Fixed term tenancy - early termination

[vivimimi]

Hi - I’d be grateful for your guidance for our situation.

We signed a 24-month fixed term rental agreement on Aug’19 with expiry Aug’21. We are a family of 4 (with 2 teens boy & girl) and this is a 2 bedroom apartment. But we took it thinking that we will be fine to adjust. We soon realised that its increasingly difficult to manage with less rooms and bathrooms. We started looking for a house and after a long wait during the pandemic, we are now ready for exchange & completion in early July’20. The house needs work, I estimate we will be ready to move only in Oct’20. Hence we will be terminating 10 months early. We haven’t notified the agent yet (thinking of waiting until the completion on our new home). Our rent is £1250 pcm, Kingston,Surrey.

What is the best way to approach this? Are we stuffed???

Any guidance in this matter will help us immensely. Thank you.

Here is the clause in the rental agreement, there is no other break clause in the agreement:
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This is a fixed term tenancy agreement with no provision for either party to terminate the agreement before the expiration of the fixed term. Under exceptional circumstances, the Landlord may (but without any obligation), consider a request for the surrender of this tenancy as described below.

If the Tenant requests to surrender the tenancy prior to the end of the fixed term, and the Landlord agrees to the surrender, then the Tenant will be responsible for rent until the earlier of the expiry of the tenancy under this agreement and the date the Landlord or a new tenant takes possession of the Premises. The Tenant will also be responsible for any reasonable costs the Landlord incurs in effecting a surrender of the tenancy and finding a replacement tenant. The Landlord will advise of the actual costs at the time of the request, each case being considered on its own merits. As a general guideline, these costs may include (but not limited to):

• The letting fee of up to 11% + VAT (13.2%) of the rent from the date of early surrender until the original end date of the Tenancy,
• A proportion (being the number of months to be surrendered early as a percentage of the current fixed term) of the Landlord’s costs in sum of £144 (inc.) for an inventory clerk checking the new Tenant into the Property,
• A proportion (being the number of months to be surrendered early as a percentage of the current fixed term) of the Landlord’s costs in sum of £480 (inc.) being the cost of administering the new Tenancy, preparing the Tenancy Agreement, collating references, checking the new Tenant’s Right to Rent and registering the deposit with an approved Government scheme
• For the surrender and grant of a new tenancy on similar terms, the Landlord’s costs would be £300 (inc.) plus any associated inventory costs.

Where I have had to help a client invoke a break clause (appreciate OP doesn’t have one) the fees are usually remarketing costs plus rent until a new tenant is found. Any costs around the new tenant are passed on to them rather than the old tenant

Appreciate that I’m breaking contract but one also has to see under what circumstances. These are unprecedented times and Act of God has impacted my situation. If things were normal I surely wouldn’t have to break contract. I’m not breaking contract due to petty issues such as me not liking the place, this is a serious change of circumstance which is beyond my doing. I never predicted that we will be impacted by covid and we have to change our plans.

@goingoverground you mention about contacting LL. yes I do have their address on the contract. I have never contacted them earlier. Is it okay to contact them? Some LL prefer coming through the EA.

I don’t want to cause any loss to the LL under any circumstances. No loss of income to them.

I'm a landlord and not sure why people are saying contact them direct. Just contact the agent - the landlord is paying them to manage it (unless they don't manage it then you do have to go to the LL direct). Say you've had a change in circumstances and how feasible is it for you to move early? They will then ask the landlord and be able to spell out your responsibilities. Then go from there. I certainly would NOT go looking for a replacement tenant yourself!

I signed a one year lease on my first rental but wanted to move out after ten months - told the agent it was fine and it didn't add any costs to me.

It is a risk that the landlord might not be happy if you contact them directly but you could apologise for writing to them directly using the information on your contract but you felt it was appropriate as the letting agent stands to profit from you terminating the lease early, so there is a conflict of interest. Or you could advertise without their permission. I don't think they would have any redress other than to make you remove the ad if they find out but if they aren't happy about it they might not agree to your tenant introduction.

no don't advertise flat yourself - why because landlord or his agent! might not want or like you showing random people round - they might want to do checks before they have prospective tenants of unknown background looking at their property.
The ll/agent will want to check background of prospective tenants financially & elsewise before they agree to them & you certainly cant do this on their behalf

You need to talk to agent (or write letter/email to LL - he may refer you back to agent though)

I'm a landlord and not sure why people are saying contact them direct. Just contact the agent - the landlord is paying them to manage it (unless they don't manage it then you do have to go to the LL direct).

Because there is a conflict of interest, the letting agent will make a profit from early termination of the contract.

Ending a 12 month contract after 10 months as you did is very different from ending a 24 month contract after 14 months. The potential loss to the landlord in this scenario is tens of thousands of pounds.

The landlord might have sympathy for you being impacted by COVID. We all have sympathy for the wide variety of people impacted in many different ways. However, that is different to the landlord being willing to bear the financial burden you willingly contracted into.

You will be able to move on. No problem. He might reduce some of your financial liability ....or hold you to the full lot you would owe over 24 months.

I suspect that if you give as much warning as possible and acknowledge you are financially committed to what the contract says, if he can get other tenants, he will end your liability fromthen, apart from the costs involved in getting the tenants and doing whatever is needed to the property to attract new tenants. If you start looking like trying to wheedle out of paying or giving a sob story to suggest it’s not your fault or you shouldn’t have to pay, you might be held to the full terms.

Your contract made you responsible for 24 months regardless of all the things that could happen to you or the world in that period.