Default on rental agreement?

[Domestic_Ginger]

Bluntly put we are possibly going to be owning a house and paying rent on a second property. The rent will only be for a month and we will only have a months binding contract. I may want to end my contract and sounding out any problems.

I appreciate at a minimum I lose my deposit. But with professional carpet cleaning, council tax and unmetered water charge I may actually make money as soon as they decide to start knocking money off for dusty light bulbs etc.

Can I default in a civilised manner and get away with it? The owners take the chance of getting someone in earlier.

[Saracen]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking, and would stress the usual caveat - IANAL, so what you get is opinion/comment, not advice. If in doubt, consult an actual lawyer.

But I'd point out that your obligations under any rental agreement will be more than just paying the rent. If you breach the contract, and the other party loses out they could, and might, seek compensation for that from you. So if, for example, they end up out of pocket for repairs, cleaning, etc, that were your responsibility under the contract, they can go after you for it. Potentially, in court. And if you lose, you could end up with a CCJ against you, and that likely won't do your credit rating any good at all, affecting both rates you get offered on loans or ANY form of credit, for years, to your ability even to get a mobile phone contract.

In other words, my OPINION is ... be very careful how you pick you path, because you're contemplating deliberately wandering into a minefield.

I gotta ask .... is the potential gain worth the risk?

The above is, of course, worst-case scenario. Is it viable to discuss this with the landlord and negotiate an early release, in a mutually acceptable way?

[ik9000]

Congrats on getting on to the ladder!

You're assuming the worst with your landlord or else you're simply trying to renege on your contractual obligations, which means you're trying to defraud your landlord. You don't know how it will go. We got our deposit back in full, promptly and they were great. Equally we'd really looked after the place and not been any hassle. We paid for carpet cleaning ourselves and left the place clean and shiny - even got a thank you email from them.

Bare in mind the deposit is held at one of only a few gov registered providers. They will log a default against you and you will be shafted if you ever need to rent again. Not a good idea IMO!

My advice is swallow the month double spend. We did, and it's a real help to be able to move progressively at your leisure. And it will be good practice for when you find the boiler has packed in/the roof is leaking/the drain is blocked etc and you end up having to shell out of your own pocket. One of the perks of finally owning your own place!

[Domestic_Ginger]

I've been on the ladder before and contemplated hiring a holy man to bless our 100 year old roof :/ its not a done deal as we've been screwed for a year now by sellers on this one and a previous property. The last one made us wait six months and then demanded 20k more.

I would only renage in a mutual fashion, I just wanted to get some feedback. I don't have all the figures yet. And by offering the vacant property back I may get some rent back if it gets filled sooner (small chance).

[ik9000]

the way I might phrase it would be give notice you're leaving on the proper date (full notice period etc) but let them know you might (depending on how YOUR move goes) be able to vacate earlier if it helps get another tenant for the landlord, with the obvious rent reduction accordingly. If the landlord wants to explore then he needs to let you know so you can agree terms otherwise keys will be dropped off on the date.

It's the keeping of the keys and few items in the cupboards and wardrobes that means you're still in residence. Pop back every now and then. Stops him getting double rent....

[Saracen]

I've been on the ladder before and contemplated hiring a holy man to bless our 100 year old roof :/ its not a done deal as we've been screwed for a year now by sellers on this one and a previous property. The last one made us wait six months and then demanded 20k more.

...

Standard fare under our property system. Had that sort-of thing more than once. I have a rule, personally .... someone tries that and I cut my loses and withdraw. And I make sure the estate agent knows that will be my response.

Also, on my first house purchase, 'exchange' kept getting delayed. After about the fourth missed date, I gave my solicitor very explicit instructions, re:date 5 ..... pass word up the chain, either it goes ahead this time, NO MORE DELAYS, or I withdraw. No ifs, no but's, and no silly games. It's Friday, or never. And I explained the same to my vendor, who was not the problem, which was about 3 up the chain above him.

Sure enough, it exchanged that Friday, and completed a couple of weeks later.

I had already started looking for an alternative property, and I made sure my solicitor knew that I was utterly serious - Friday, or not at all. Enough, already.

Of course, it could have fallen through because of that ultimatum. But by then .... so be it.

[Domestic_Ginger]

It looks like a sellers market were I am. We should know in 2-3 weeks; stressful times.

We offered our seller the months rent to leave, we were told they would move out if they didn't find anything when we made the offer however that was renaged on.

As soon as money comes into play you see the worst in people.

[scaryjim]

You can approach the landlord and ask if they'll agree to a mutual early finish to the contract. They might, if they're that rarest of all things - a reasonable landlord. You could also ask them if they'd be willing to take the last month's rent out of the deposit instead of being paid in advance. If they do agree to anything remotely reasonable get it in writing - you don't want to be two weeks into the last month and have them chasing you for not paying the rent.

Bottom line though is that you've signed a contract for a fixed period and you're legally obliged to see it out if you can't come to a civil and mutual agreement to leave early. it sucks a bit, but that's the legal position. Your deposit isn't a payment of rent, and the landlord could quite reasonably return your deposit from the protection scheme then chase you via other means for the outstanding rent - including pursuing a court order if you don't pay.

Since the deposit will be protected you do get to query any deductions he wants to make before he makes them, and he'll need to be able to provide evidence that the deductions are reasonable - it's far easier to get your full deposit back now (assuming you've left the house in good condition) than it used to be.

[DanceswithUnix]

I can't see why a landlord is going to be too stressed by your leaving the property as long as he can get someone else in there. Empty property is what hurts them. I remember giving my landlord plenty of advance warning when I was buying my first house, but then I only had a one month notice period of which 2 weeks was used up by the time between exchange and completion so we had a couple of weekends to move out in a relaxed and cheap way of just hiring a transit for a day for the big stuff.

[kalniel]

It may seem like quite an expense, but if it's only a month I'd be seeing if you can manage without change - as you know things inevitably get delayed with purchases, and having an overlap can make moving much less stressfull.