Breaking lease

Catxscotch

I signed a 1 year lease on an apartment as I needed somewhere to live quickly and nothing else was available at the time. Have now found other similar properties that are much cheaper. Is it possible to break the lease, and is there a minimum notice that I must give?

Victor

Does your lease have a break clause? What does it say about notice.

You can assign the lease to someone else, but they need to accept paying the (high) rent or you need to make up the difference.

odds_on

Catxscotch wrote: »

I signed a 1 year lease on an apartment as I needed somewhere to live quickly and nothing else was available at the time. Have now found other similar properties that are much cheaper. Is it possible to break the lease, and is there a minimum notice that I must give?

No, you cannot break a fixed term lease unless there is a break clause. This is one of the difficulties of a fixed term lease.

With a Part 4 lease, the landlord can have the tenant leave the property (usually with about 28 days notice) under a number of reasons. The tenant may leave by giving the landlord sufficient notice (depending on their time in occupancy) in the prescribed manner. With a Fixed Term lease neither he nor you have the right to break the lease before its expiry date.

Your only way out is to assign the lease to another person who then takes over the lease. It is up to you to find the new tenant. You must advise the landlord that you want to assign the lease, if he refuses, then you have the right to leave and retain your full deposit.
Any knowledgeable landlord will accept your right to assign but the landlord has the right to refuse a tenant who he thinks may be unsuitable (just as he had the right to refuse you as a tenant) after his vetting checks.

enricocd

I've got the same problem.
I gave the landlord 40 days’ notice and we agreed on a phone call that I would have found somebody to take the lease.
2 days after the phone call he hired a renting company and now that he found somebody else he's asking me 240 euro (to be taken from my deposit) of letting fees and 90 euro as tax that he paid to the local authorities to register my contract!
Is this legal? Should I ask he to prove the second fee that I was never aware of?
Cheers E.

not even wrong

enricocd wrote: »

I've got the same problem.
I gave the landlord 40 days’ notice and we agreed on a phone call that I would have found somebody to take the lease.
2 days after the phone call he hired a renting company and now that he found somebody else he's asking me 240 euro (to be taken from my deposit) of letting fees and 90 euro as tax that he paid to the local authorities to register my contract!
Is this legal?

No. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse your request to assign the tenancy. If it was coming up to moving out date and you still hadn't found a new tenant that's one thing, but after 2 days is taking the piss.

The €90 fee is not a local authority tax, it's a fee for registering the tenancy with the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Either way it's not your problem.

n900guy

It's pretty standard AFAIK that if you are breaking a lease early, then you pay the fees for re-advertising/re-letting.

not even wrong

n900guy wrote: »

It's pretty standard AFAIK that if you are breaking a lease early, then you pay the fees for re-advertising/re-letting.

not if you've agreed with the landlord that you will find a new tenant yourself.

viper006

Im actually in the same situation. I accept that i must provide 1 months notice and then we will lose our deposit for breaking lease , which is a balls but i accept it is what we signed into.

we still have 7 months of lease left and my main concern is letting agency or landlord will seek the remaining 7 months or is the notice and losing deposit enough.

id really appreciate feedback from any1 who knows how this works?

Thanks

Victor

Find someone as a replacement.

viper006

hi victor,

I know we are entitled to reassign the lease to someone else and il try to do that but as we moving on somewhere else just concerned of what would happen if we cant find someone1 else in the 1 month period that we provide, we then forefeit deposit and move on only landlord to be getting on to us down the line saying we must pay balance of rent for all time the apt was vacant say for however long. I guess if we are forfeiting our deposit we want to sure that will be the end of it?

It mentions on lease agreement we forfeit deposit if you leave early which is fine but doesnt mention we liable for remainder of contract or is that just presumed in a fixed lease agreement.does it really just depend on the landlord or and specific contract or would we be safe to assume if we forfeit deposit that is our obligations met?

odds_on

Basically you are liable for te rent for the full term of the lease. If you fail to assign the lease to another tenant, the landlord could chase you for the rent owing, month by month.
However, the landlord must make reasonable attempts to re-let the property. You are also liable for the landlord's costs for re-letting. He must be able to provide receipts for all expenses.

viper006

thanks for the reply odds on. wouldnt mind our feedback though on this below as well.

It actually states in the agreement that if the tenants leaves early they forfeit the despoit to cover the cost of the re letting fees so its settiing out a defined amount relating to the cost of terminating agreement? surely given this paragraph in the agreement as long as we give a months notice and willing to forfeit our deposit that covers the reletting. by doing this we are abiding the rules of the agreements and leaving go of deposit thats the end of that? i guess my question is why have this paragraph in here if in fact the only way to def get out of this lease would be to re assign it to someone else??

my understanding here is that a defined amount has been set out for reletting and they cant keep chasing is down the line if we agree and pay that amount?

odds_on

viper006 wrote: »

thanks for the reply odds on. wouldnt mind our feedback though on this below as well.

It actually states in the agreement that if the tenants leaves early they forfeit the despoit to cover the cost of the re letting fees so its settiing out a defined amount relating to the cost of terminating agreement? surely given this paragraph in the agreement as long as we give a months notice and willing to forfeit our deposit that covers the reletting. by doing this we are abiding the rules of the agreements and leaving go of deposit thats the end of that? i guess my question is why have this paragraph in here if in fact the only way to def get out of this lease would be to re assign it to someone else??

my understanding here is that a defined amount has been set out for reletting and they cant keep chasing is down the line if we agree and pay that amount?

You cannot break a fixed term lease (unless both parties mutually agree). Nowhere in your lease does it say a month's notice period is required if you want to leave prior to the end of the lease.

That paragraph is just explaining that you may forfeit your deposit AND you may be liable for the landlord's expenses of re-letting. And, as a Fixed Term lease cannot be broken, you are liable for the rent for the full term of the lease, whether or not you live in the property (unless the lease is assigned to a new tenant who then takes over all the tenant obligations until the expiry of the lease. It is not a get-out clause.

If you had a Periodic Lease, then usually a month's notice is correct (ending on a payment day).
If you had a Part 4 Tenancy agreement and were in occupation for less than a year, the 28 days notice is required.

viper006

odds_on wrote: »

That paragraph is just explaining that you may forfeit your deposit AND you may be liable for the landlord's expenses of re-letting

.

Thanks odds on again for your clear response. Could i just clarify finally with 1 last time. the exact wording of the 2 paragraphs states
"should a tenant replace himself during term of agrement, he liable for an admin fee of 100e"

" should the tenant leave for any reason before the date stated in the agreement the tenant agrees to underwrite the cost of reletting by forfeiture of the deposit"

The first point says we reassign lease 100e cost... fair enough,thats what we hope to do. The 2nd point doesnt seem state the tenant is liable to lose deposit plus other relet costs as highlighted in your last response, but cost is limited to that of deposit for it to be relet to someone else?

Again thanks for your feedback