Our landlord has decided he prefers our house to his, therefore he is moving in after our last contract expires. Very nice of him eh ?

Any way, my question is, now that he has stated this, are we still bound by the contract to stay in the property until the end of the contract (1st March) or can we leave as soon as we find a replacement ?

Thanks

Stu

I would ask him whether he is willing to terminate the contract. If you have a contract until March and are happy to stay there then I think there is not a lot he could do otherwise he is in breach of that contract. What suits you?

which state are you in? I'd look on the internet for something like the tenants union or consumer affairs then give them a call. That's of course if you ask your landlord if you can move early. never know he might be happy with you moving early so he can have his house

You can break the lease if in agreement with the landlord and agents, we are doing the same thing as the house we rent has been sold and we have found somewhere else to move to so once the sale has gone through and a moving date has been set we are moving on - you also have a legal right to stay in the property until the ned of your lease.

Thanks for the comments guys.
The lease runs till March, but my concern was that if we found somewhere before March we might have trouble securing it.
My hope is that we find somewhere and manage to move in before then.
We love the house we are moving from, we were happy to staty there indefinately, but hey ho, i guess thats the risk of renting. You are only secure as the length of your contract

Stu

We were in the exact same situation two years ago. Infact, the owners had the nerve to ask us to move out early, just 6 weeks before xmas and our contract did not run out until the February. Anyway, we said no and then got burgled days later. It was all quite dreadful. We went out for two hours one afternoon and they gutted the place.
In my opinion, if these people want their home back early, they should offer you a cash incentive.

Our Landlord is not requesting the house back early, just not renewing. My question is, if we should find a replacement home before the end of the contract can we leave without penalty now that he has told us his intentions ?

Stu

NO.

No you can't leave early without penalty, you have a contract to stay until it expires, he infact has given you plenty of notice when he didn't really need to. If you intended to leave at the end of the contract would you have given more than 3 months notice, I don't think so..

Apologies if i have come accross as if i want to terminate early, this is not the case.

What i mean is, it is in our intentions to find a property of at least the same standard as we currently live in.
We will begin looking in the new year.
If we were to find somewhere early on, and it is available straight away, and potentially you could lose it if you dont have that flexibility. Is it normal to be able to terminate a contract early, bearing in mind that the landlord started the process ?

If this is not the case then that would mean that we would be required to wait until the end of the contract and run the risk of not finding the type of property that we feel comfortable with

Stu

Hi Stu

Legally both you and the landlord should honour the contract through to the end if that is what you both wish. However, it sounds like the landlord is keen to move back to the house, so he might be prepared to allow you to terminate your contract early if you find an alternative rental to go to before March. I would contact him and ask him if he would do this, without penalising you. If he is happy to release you early, make sure this is stated in writing so that he can't suddenly change his mind and hold you to the contract and you find yourself paying for 2 rentals.

Hope that helps

Love

Rudi
x

We are in a very similar situation and are leaving a month early - both parties are in agreement but I did worry for some time about whether we'd be penalised.

There is an interesting ethical question here. He says that you have to leave at the end of your contract, which is, ostensibly, fair. But trying to find a rental which begins the day after your contract expires on your current place is virtually an impossibility.
Moreover, if you find a rental today, who will take on the lease for one month - or a few weeks - until the landlord wants the house back? Would it be reasonable to expect you to find a tenant who would be willing to rent the house for a month?

In this situation, although you would, legally, be breaking the terms of the contract, it is an unfair expectation for you to find replacements and everything is highly skewed towards the landlord - he determines that you can no longer live in the house but you have to stay in the house until the minute that the contract releases you.

A fairer system would be: if the landlord makes it plain that the house will no longer be tenanted after the current tenant leaves, then the current tenant is able to leave at any time within, say, the last two months of the contract.

In practical terms, good blokes will see your point and negotiate.

Robbing bastards, of course, will steal the shirt from your back and see you and the kids homeless.