3rd Feb, and if your rent due date is the same as the final date of the rental period (i.e. the 25th), then your last day would be 25h April, since this is at least one month’s notice, ending on the final day of a rental period. Again, I would seek legal advice on this if you wanted to be 100%.

Sam

Thank you for the advice Sam.

Hi Sam,

I have another question.

The girl has found finally a second guarantor and we have finally signed the Addendum, so I am out of the tenancy, and this girl who took my place as a tenant says that she wants to keep part of the deposit, that she has to give back to me, because she went through a lot because of me and that I have not given enough support to her. The deposit is protected by a deposit scheme but it is exchanged by tenants when one take place of the other. What are my rights here if she does indeed do that?

I believe that the deposit must be returned to one of the tenants named on the deposit certificate at the end of the tenancy, which presumably will be you + whoever else lives there, but not the new tenant. So the money should not be paid directly to the new tenant in theory. If you initiate the deposit return at the end of the tenancy then you will usually be able to dictate what amounts get paid to whom.

Sam

Hi Sam, sorry. The tenancy has not ended, the agency had the two of us exchange places through an Addendum and in the addendum it is written that the deposit will have to be returned to me by the new tenant. But she is saying she doesn’t want to return the full amount to me.

OK, complex situation and I’d recommend asking for advise from CAB or Shelter.

I’m not convinced that a written agreement can overrule a deposit certificate. Even if it can, then if the new tenant has agreed to pay you an amount of money, you should be able to pursue them for that money via the courts if they do not pay.

Sam