How to get out of a rental contract??

[SmoothandWilkie]

DH and I have signed a six month contract on the house we are currently renting. The contract ends in September.

Unfortunately, the area is dreadful and we have had loads of problems with yobbish neighbours so have been looking for elsewhere to live, and have just had an offer accepted on a house which we hope to move into in 6 weeks.

Where do we stand legally with our rental contract?

Assuming you have an Assured shorthold tenancy agreement you are, unfortunately, legally tied in until the end of your contract

Unless you want to "disappear" (not recommended), I would be inclined to have a chat with your Landlord and see if he will be willing to take it back early. He is under no legal obligation to be co-operative, but often, they will agree to re-market the property and let you go from when they find a new tenant

like tilly says.

the more notice you give your landlod, the more likely he is to be able to find another tennant, and the more likely he is to be reasonable.

You only have to give a months notice on most leases. I've lived in about 10 flats and never had to wait until the end of the lease to move. You just give one months notice.

we had a similar position a couple of years ago, approached the landlord but made another reason up (moving cos of work etc, can't afford the rent or something) but then he said he was glad cos he wanted to sell it anyway so that worked out great for us..so it can happen..
Ask them you never know they may be fed up and want to sell too..
Good Luck!

If you have signed a contract check the terms. The standard is as tilly and senora says. If you leave early you would still be liable for the rest of the rent up until september and the landlord would be within his rights to take you to court for it.

Sound the landlord out and see if he would be willing for you to leave early.

Thank you all for advice. Am gonna speak to the landlady.

Cheers.

It would be best to check your lease beforehand though so you know roughly what to expect the landlady to say and have a response prepared for her.

Ann - the lease IS six months fixed

When we rented a while back, we were committed to the 1st 6 months fixed, but the rest was open-ended, with us having to give 2 months notice.

Could you find another tenant yourselves? If you approach the landlady with another tenant already lined up, she's much more likely to be cooperative.

We have decided that we are going to approach the landlady, explain that things are so awful here (long story but nightmare cul de sac, really really rough and intimidating) so we are leaving but she can keep our deposit which is 1.5 months rent. She wil basically lose out on 2 months rent.

Well, we have aproached her, she has basically admitted that the area is awful and she only managed to 'stick it out for a year'. I am a bit annoyed, Maybe I was naive but I asked her what the area was like before we moved in and she said it was fine. Considering we have a small child I would have hoped she would have explained we could expect loud music, shouting and football late into the evening which would disturb LO.

She's coming round later in the week.

You may be able to argue that she got you to sign the tenancy agreement through misrepresentation then. If she had told you that the area was awful, you wouldn't have signed, would you? She clearly misled you in order to get you to sign.

I would point out to her that whatever she said to you regarding the tenancy, area, etc., forms part of the contract and as she has obviously misrepresented the environment, she is in breach of contract. This entitles you to end the tenancy. You may, however, struggle to get your deposit returned, so I would approach her carefully.