Breaking lease 3 months early

marley123

Hi All , we are 9mths into our 12mth Lease & unfortunatly the size of the house is just not meeting our needs anymore, I am in a position at the moment where my mother may need to move in with us for a couple of months & we have no extra bedroom , kids already sharing plus we have Au Pair & you couldnt swing a cat in the boxroom. Is there anything to do re cutting the lease short? We let the property through a property management company.

aN.Droid

Short of checking your lease for a break clause I don't think there is anything you can do but live out the last 3 months and making sure to give 5 weeks notice of when you want to move out.

Bigcheeze

You can talk to the landlord and request that they release you from the lease early. It won't hurt to ask.

edellc

you dont need to give 5wks notice, if you have a fixed term lease for 12 mths then once your in the last month just inform the letting agent you will not be renewing your contract

as for breaking you lease have a look at contract as there may be a clause in it that states you may not get your deposit back, you could try find someone to move in for the remainder of your lease that way you do get your deposit back but only if your contract allows it

like bigcheese said talk to your letting agent and explain the situation all they can say really is yes or no, 3mths isnt that long a wait if its a no

best of luck with it OP

cookie1977

If you could get someone to take over the lease then I dont see why the landlord would object if their references check out. Most landlord's I think (including myself) only care about a stable lease.

ProudDUB

Your lease ends at the end of the fixed term. No need to give any notice. If you move out before then, you will forfeit your deposit.

Talk to the mgt agency as to your leaving early & getting your deposit back. They will consult the landlord, and he will dictate what he wants to happen. He is their client, not you, so he gets to call the shots. He may agree to your leaving now so that they can get to work on finding new tenants. Or he may dig his heels in and say that you must pay the rent until the lease ends or you lose your deposit.

Best way around this is to get permission to assign the remainder of the tenancy to someone else. Take pix of the place, put an ad up on Daft and MyHome & do the showings. When you get someone suitable, forward their details onto the letting agent. When they sign the lease for the remainder of the lease term & pay their deposit, you get your deposit back when you move out, as long as the landlord is not out of pocket any rent while all this takes place.

Last summer, I took over the last 3 months of a lease of an American couple who had to move back to the US unexpectidly. It worked out really well. I was offered first right of refusal to sign a new 12 month lease when the 3 months of mine were up. So I could stay on if I wanted to. If I chose not to do so, I could leave as agreed when the 3 months were up. Three months was plenty for me to get to know the area, and see if the apt suited my needs. It didn't, so I moved else where. It was great to be able to do all that without being locked into a long term lease, or worrying about losing my deposit if I wanted to move before it was up.

If you put the ad in the short term section on Daft, you will get lots of interest from people who only want to rent in your area for the summer, or for a short period of time. Going by all the posts here who want to break their lease early as where they live does not suit them, I think people will be biting your arm off to do what I did.

marley123

Thanks for all the advice. Mgmt company have been very nice & once we find someone else to take over no problem breaking lease.