Is landlord being unfair here?

[Anotherdayanotherusername]

Earlier this year we signed a 12 month tenancy agreement with a 6 month break clause. The 6 months is up in October. We then unexpectedly found a property to buy and are due to complete in the next month. As we will struggle to pay both mortgage & rent, we asked the landlord via the letting agent if they would let us out of the contract early. Agent said that usually if a new tenant can be found to move in earlier, a landlord will consider an early exit so would ask landlord. Agent came back to say that as they have decided to sell the property they will not be looking for a new tenant so we will need to pay up until October even if we move out earlier. I texted the landlord directly pleading my case, asking if we could even terminate a month earlier than contracted (September) but they got the Agent to reply to say no. Their argument is they too have a mortgage to pay and had been counting on having rental income until at least October while the property is on the market.

AIBU in thinking this landlord is just being greedy? This decision is putting us in financial strife and could jeopardise our purchase and I really don't know where we stand.

Any advice on what to do. Can we just refuse to pay?

Goodwill doesn't pay the landlords mortgage and outgoings.

I don't think you'd be happy if you had a contract at work and your employer decided they were going to terminate it early and not pay you 🤷‍♀️

Sorry but YABU. Looking after the property well should be expected not a reason for the landlord to miss out on income assured from you signing an agreement. It's their business/livelihood they don't owe you goodwill for behaving like decent tenants.
Can you push completion date? I kept my rented property for 4 weeks after buying my home. It was really useful as it was easier to decorate, get new carpets and moving day was less work as we had taken alot of the smaller bits already.

You've really looked after the place? Well so you should or risk losing your deposit.

You messaged directly to try and guilt them into letting you break the contract, glad they came back to you via the correct channel.

So, they've said no twice, how many times do they need to say no until you accept it?

This makes it even worse, why did you sign the contract at all if you were already in and planning to move in the short term.

We often fix rent for our tenants if they sign for 6-12 months longer, but increase rent on a rolling tenancy to counteract the precariousness. You can’t have it both ways and have the security of the contract without the obligations.

This is why the break clause exists, the landlord is not wrong, you are.

This ^^
A contract is a contract. You’ve got yourselves into a pickle so will, unfortunately, have to suck it up.

You signed a contract. You need to manage the timing of your house purchase.

@Anotherdayanotherusername

I was in this exact same position last year. Found a property to purchase in May & tenancy due to end at the end of November. I just strung out exchange & completion as long as I could & we eventually moved in the mid of October. Mortgage payment in November as well as rent. It was hard but doable. Nothing else you can do. You signed up to the tenancy terms & it's not down to the Landlord to help you out.

Helped a bit with not having to pack, move & clean the rental all at the same time. We had loads of stuff in the garage and so had time to go through it all & got rid of stuff we no longer wanted.

Your landlord isn't being unfair or greedy, and you don't get anything for looking after the place, you should look after it.

It's a shame the timings don't work out ideally for you but that's just how things go sometimes.

As others have said you have no recourse here. My understanding is that the contract saying you must allow viewings however isn’t accurate and doesn’t trump your right to quiet enjoyment etc. As someone above said you could see if a bit of flexibility on your part here might make landlord reconsider. When we were looking to buy we deliberately let our tenancy roll over onto a monthly-the agent wasn’t happy and tried all manner of nonsense to try and say legally we had to be on a fixed term before ultimately admitting it was better for them. We took the risk of being given notice and went month to month which suited far better when we bought as very small crossover between ending rental term and moving in to new property.

It’s kind of the point of rental contracts so both parties can plan. Unfortunately saying you are struggling due to your choices so your landlord should take your hit is making you the CF.

Have you exchanged yet?

Be very careful not to piss him off - if things go pear shaped you'll need to stay put...

You need to pay but you don’t need to allow viewings. The clause in the contract does not trump your legal right to quiet enjoyment of the property.

Your landlord needs to pay their mortgage.

Looking after the place should be a given.

Property purchases often take far longer than anticipated. As we are middle of August now it could easily be another 6 weeks or so that would take you up until end of September.

The timings may still all coincide.

C'mon, goodwill won't pay his bills. It's nice that you were a good tenant for a year but that's the basic deal. He's not your dad and doesn't owe you £££ 'goodwill'.

Nice,

Taking into account your attitude to refusing to pay what you have signed up for, and the annoyance now felt by the owners at your attitude, I really hope your purchase doesn't fall through or get delayed in any way as you could find yourselves homeless.

Well yes! Wouldn't that put the cat among the pigeons.

I'd say it's common to have to pay for two properties for the first few weeks. Not ideal but that's how it often works. You've tried to reason with them and they're not having it..I don't really see how you can avoid paying.

I'm no fan of landlords but this is a clear contract and you need to pay until October.

the clause that says that you must allow viewings in the last 2 months might be your bargaining tool though. That clause is not legal and is not able to be enforced. You can refuse all viewings until the last day you pay rent.

If the lll wants to have viewings earlier you could ask him to release you earlier in exchange. If LL doesn't agree then don't agree to viewings. Thats not being spiteful that's your right.

Be very careful what you end up doing.
If you don’t pay your rent you could be sued, and end up with a CCJ (County Court Judgement).

Your credit record will be wrecked even down to getting a phone contract.
Whatever you do don’t be bolshie. It could go very wrong.

Usually I'm on the tenants side but even I think YABU. You knew the earliest you could finish the contract was October so why did you decide to buy a property now, knowing you couldn't afford both.
It's not the landlords fault not are they being cheeky. They are just sticking to the legally binding contract you both signed.
I wonder if he can't put the house on the market earlier because it's being rented. No idea about the legal side but wouldn't be surprised if something prevents him from putting it on the market now. And even if he did put it on the market now he still has to pay the mortgage so you will have to pay him until October. It's only fair.

You could try to negotiate by saying you won’t allow viewings so the LL would benefit by letting you go a month early, but you need to think about what you would do if you purchase was delayed and you need to stay on a while.

Do you want to use up what goodwill might exist by negotiating really hard on this one month’s payment.

Unless you have free storage, can afford twice the van hire/ removals and somewhere else to stay indefinitely then I would just pay the month and allow viewings just in case

As a LL I would be on the tenant"s side as far as possible but if they have a mortgage on the property I can totally see why they will need the full rent.