Abandoning a tenancy

[chillcoat]

Hi all,

 

I rent a flat from a housing association in London. I am in the process of buying a new-build house which will be ready in January 2016, but our tenancy is a 12 month AST which runs until July 2016. We therefore need to leave before the end of our tenancy.

 

The tenancy agreement grants the landlord a break clause but not the tenant. I spoke to the property manager recently and they are unwilling to let us surrender the tenancy early. We're going in person to meet them on Tuesday and I would like us to come to an amicable agreement. I understand that legally speaking, we are liable for rent until the end of the tenancy or until a new tenant is installed in the flat (whichever is sooner).

 

Our AST states that if we purchase a property during the tenancy the landlord will treat it as a breach of tenancy. Furthermore, that we must use this flat as our only or main home. It does not permit us to assign or sublet the flat. It says that the landlord "may" repossess the flat if we break our tenancy agreement in these ways.

 

I'd like to understand what the ramifications of us leaving the tenancy early are.

 

I will argue that if they agree to let us surrender, we will help to re-advertise the flat and find a new tenant, and hence they will have no void period. But if they don't agree, we will probably leave anyway, return the keys and formally abandon the tenancy. At this point, I understand that a landlord should/must take reasonable steps to re-advertise the flat and find a new tenant, and that our liability to pay the rent ceases at the point they do. We would also be liable to pay any reasonable charges they incur - all of which I am happy to do.

 

Another alternative is to sublet the flat in breach of our agreement. I think we could find sub-tenants quite easily but obviously becoming a landlord myself for five months or so introduces another layer of risk to the probable eviction etc.!

 

I'd be very grateful for any advice or experience from you, so that I can come to a good agreement with the landlord over the next few weeks.

 

Many thanks.

[mariner51]

You mention a 'break clause' for HA, anything about T activation?

Please provide exact wording of 'break clause' and any other clauses that may refer.

Why did you sign for 12 month Tenancy with HA?

[chillcoat]

Hi mariner,

 

Thanks for your reply. There's nothing (I think) to indicate tenant activation of break clause. See text below. When we signed for another 12 months we weren't planning on buying a house this year! We rent through Intermediate Rent so there are minimum and maximum household income levels.

 

Break clause

- We can send you a break notice in the form of a notice requiring possession under s21 giving you two months' written notice to end the tenancy at the end of the notice period. At the end of the notice period we will be entitled to apply to court for an order to gain possession of the property.

- We will only send a break notice if we have reasonable belief that you are in breach of the terms of your tenancy, which would enable us to gain possession of the property relying on any of the relevant grounds for possession set out [below].

 

It references this section:

- The tenant shall remain a fixed term assured shorthand tenant for the duration of the tenancy so long as he occupies the property as his only or principal home.

- While you are a fixed term assured shorthold tenant, we can end the tenancy by getting a court order for possession, either because we have served you two months notice under s21, or under Schedule 2 of Housing Act 1988

- If the tenancy ceases to be an assured shorthand tenancy, the landlord may end the tenancy by giving one month's notice in writing to the tenant.

 

Regarding other residential property, it says:

 

- We have granted you a tenancy of this property on the basis that at the date your tenancy started and at any other time during the tenancy you will not have access to any alternative residential property.

- In signing this agreement you confirm:

-- you are using this as your only and main home

-- you do not own or have a mortgage on a residential property elsewhere

-- you will not rent, buy or take out a mortgage on another residential property while you are our tenant - we will treat it as a breach of this tenancy if you do

-- you will tell us if you later gain any interest in another residential property - we may treat it as a breach of this tenancy if you do not tell us.

 

I think those are the relevant items in the agreement. It does also mention that we are not permitted to assign or sub-let the property in its entirety, and that subletting one room to a lodger could not be for "commercial profit".

 

Thanks to anyone who can give me a steer on all this...! The passage in bold seems to imply some certainty that we are about to breach our agreement - which would be good news for us I think

[neil6534]

Personally I don't see an issue here as I am certain the council could rent your property in seconds - have you tried asking them if you can terminate?

[chillcoat]

I agree with you - but they didn't see it that way when I spoke with them last week. They would rather sit back and receive our rent for another six months - to be fair, that is what we signed a contract to do!

[neil6534]

sorry my mistake its an HSA you are dealing with not the council....however the council probably use this HSA so it may be worthwhile contacting the council to see if they can help in this matter

[renegadeimp]

Even with a HSA, if you left the property, it would take them less than a week to get the place up to their standards and another person moved in. They normally have a backlog of a lot of people. It's likely they just want the money and dont want to deal with all the admin work

[chillcoat]

Even with a HSA, if you left the property, it would take them less than a week to get the place up to their standards and another person moved in. They normally have a backlog of a lot of people. It's likely they just want the money and dont want to deal with all the admin work

 

Bingo! So how do I persuade them to do some work...?

[renegadeimp]

Have you tried contacting shelter and spoken to their HA team? They're normally very good and can go into more specifics than we can. They've also likely had problems with your ha as well.

 

Thats not to say CAG cant help you, but its better to get as much advice as possible right? Especially if it involves things like this.

[stu007]

This isnt as simple a case of abandoning a property and in a few days the HA can turn it around and relet it.

 

What you are all forgetting is the Housing Association cant just walk in the front door of a property they suspect is abandoned they still have to follow a legal process to verify its abandoned and to legally obtain the property back, then it needs to be brought up to there letting standard before being relet as the Tenant at present has a legally binding Tenancy Agreement so this will all involve legal cost etc which will be added to the tenants rent account.

Edited December 14, 2015 by stu007