Assigning Lease

jah718

Hi all, I have a quick question on assignment of lease.

For info, my wife and I rented out an apartment on a fixed term lease and due to a new job opportunity, we need to break it. I requested permission to assign the lease from the landlord which was granted. They specified that they would need to approve the new tenant and they would need to provide references, bank statements etc.

My intention was to go about this in as nice a way as possible and find a suitable replacement of the same standard as us and ensure that the landlord didn't lose anything from the arrangement.

The landlord subsequently told me that I am not permitted to advertise the property on websites such as Daft due to sub letting rules and the terms of the lease (I can find no mention of this in the lease).

I contacted the RTB and they told me that I could just find any willing tenant, and if they didn't have the appropriate documents or the landlord refused them for any reason, I can simply serve my notice letter and break the lease. In this instance, the landlord would have no entitlement to hold onto my deposit, outside of damages and bills. The RTB said that as I have attempted to find a new tenant, and the landlord wanted to be involved, I have fulfilled my obligation by providing a potential tenant.

Can anyone sanity check this for me or has anyone have a similar experience?

It is obviously not my intention to screw the landlord over on this and I want to find a suitable replacement. If they want to be so involved in the process, why not just refuse my request to assign and do it themselves?

Old diesel

Imo telling you not to use Daft or other sites might arguably be an effective refusal of the request .

He wants to try and hinder your search for a replacement tenant knowing you will be liable for the rent in a way you wouldn't be if he just straight out declined the request .

I would seek legal advice tbh so that you can then in an informed way decide the best way forward.

I believe that the landlord could be trying to avoid refusing but doing it in a way that's effectively making it hard to assign the lease.

Wanting to approve the new tenant and ask for references is fine . The dodgy bit is telling you not to advertise on Daft and other sites.

But maybe that's legal hence legal advice needed

jah718

Old diesel wrote: »

Imo telling you not to use Daft or other sites might arguably be an effective refusal of the request .

He wants to try and hinder your search for a replacement tenant knowing you will be liable for the rent in a way you wouldn't be if he just straight out declined the request .

I would seek legal advice tbh so that you can then in an informed way decide the best way forward.

I believe that the landlord could be trying to avoid refusing but doing it in a way that's effectively making it hard to assign the lease.

Wanting to approve the new tenant and ask for references is fine . The dodgy bit is telling you not to advertise on Daft and other sites.

But maybe that's legal hence legal advice needed

Thanks for the advice Old diesel! I was hoping this would be more straightforward than this.

While the Daft thing is an annoyance, what I was more curious about was what the lady in RTB told me. I was surprised that a landlord's attempt to vet tenants, could effectively be viewed as him refusing my request to assign, which really reduces the LL power in these situations.

It would seem that based on this, it is more in a landlord's favour to just refuse request to assign and do it themselves?

Claw Hammer

jah718 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Old diesel! I was hoping this would be more straightforward than this.

While the Daft thing is an annoyance, what I was more curious about was what the lady in RTB told me. I was surprised that a landlord's attempt to vet tenants, could effectively be viewed as him refusing my request to assign, which really reduces the LL power in these situations.

It would seem that based on this, it is more in a landlord's favour to just refuse request to assign and do it themselves?

Just send a letter to the landlord stating that you wish to assign your lease to mr. mcknacker c/o the halting site, nearest town and let him refuse. then give your notice ad go.

Old diesel

jah718 wrote: »

Old diesel wrote: »

Imo telling you not to use Daft or other sites might arguably be an effective refusal of the request .

He wants to try and hinder your search for a replacement tenant knowing you will be liable for the rent in a way you wouldn't be if he just straight out declined the request .

I would seek legal advice tbh so that you can then in an informed way decide the best way forward.

I believe that the landlord could be trying to avoid refusing but doing it in a way that's effectively making it hard to assign the lease.

Wanting to approve the new tenant and ask for references is fine . The dodgy bit is telling you not to advertise on Daft and other sites.

But maybe that's legal hence legal advice needed

Thanks for the advice Old diesel! I was hoping this would be more straightforward than this.

While the Daft thing is an annoyance, what I was more curious about was what the lady in RTB told me. I was surprised that a landlord's attempt to vet tenants, could effectively be viewed as him refusing my request to assign, which really reduces the LL power in these situations.

It would seem that based on this, it is more in a landlord's favour to just refuse request to assign and do it themselves?

The other issue to note is - how much of the lease is left and what it would cost to pay full rent for remainder.

That is important in terms of how tough you might want to be on this .

If it's one month and 1 k it might (annoyingly) be as easy to settle and be done with it.

If it's 10 months and your apartment is 2 k a month then legal advice becomes vital.

2 k a month over 10 months is 20 k and you want to only pay that if certain legally that you are liable.

jah718

I agree with your assessment, if it was just a month or two, I would be more than happy to just pay and be done with it, however, in this instance it is 6 months, so not really feasible for us.

It would seem the reality of this situation is just to advertise, find a few candidates and put forward to LL, if they refuse, i serve notice and leave, if they accept, I leave. My intention is to get someone of a similar standard to ourselves not just a randomer off the street. How would it work if the person I put forward had HAP for example, would that be seen as a reasonable replacement?

I am still waiting to hear back from the LL on the issue of not being advertised on daft. I have spoken to RTB and Threshold and they said if it is not in the lease, then it's unenforceable. They also said it smacks of the LL trying to disrupt/delay the process.

The other issue that I am coming up against is the LL dragging their heels and delaying responses to me which is eating into my time. Is this their right to do or what is the reasonable response time?

MacDanger

jah718 wrote: »

I agree with your assessment, if it was just a month or two, I would be more than happy to just pay and be done with it, however, in this instance it is 6 months, so not really feasible for us.

It would seem the reality of this situation is just to advertise, find a few candidates and put forward to LL, if they refuse, i serve notice and leave, if they accept, I leave. My intention is to get someone of a similar standard to ourselves not just a randomer off the street. How would it work if the person I put forward had HAP for example, would that be seen as a reasonable replacement?

I am still waiting to hear back from the LL on the issue of not being advertised on daft. I have spoken to RTB and Threshold and they said if it is not in the lease, then it's unenforceable. They also said it smacks of the LL trying to disrupt/delay the process.

The other issue that I am coming up against is the LL dragging their heels and delaying responses to me which is eating into my time. Is this their right to do or what is the reasonable response time?

My wife and I were renting a house a couple of years ago and wanted to break the lease (as my sister's house had become available). We enquired with the letting agency and they advised that we were required to tell the landlord that we wanted to break the lease but to offer to sublet the property for the same rent - she then had the option to take up our offer or allow us to break the lease. As far as

It's detailed in point # 2 & 3 here:

https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/ending-a-tenancy/ending-a-fixed-term-tenancy/tenants-ending-a-fixed-term-tenancy/

This is the letter I sent:

Request to Terminate Fixed Term
Lease

To: LANDLORD NAME &
ADDRESS

Macdanger would like to request
to terminate the fixed term lease on the he tenancy of the dwelling at
ADDRESS on DATE.

Alternatively, we request permission
to sub-let the property from the remaining duration of the lease (until END OF
LEASE DATE) at the same rate of monthly rent (€XXXX) in accordance with section
186 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.
Signed:

what I was more curious about was what the lady in RTB told me. I was surprised that a landlord's attempt to vet tenants, could effectively be viewed as him refusing my request to assign, which really reduces the LL power in these situations.

It would seem that based on this, it is more in a landlord's favour to just refuse request to assign and do it themselves?

TBF, it is a little unfair on the LL but considering the current climate, I wouldn't have much sympathy, esp in this case where they won't allow you to use the internet to find a replacement!!

Browney7

If you want to do right by the LL just advertise it on daft yourself and whittle down the responses to 5 best (you'll get a ton of responses). Invite them to view. Ask landlord in advance that if he wants references and bank statements that you'd like to provide his email address to prospective tenants (which you have whittled) for them to forward directly (don't think it's your place to be asking for bank statements).

You seem like you want to be reasonable here so you'd hope LL would work with you. Ring him if he's stalling and lay out your plan and follow up with an email.