I share a house with one other. It's a two bed house but it's common for the living room to be advertised as an extra bedroom, so we viewed and rented a '3 bed flat'.
As our contract came to an end, we looked into renewing the contract with the proviso that we could reinstate the third bedroom and add a third tenant to bring the rent down. This was approved verbally but when I sought written approval (email) I was given a stock answer to "contact X office when you have found someone". I spoke to a different person at the agency each time I rang. We paid the renewal fee. We advertised the room.
We sent our newly found tenant to the agency whereupon they were told that the landlord had never given permission, would not give permission and we would not be allowed a third tenant.
We said if we were not allowed a third person, we could not afford to keep renting. We want out. We were informed that because we had paid the renewal fee, the house was ours for another year whether we liked it or not. Because we had not actually signed the paperwork associated with the renewal (because we don't want the place), we have been put on a rolling contract.
We are now responsible for paying the rent until new tenants are found. We are apparently on a "rolling contract", but it does not seem to be possible to terminate it unless a) new tenants are found, or b) we stay there until the tenancy ends anyway.
Are we on a rolling contract or not? Can we get out of this house?