Moving out earlier than termination of lease

butterfly33

Hi!

I would like to know where I stand in my current situation. I have been renting my present apartment for 3.5 years. My lease was renewed for another 8 months in May 2012 until December 2012. At that time (May 2012) when it was time to renew the lease, we communicated our situation by email saying that we are unsure about our departure date which could be earlier or later than December but we said to do the lease for up to December which is 8 months total. We did say that we are unsure about our leaving date. But we are now having to leave the country before then, which is the first week of November.

We spoke to the landlord and at first he said we would have to pay until the end of the lease period. But after a few negotiations we came to agreement that we would be paying for only one week in November but he could keep the deposit for us breaking the lease.

We agreed to this. But then after meeting us, he left and sent us an email stating that he is happy for us to stay for up to the 1st week in Nov provided we reimburse a monthly discount he gave us on the 8-month lease. (He had reduced the rent for the last lease). Nothing is mentioned on the lease about the reimbursement of the discount should we break the contract, only the loss of deposit is mentioned (and that again with or without notice, the deposit is lost)

We did give the landlord 1.5 months notice but still we agreed to not take the deposit back.

He made a discount for us for that 8 months lease (from the previous rent). But now he wants the discount back as well and the one week to be charged pro rata on the full (previous) rent price without discount.

But now we are having to leave at the end of Oct instead of beginning of Nov. We have let the landlord know of this and awaiting his reply. I would like to know where we stand here.

My question is, if we are accepting to lose the deposit, gave 1.5 months notice and we have paid until end Oct, are we in any kind of other complications presently?
Are we meant to pay the full rent until December plus lose the deposit?
The landlord has not replied to our email since we emailed him about our new leaving date for end of October.

I would also like to add this, while in the apartment we had mold problems a few times in the bathrooms and spreading in the bedrooms covering the whole ceilings and around windows. The landlord did send people to repaint despite them saying that this is not a long term solution. Proof was that the mold did come back in the bathrooms after just 2 weeks of being repainted. We were thinking of moving out before the renewal of the last lease but we did not because the landlord offered the discount. Now the bathrooms still have the mold. Could this be used as a support if things do go wrong with the landlord?

Any advice? Thank you.

edellc

Forget about your mould issue as any kind of bargining tool, if it was such a problem then you wouldnt have lived there for three and a half years, so get over it.

As per contract law you lease if up in December so if the lease says that by breaking it early you must pay the remainder of the rent up to the end date of your contract, well then that is what you are liable for. The deposit is a different issue, landlords can only keep deposits for reason as outlined in link below

http://www.landlordsonline.ie/information/problem-tenancies/retaining-a-tenants-deposit-%E2%80%93-what-a-landlord-needs-to-know/

So once you pay the remainder of the rent up to the end of December, clear all your bills (get them transferred back in to LL's name, ring each account giving final reading and ask for the bills to be fowarded to you, even better if you have a standing order) and the LL does an inspection and is happy that the place is clean and there is nothing above wear and tear then there is no reason for the LL to retain any of your deposit.

You asked for this contract OP if you didnt have a leaving date then you should have let the old lease expire and gone to a part 4 tenancy agreement, but once you sign a contact then its legal, otherwise whats the point

I understand that it is very hard to come up with another months rent for some where you wont be living and the logic is to say just keep the deposit as that covers it...if you do go down this road then please make sure you have the place spotless and pay all the bills in full, as landlords may act in under handed ways but there is no need for you to and its up to us as tenants to behave in an appropriate manner and rise above shoddy landlords, and not give tenants a bad name...

butterfly33

Actually my contract does not say that if I break the lease I should pay up to the end of the lease period. It only says that the deposit is loss if the lease is terminated earlier. I know the fixed term contract usually says that the rent needs to be paid until the end but my contract says that should the lease be terminated before the period then the deposit is not refunded.
It also does not say that I should pay until the end of the lease period. That's the contract I signed.

The mold problem came in after 2 years of being there. The ceilings were painted but it came back after two weeks in the bathroom after we have renewed for this present lease.

Since announcing to the landlord about us leaving end of Oct, he hasn't replied to the email at all. So I don't know what the situation is. What should I do in the event that he doesn't reply at all?

We are leaving the country (for good) in two weeks. What are my options here?

edellc

if the lease says you loose your deposit then thats all you loose, more fool the landlord for not putting the other clause in

forget about the mould, your outta there in oct, clean the place and pay your bills

if he doesnt reply to you mails so be it, you just pay your rent up to the end of oct and pop the keys back in the letter box once your gone, if he cant be grown up thats his problem not yours

djimi

Only what you have in writing counts legally. If you have a written fixed term lease that expires at the end of December then legally you are liable for rent until the end of that lease.

Any of the rest of what the landlord has said is only legally binding if you have it in writing. Verbal agreements mean virtually nothing. Without agreements in writing you are liable to pay rent until the end of the fixed term lease.

That said, were only taking about a matter of weeks in the difference here. If you are happy to forfeir your deposit then I would say that there is little chance of the landlord persuing you for any further amounts as it is simply not worth the time and money for the small amount involved.

The_Conductor

edellc wrote: »

if the lease says you loose your deposit then thats all you loose, more fool the landlord for not putting the other clause in

forget about the mould, your outta there in oct, clean the place and pay your bills

if he doesnt reply to you mails so be it, you just pay your rent up to the end of oct and pop the keys back in the letter box once your gone, if he cant be grown up thats his problem not yours

You do not need to put another clause in a fixed term lease advising that the tenant is liable for rent to the end of the lease- its a fixed term lease- its implicit, rather than something that has to be explicitly stated. It also doesn't state that the tenant shouldn't ceremoniously set up a pet cemetery in the front garden- if you want to go down the road of laboriously stating every possible action, inaction, reaction etc- you'll be writing tomes forever after. A tenant is liable for rent to the end of the term stated in their fixed term lease, unless there is a mutual agreement to ascribe the lease to another party, sublet subject to the approval of the landlord, or set aside the lease, subject to whatever terms the landlord and his or her tenant agree.

I would seriously suggest that you read the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act carefully- if you intend to continue posting advice to people in this forum- as your recent posts have been both remarkably adversarial but also inaccurate and perpetuating myths- to posters seeking information in this forum.

Regards,

SMcCarrick