Tenant ending a lease early

salad_man

My partner and I are considering ending our 12 month lease early as we would like to try and save towards a deposit on a house. The rent we pay on a monthly basis at the moment means we are unable to put away enough in order to save a substantial amount within a reasonable time period, so we are planning on house sharing with a few friends instead.
We are into our 8th month of our lease at the moment. The issue we face is we have obviously paid a deposit and ideally, I would like to get the back if at all possible. I have not communicated any of this to our landlord, but I would like to know if anyone has any advice on approaching the situation in order to give us the best chance of securing our deposit.
I am aware that the landlord is probably well within their right to hold onto our deposit, given it is us breaking the lease, however I know typically it is up to the discretion of each landlord how they deal with a situation like this.

Straight off I know there would be a benefit for our landlord if we ended the lease

- We moved in before the new increase in rent legislation (2 year period etc) and also since then rental rates have really spiked so from my perspective they could easily get new tenants and charge at a higher rent.
This has me thinking our landlord might take kindly to the idea.

My thought process at the moment is I have two options on how to approach this;

- lie about the situation and make it seem like I have no choice in ending the lease (obviously not mentioning our intentions going forward)
- tell the truth and take a chance that we can come to some sort of arrangement so I can secure our deposit.

Any advice appreciated

magicmushroom

In between you leaving and the LL finding a new, suitable tenant there could be a period of a few weeks.
The LL may also have to pay out fees in order to advertise the property again.

This is why it is likely, as well as understandable and completely fair, that the LL will keep your deposit.

You may be lucky and have a really, really nice LL who lets you away with it but I doubt that will happen.

To lie about your situation is a bit mean; after all he has done nothing wrong and has kept up his end of the agreement.

However no one can stop you from doing so, I suppose it just depends on your own morals.

Evil-p

i would tell the landlord the truth salad man and do all you can in assisting him to find new tenants, i.e. be flexible with viewings. keep the place in good order.

I completely disagree with magic mushroom that the landlord would be justified in keeping your deposit. Most rational non greedy adults can work things out without being grabby.

Its a landlords market, i would be pretty shocked if you didn't have someone moving in straight after you move out

Butters1979

You are 8 months into the 12 month lease, you could be held accountable for the any cost the LL has in replacing you including rent up to the remainder of the lease, not one months deposit. Regardless if you tell them the truth or make up something.
You signed a contract and have now decided it doesn't suit you, that's your own fault.

However, with the way demand for rent is at the moment it is quite possible the LL will see it as an opportunity, especially if they are given time to find a replacement as you would need to give notice regardless.

bren2002

Op read up on your rights. I'm using a phone here so am limited in responding. You have the right to break the lease but you need to find someone willing to take over. The LL can refuse and you're off the hook.

Plus they would be mad not to take a higher rent. You Might need to accomodate some viewings while you're still living there.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Evil-p wrote: »

i would tell the landlord the truth salad man and do all you can in assisting him to find new tenants, i.e. be flexible with viewings. keep the place in good order.

I completely disagree with magic mushroom that the landlord would be justified in keeping your deposit. Most rational non greedy adults can work things out without being grabby.

Its a landlords market, i would be pretty shocked if you didn't have someone moving in straight after you move out

The LL is entitled to mitigate his costs, so would be able to withhold for any losses, readvertising fees, etc.

OP be open with the LL and be as accommodating as possible with viewings so that the Landlord is at minimal loss. If he only charges you for advertising fees then I think that's a good outcome.

salad_man

Appreciate the feedback guys

As you can imagine just want to give myself the best chance of getting my deposit back, hence the main reason for my post.

Will definitely be reading up on prtb before i go about anything

4ensic15

bren2002 wrote: »

Op read up on your rights. I'm using a phone here so am limited in responding. You have the right to break the lease but you need to find someone willing to take over. The LL can refuse and you're off the hook.

That is not breaking a lease. That is assigning the benefit of the existing lease to another.

The barber of chewbacca

Is there a breakage clause in the lease? I broke a 12 month lease a few years ago and the lease allowed it with 4 weeks notice.

The_Conductor

bren2002 wrote: »

Op read up on your rights. I'm using a phone here so am limited in responding. You have the right to break the lease but you need to find someone willing to take over. The LL can refuse and you're off the hook.

The OP cannot randomly try to assign the lease to anyone at all- the proposed assignee has to be at least as acceptable a tenant as the OP themselves. If the OP finds someone who is not at least as suitable as they are- the landlord is fully within their rights to refuse to assign the lease. Note- you are assigning the remainder of the lease (aka the proposed tenant would have a further 4 months in the property- they would not have Part IV rights before the elapse of the lease- the landlord would be fully within their rights to relet the property at market rates 4 months hence- there is no security of tenure for the proposed assignee.........

OP- talk to the landlord- it is entirely possible/probable that they will allow you to vacate the lease early- however, you are liable for any costs incurred in reletting the property (as per the RTA).

Talk to the landlord.

My gf was made redundant at extremely short notice a couple of years ago which meant that it would have been very difficult for her to continue with her lease. She spoke to the landlord, who would have been well within their rights to expect another 8 months of payment and asked them to consent to ending the tenancy.

The landlord had some straightforward requests, like asking my gf to return the place in 'move in' condition, and to ensure that all bills were up to date which my gf accepted no problem.

At the time my gf was pretty terrified about what could happen to her given the circumstances, but realised soon after speaking to the landlord that people are reasonable in the main.

inchiuvatu

It depends on your relationship with the landlord, I've always had a good relationship with mine and come out of every lease early (1 was within a year, and 3 was in the second years lease) everyones circumstances change. not all landlords are as supportive as others but for me the truth was the right way to go.

salad_man

That is a point i didn't mention, and really the main reason i am unsure about how my request will be received . Our relationship started off a bit frosty due to reasons i wont get into, but lets just say we got what we wanted. However we agreed to move on and so we have needed little to no contact since.

Because of this i am worried if i give them an excuse (such as we plan to move with friends for our benefit financial long-term benefit) they will jump on that and keep the deposit and more. This is why i am considering lying as i feel it might protect us from that

Del2005

salad_man wrote: »

That is a point i didn't mention, and really the main reason i am unsure about how my request will be received . Our relationship started off a bit frosty due to reasons i wont get into, but lets just say we got what we wanted. However we agreed to move on and so we have needed little to no contact since.

Because of this i am worried if i give them an excuse (such as we plan to move with friends for our benefit financial long-term benefit) they will jump on that and keep the deposit and more. This is why i am considering lying as i feel it might protect us from that

Doesn't matter if you tell the truth or lie the LL is entitled to keep you to the contract you entered into. If you lie and the LL finds out they can sue for breach of contract, if you tell the truth you can work out a solution which suits you both.

Pkiernan

Reading your first post,you basically want to screw your landlord for your own personal financial gain.

How much money will you save by starting your house sharing plan a few months early?

Why not be decent, see out your lease and then start saving for your house?

I wonder how you would feel if your house sharers do the same to you.

VincePP

Del2005 wrote: »

If you lie and the LL finds out they can sue for breach of contract.

Stop the scaremongering sh1te - show me one single case of a landlord suing.

The_Conductor

VincePP wrote: »

Stop the scaremongering sh1te - show me one single case of a landlord suing.

Its unusual- but we have had incidents of landlords taking tenants to court in this forum- however, there was a recognition that they were doing it on a point of principle, more so than anything else, and were unlikely to ever get recompensed for whatever manner in which they were wronged........

Its does happen- but normally in extreme cases- where the landlord is so annoyed with the tenant- that money is no longer the reason they pursue the case- its akin to the demand for a pound of flesh..........

Del2005

VincePP wrote: »

Stop the scaremongering sh1te - show me one single case of a landlord suing.

What's scaremongering about giving someone the worst scenario? The OP wanted to know what the LL could do and was implying that the LL would do them if they told the truth, I was merely pointing out that regardless of what the OP told the LL they could be held to the contract that they signed.

armabelle

The_Conductor wrote: »

The OP cannot randomly try to assign the lease to anyone at all- the proposed assignee has to be at least as acceptable a tenant as the OP themselves. If the OP finds someone who is not at least as suitable as they are- the landlord is fully within their rights to refuse to assign the lease. Note- you are assigning the remainder of the lease (aka the proposed tenant would have a further 4 months in the property- they would not have Part IV rights before the elapse of the lease- the landlord would be fully within their rights to relet the property at market rates 4 months hence- there is no security of tenure for the proposed assignee.........

OP- talk to the landlord- it is entirely possible/probable that they will allow you to vacate the lease early- however, you are liable for any costs incurred in reletting the property (as per the RTA).

actually, if the new tenant is not deemed suitable, the tenant still can break the lease. This stops the LL saying no just because he can

The_Conductor

armabelle wrote: »

actually, if the new tenant is not deemed suitable, the tenant still can break the lease. This stops the LL saying no just because he can

PRTB arbitrations have swung in landlords favour on this point- where the suitability of the proposed assignee could be shown indisputably- to be a dimunition of the standards applied to the original tenant.

It is not spelt out in the case- the PRTB instead are effectively creating case law.

armabelle

salad_man wrote: »

That is a point i didn't mention, and really the main reason i am unsure about how my request will be received . Our relationship started off a bit frosty due to reasons i wont get into, but lets just say we got what we wanted. However we agreed to move on and so we have needed little to no contact since.

Because of this i am worried if i give them an excuse (such as we plan to move with friends for our benefit financial long-term benefit) they will jump on that and keep the deposit and more. This is why i am considering lying as i feel it might protect us from that

Yes, the problem with the deposit is that if you don't get it back and even if the LL is in the wrong it may be a difficult procedure to get it back. This regardless if you tell the truth or not.

armabelle

The_Conductor wrote: »

PRTB arbitrations have swung in landlords favour on this point- where the suitability of the proposed assignee could be shown indisputably- to be a dimunition of the standards applied to the original tenant.

It is not spelt out in the case- the PRTB instead are effectively creating case law.

OP don't worry about this. Just find another tenant for the LL. You will be OK to leave if the LL refuses you. Don't let scaremongering

gar32

As both a LL and a tenant I can see both sides in this issue.

Read your agreement and see can you give notice. You could just give notice and not have to say why. 1 month would be normal.

If not then you could offer to help find someone to move in so there is no gap in the LL rent if you move out.

Do you know your LL well? If a nice person I am sure you could just explain what you have here. If not a nice person and you are sharing. If they don't see reason you could agree to disagree and move out leaving the money as the 9th month rent.

There are not enough place to rent in the country. LL should have a plan in place for some unpaid weeks.

Just be nice to LL and try your best & I hope LL is nice about thing also.


Good luck on your new place & savings.