Tenancy not registered - moving out questions

Novaka

Hello,

My roommates and I would like to move out of our house at the end of December, however, we do have some interrogations…

1. We signed a fixed-term rental agreement with the LL for a year, but the starting date of the contract was wrongly written by the LL and corrected – however the ending date was not corrected. Is this contract valid even with a strike-out date?
2. I checked on the RTB website if our tenancy was registered, and I cannot find our address on the file, so I believe the LL did not registered the tenancy (will call RTB tomorrow to confirm).
3. I contacted the LL telling him we would move out at the end of December, and that we could find new tenants to its standard for his approval to take over our lease (until mid-2018) – he only answered me that he checked the contract and its written mid-2018… He did not tell me anything regarding possible new tenants etc.
4. We are scared that the LL will not give me any answer, and might even keep our deposit (4K+ total) – so we have no idea how to proceed to move out.
5. We cannot afford giving up on our deposit, but how can we be sure we will get it back? Of course, the house has been kept intact and clean, so technically no reason to keep the deposit.
6. If indeed the tenancy is not registered, could we just move out, leaving the house clean and putting the keys back in his mailbox? What would be our best options? We do not want to enter in conflict at all, but we want to move out without stress, knowing we will get our deposit back…

Many thanks for your answers and advices!

davo10

Whether the tenancy is registered with the RTB has no bearing on your tenancy agreement, the LL can register now and pay a small penalty.

The lease is for a term of one year, if the start date was changed, the term ends one year from that date.

Find new tenants, you can assign the lease, if the LL refuses then you can walk away from the tenancy without having to pay up the remainder of the term.

If you do not assign the lease, you are liable for the rest of the term.

If the LL has to get new tenants, he/she is entitled to deduct the costs associated with this from your deposit.

Tenancy agreements work both ways, you have responsibilities as well as the LL so if you want your deposit back, find someone to take over your lease asap.

Novaka

Thank you davo10 for your answer!

That was our first understanding that we had to find new tenants, but the LL did not answer to the "new tenants" situation of my email, I answered him insisting on us finding new tenants, but so far no answer. How are we supposed to interpret silence? Is it "yes find people to assign the lease to" or "no I do not want to find new tenants"...

Regarding new tenants, do we make the decision of who to assign to? If LL refuses, how many potential tenants are we supposed to submit to him?

Thanks again !

davo10

If the LL refuses the tenants you find to assign the lease, happy days, you are released from your obligations in relation to the term tenancy, he has to give you back your full deposit less any valid deductions for damage. He doesn't have the right to refuse assignment and then deduct costs of finding new tenants himself, he can't have it both ways. If you have found people to take over your lease, just send him a registered letter informing him of their details and that you are confirming to the terms of the RTA, and request your deposit back in full.