Landlord Serving Notice Less Than 6 Weeks into 12 Month Lease

[SandyIrvine]

Looking for advice for son so he can avoid this happening again.

DS needed to relocate quickly for work. Found a place he liked and got it by agreeing to 12 month lease and paying 6 months upfront (he asked letting agent what he needed to do to persuade landlord to choose him over others). Less than 6 weeks later landlord served him 2 months notice (needs house back because of relationship breakdown). He's not unsympathetic but needs to concentrate on job so can't be moving every 3 months. Buying not an option as he is likely to move again in 2 years.

He did ask letting agent about landlord and checked her out online. No issues but was clearly first time landlord.

Is this common? How can you assess your landlords circumstances/likelihood they will break contract? Should he only accept fixed term contacts with no breaks?

I'm sympathetic towards her situation but since he has paid her 6 months rent either this is covering her mortgage, so she can afford to rent somewhere else using her normal income from work/benefits, or she has 6 months rent in the bank which she can use to rent somewhere else herself. It's not as though she is going to be sleeping on the streets if he doesn't move out in June. When you rent out a residential property that you own you are making an investment decision which might pay off nicely or might not - there are risks to balance the reward, otherwise we'd just be giving people money for nothing. He doesn't need to be an arse about it but I do think that your son should stand firm, not be rushed into moving before he's found somewhere suitable for him and she should pay his moving costs. Agreeing to move out before a break clause already is very nice of him since he has no legal obligation to do so.

She's asked - and I think on here we'd all have advised her to ask, just in case he was co-incidentally amenable to leaving - and his answer is No Thank You. So she has to find another solution for a while.

If your son doesn't want to move out yet he doesn't have to. He has paid 6 months rent up front and the earlier she can serve 2 months notice is 4 months into the tenancy so she is talking nonsense about serving him. If he is willing to break the agreement, she needs to compensate him financially for the inconvenience caused and liaise with the agents to find him somewhere else suitable. She also has the option of renting something herself just as your son is doing. He shouldn't allow himself to be bullied. As you know, it's very hard to find rental property at present.

In these circumstances is there anyway the letting agent can recommend, whilst the law is on his side it might be easier to move sooner rather than later otherwise it's hanging over him. Unless there's a break clause he's guaranteed until the year is up

england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/possession_and_eviction/grounds_for_possession/assured_tenancy_mandatory_grounds_for_possession

Section 8 ground 1.
Tell your son to get advice from Shelter.
He will need a copy of his tenancy agreement.