We would like to surrender the tenancy and leave early due to many issues with the flat and the landlord: Boiler broke down on several occasions leaving us with no hot water and heating for weeks – we even had to involve the council, the landlord did not pay the gas bill, cutting us from supply until we paid it (it is her responsibility according to the contract)…
We paid 6months in advance and have a fixed 12month tenancy. Next payment is due in March which is when we would like to leave. However, the landlord is refusing to communicate with us – ignoring our messages and declining our calls. She also did not include her address in the contract – We’ve asked her to give it to us many times for months.
It is a HMO tenancy and we have recently discovered that she does not have a licence for the flat. Additionally, one of the rooms is smaller than the required standard. We signed a ‘Resident Landlord Agreement’ but were told by a few people that we should have been given an AST tenancy – our deposit is currently unprotected.
How can we leave the tenancy early? Is it possible to leave on the grounds that the landlord broke the contract by not paying for the utilities, not giving us an inventory, giving us a wrong type of agreement, etc…? If no, how can we surrender the tenancy and receive our deposit back if the landlord does not communicate with us and refuses to disclose her address? What would the consequences of not paying rent be? Thank you
Hi Lujza, because there are quite a lot of different factors here, it would probably be best for you to speak to Shelter or your local Citizen’s Advice office about what to do.
In general, it sounds like the landlord has failed in many areas, and if reported, would have to pay thousands in fines, and possibly even face criminal charges. In this case, it’s probably quite unlikely that if you just left the property and stopped paying rent that they would pursue you via the courts.
I would book an appointment with CAB or Shelter asap!
San