To ask about cutting short tenancy agreements? Anyone manage it?

[BuffaloCauliflower]

Sorry this isn’t a proper AIBU, just hoping for traffic.

I’m wondering if anyone has managed to get a landlord to agree to ending their private rental agreement mid contract? DH and I are suddenly thinking we might be able to buy in a year or so, but we’re 6 months into a 3 year rental agreement (have been here 2 years in total already) we have a break clause at 18 months but having to aim for exactly one year for now will be extremely tight.

I’m wondering if nearer the time we can ask our landlords if they’d be willing to cut the contract at a different point. I know ultimately we can ask and they can say no, but wondering if anyone has had any luck doing this or has any any advice?

Thanks

Check your contract. Ours specifies that in the event we serve notice at a different point to the break or fixed-tenancy period we are liable for the rent until the end of the tenancy period.

I'm a landlord and a renter - I've always said to tenants that it's no problem to cut it - as long as I can get a new tenant - ie. They pay rent until the tenant can move in (OK, generally a week or two before, so I have time to get any maintenance done/refresh the place a bit).

In the UK, landlords have done the same for me when as a tenant I've asked to be released early. Not in other countries though :(

If you’re still liable that’s not actually getting out of the contract so what would be the point?

I should mention that where the house I rent out is, and where I rent now, the market is healthy, so finding new tenants is not a problem.

I am an accidental landlord. We let our tenants out of their contract early. They had a discussion with us and outlined their reasons why they wanted to leave. We agreed to let them go with no further penalties. Why not speak to your landlord and see what they say. They may be more reasonable than you think.

Thanks @TreestumpsAndTrampolines. Our kind previous landlady let us out at a weird time but that had become a rolling contract at that time. It shouldn’t be very hard to rent again consisting the property and the area.

I have a flat a let out and have always agreed to cut it short as worried about having a disgruntled tennant not paying regularly or damaging.

I have always been able to relet. However, you are breaking the terms of your agreement and whether you might have to pay some penalty I dont know. I have usually come to an agreement of a couple of month's rent to allow me time to get another person in without losing money).

If you are both reasonable it shouldnt be a problem.

The landlord can choose not to enforce that liability - ie. When my last tenants a few years ago did exactly what you want to do - ie. they'd found a house to buy, they approached me and let me know, I put the place back on the market, found a new tenant, and it was all fine - I didn't charge them rent when they'd moved out and there was a new tenant in.

If it had taken 2 months for the new tenant to be able to move in, then I would have asked them to pay rent for that 2 months, even if they'd moved out (well, if they were good tenants I'd probably have gone 50/50 with them if they weren't living there - I try to be fair about this)

no experience of this but I would think the answer will strongly depend on how buoyant the rental market in your area is at the time - if they can fill the vacancy quickly they will be more amenable.

what I do have experience of is buying property and I can say that it is certainly unrealistic to expect to be able to hit a target date for moving exactly - you need to plan for either having a couple of months where you have to pay both mortgage and rent, or needing to move into temporary accommodation for a few weeks, unless you are able to negotiate a much more flexible rental contract. Typically you won't know your moving dates until about 3-4 weeks in advance and there will be numerous delays and faffs to get through before things crystallize.

@Mizydoscape yes they might be. It’s all through an estate agent though we don’t speak to them. It would need to be nearer to the end of the year once I can see how close we are to right house deposit. I like to think most people are generally reasonable but just feeling quite anxious about the deadline

Thanks @TalaxuArmiuna yes I am aware of the vagaries of moving dates and know that’s something we’ll have little control over. I’m sure we can work things out for a couple of months, it’s been stuck for a further 18 months that’s my main concern

Thank you @TreestumpsAndTrampolines yes I’d be very happy with an arrangement like that. We’ve been good quiet tenants (even commented on by the estate agent) and are somewhere where house rentals and purchases seem to move fairly quickly

In some areas the rental market is hot at certain times of year and cold at others so that's something to discuss/ your landlord might factor in. Eg it may be harder to find a new tenant in Feb vs the summer

Ours specifies that in the event we serve notice at a different point to the break or fixed-tenancy period we are liable for the rent until the end of the tenancy period

Ours said this but they found a new tenant so it didn't matter. It basically meant until a new tenant was found, so say we moved out in March and new tenant couldn't move in until June we'd be liable until June. They wanted us to pay the new tenant fees and tried to charge us for loads of stuff on moving out like an oven clean, when we had to complain when we moved in and demand an oven clean cos it was caked in shit and we left it cleaner than the professional cleaner did, but we told them to get fucked. So just be prepared for that if they're not happy.

Just to add, our lovely landlord in our flat before the one mentioned above were amazing, we'd not long signed a new tenancy but about 6 months later I found out I was pregnant. We only wanted to leave 2-3 months early to move into a house, as the block was full of older people and the walls were thin and don't think they'd have appreciated a baby being there and the landlords were planning to sell anyway so they just put it on the market sooner than they'd planned. As it turned out it didn't sell for quite a while, so they ended up renting it out again. But we were long gone by then.

I suppose I’ll just have to ask and hope for the best. There’s always going to be a difficult period of crossover going from rent to buy but even having a few months extra on the break clause would be so helpful. Waiting till the end of the contract our affordability for mortgage could be quite different so rather not wait

@PleaseStopRingingMe this house wasn’t in great nick when we moved in, they did a few bits. Landlords don’t seem hugely bothered about making it nicer. The rent is lower than average as a result, which suits us. If they rent at the same price point again it should go quicker

Yeah neither was the house we moved out of, it was dated and needed a new kitchen and decorating throughout, but they still tried to sting us with cleaning and various other bits that needed doing (that we'd reported and they'd refused to rectify). My DH spent hours in the garden cutting down over grown bushes and discovered a massive greenhouse (was all broken etc) we didn't even know existed, asked the LL if we could get rid of it they said it was fine then still tried to claim money for it! I managed to fight it all and the only thing we paid in the end was £60 for a few days rent cos we overstayed due to our baby being in hospital. Never underestimate the cheeky fuckerness of some people.

Oh how I long to rent no more!

You could offer to pay to find a new tenant, so it doesn't cost your LL anything by you moving out early. I'm a LL and like PP, I've always let people leave early as long as I have a new tenant in. If it's mid tenancy, they have to cover the agent's fees, but if it's just a case of changing the move out date from their tenancy month date, I refund any period that overlaps with the new tenant. But if it was ever empty and they're liable under the tenancy, they'd be expected to pay rent for that time. It's never happened though.

I'm a private landlord. Our contract asks for 2 months notice either side, so worth checking.
Current tenants signed for 2 years, but after 6 months could no longer afford the rent so gave notice, so we reduced it as mu h as we could as he is lovely. It's always worthhaving a chat, not all landlords are awful.

I have but only if I find a new Tennant

I am amazed you have a three year contract. We always have 6 months then periodic. We have several times let people leave before 6 months with no penalties

3 years is such a long contract!

We were in a fixed term tenancy and I was really worried about this. Didn’t say anything til we had found our house to buy though and had offer accepted. Our landlord was very reasonable and let us out of the contract early as long as we paid the reletting fees (£350 if I remember correctly). We replaced an old appliance when we moved in and used that as a deal sweetener - would leave her the new appliance at no charge.

Even if you paid the rent as well as mortgage on new place for an overlap don’t forget your contract will probably state that the property is not to be left empty longer than X days.

Just ask them. As long as they can get other tenants in I bet they won’t be bothered!

@BonnesVacances Id be very happy to have that conversation if need be. I also really like the estate agents (a rare sentence to utter) they were hugely helpful when we moved in around some difficult personal circumstances. I’m sure I could work things well with them too