Apopcalyptic
02-05-2007, 19:12 PM
Hi All,
My fiance and I have been renting our current property for about 18 months now, but recently decided to buy, mainly for financial reasons.At one point we were sharing with another tenant, who left recently, leaving us to make up the shortfall in rent. Up until November last we were on six month tenancy agreements, at which point we agreed with the landlord a 12 month agreement.
Stupidly, we signed our lives away without properly scouring the document, or passing it to a solicitor to check over. Basically, nowhere in the agreement is there a break clause.
When we decided to buy, back in February we notified the managing agent of our intention to move on, and knowing that we were locked into a twelve month agreement requested that she get permission from the landlords to break the tenancy agreement. This was agreed upon condition that we pay for the advertising of the property to find new tenants, which we had no problem with. We expected that viewings would begin shortly after agreeing this.
With our completion looming, we've to date had a mere 3 viewings (which started mid-April), and we don't believe that the managing agent is taking sufficient action to try and find a tenant. Given that we're paying for this, we last week sent a written notice to quit on the 31st of May. In this notice we also advised that we would not be held responsible for the letting agents progress (or lack thereof!), and as a result we would be not held liable for rent after this date.
The managing agent was less than pleased with this, threating legal action through the landlords insurers.
After this long winded post, my question is : In our circumstances, given that we have actually given three months notice, and that the agreement has no break clause at all, will we be liable for rent? Also, what rights do we have pertaining to the lack of a break clause? We feel that we have given *more* than enough notice for our landlord/managing agent to find new tenants, and tbh we're now feeling pretty aggrieved at the threat of legal action!
Many thanks,
Apop.
My fiance and I have been renting our current property for about 18 months now, but recently decided to buy, mainly for financial reasons.At one point we were sharing with another tenant, who left recently, leaving us to make up the shortfall in rent. Up until November last we were on six month tenancy agreements, at which point we agreed with the landlord a 12 month agreement.
Stupidly, we signed our lives away without properly scouring the document, or passing it to a solicitor to check over. Basically, nowhere in the agreement is there a break clause.
When we decided to buy, back in February we notified the managing agent of our intention to move on, and knowing that we were locked into a twelve month agreement requested that she get permission from the landlords to break the tenancy agreement. This was agreed upon condition that we pay for the advertising of the property to find new tenants, which we had no problem with. We expected that viewings would begin shortly after agreeing this.
With our completion looming, we've to date had a mere 3 viewings (which started mid-April), and we don't believe that the managing agent is taking sufficient action to try and find a tenant. Given that we're paying for this, we last week sent a written notice to quit on the 31st of May. In this notice we also advised that we would not be held responsible for the letting agents progress (or lack thereof!), and as a result we would be not held liable for rent after this date.
The managing agent was less than pleased with this, threating legal action through the landlords insurers.
After this long winded post, my question is : In our circumstances, given that we have actually given three months notice, and that the agreement has no break clause at all, will we be liable for rent? Also, what rights do we have pertaining to the lack of a break clause? We feel that we have given *more* than enough notice for our landlord/managing agent to find new tenants, and tbh we're now feeling pretty aggrieved at the threat of legal action!
Many thanks,
Apop.