To ask to go early?

[rollonretirementfgs]

We are currently renting a house that's not very nice, for a large amount of money because of the area. We are looking to buy our own place and have seen something perfect just become available. Being new to the renting game, would it be unreasonable to ask the landlord to let us out of our 1 year contract early? I'm thinking to buy it will take a good 3-4 months. Taking us to month 9 of a one year contract.

You might find it takes longer than 3-4 months. We had our offer accepted in February and didn't move in until mid November, there were delays in the chain above.
I would give you landlord a heads-up though and confirm timelines as soon as you have more details

House sales can fall through at the 11th hour and 3-4 months is highly optimistic- last time we bought it was no chain and we had cash but it still took 12 weeks. When we did it some years back in a small chain it took nearly 6 months from offer to completion. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have 3-4 months extra in your rental contract just in case.

Sorry posted too soon… also meant to say if once you’ve exchanged contracts there’s still a few months left on the tenancy you’ve got nothing to lose by asking. If you agree to be flexible with viewings (you’d be within your rights to restrict access until the very end under your right to quiet enjoyment) and pay for a professional clean or something then it might be worth their while to agree to terminate the tenancy as soon as they have someone else lined up.

Unlikely they'll agree unless you pay a bit extra as you are bringing forward when they have to pay for all of the renewal costs with their lettings agent

Agree with others don’t do anything or let on that you might want to leave early until you’re sure it’s happening. A friend recently exchanged on a house 11 months after offer was accepted!

Thank you. Good idea to offer to be flexible with viewings and a professional clean. Worth a bash!