Lease extension agreed - Where do we stand?

Teasey

Hi All

I have been renting a house with my OH for the past two years. Our lease is up next week but in March we negotiated to stay on in the house for an extra 3 months to give us a moving out date in July. Our landlord sent us a lease for this 3 month stay which we have yet to sign

However, recently our situation has changed as my OH has been made redundant and we are no longer in a position to keep the house. We have paid our rent for this month but realistically we will not be able to pay that amount again in May. We are considering telling the landlord that we have changed our mind in regards to the extension of the lease and wish to move out next month

My question is, where do we stand in this situation? We have a substantial deposit on the house which we desperatly need to get back - would the landlord be within their rights to keep some of this deposit even if we give a month's notice at this stage?

Thanks

RentDayBlues

If you haven't signed the extension then you are still within the agreements of the original lease. Just tell the LL you are giving notice - unless there is any issue re unpaid bills/damage beyond wear and tear you are entitled to your deposit back.

heavyballs

i'm a landlord but my wife usually deals with it

but afaik you can walk once you give the months notice regardless of the initial agreement
the contract is more like an agreement and doesn't stand up in court
once the house is not damaged in any way you get your deposit back

Teasey

Wow - thanks for the quick replies!

Well the house is in the same condition as it was when we moved in - give or take a bit of wear but nothing that you wouldn't expect after 2 years living there. We're actually going to give 5 weeks notice so we should be ok...

Thanks again

Victor

Strictly speaking, you can walk away on the day your current lease is up, although giving notice is nice. You would get your deposit back, but it would be another matter for any overpaid rent.