Breaking lease

sn

Hello everyone,

I have a fixed term lease with my current landlord.
I have to leave the country as i will have to temporarily(long-term) work overseas.
I would like to know if i break the lease for the current property am i obliged to pay the remaining months' rent as well along with the risk of loosing the deposit?

Please advice!

silja

Yes, unless you can sublet the home, ie find a new tenant.

convert

Is there a clause in your lease with provisions as to what happens if you need to break the lease? If so, then this is what to expect. If there isn't, you can, at worst, expect to lose your deposit as well as pay the remaining months' rent.

As silja mentioned, perhaps your landlord would be willing to accept a tenant to replace you in the house/apartment, if you find one, but I don't think they have to accept that option.

sesna

A tenant can also avail of section 186 of the Residential Tenancies Act to end a fixed term lease where the landlord refuses their wish to assign the lease to somebody else.

If a tenant wants to end a fixed-term tenancy early, they should inform the landlord in writing of their wish to the lease. Where the landlord refuses to give his or her consent, the tenant is entitled to serve a notice of termination.

You would also be entitled to your deposit back.

sn

thanks evryone for your valuable replies....

there isnt anything mentioned in my contract about breaking of the lease.
However,the start of the contract states that the tenancy follows "Residential tenancy act 2004"..i guess what Sesna is referring here about section 186 holds true in my case..
I really hope that he doesnt ask me to find a nother tenant for him..because he was very careful about letting the apartment out to the right people....

if he doesnt does that mean that i can terminate the contract by getting my deposit back?And i guess i only need to serve my landlord 35 days notice and i dont have to pay the remaining months' rent too?Sorry to be a bit more specific here...as i am really concerned about this...

Thanks again!

sn

Thanks for the advice.
I will be letting my landlord know about my plans and see what he has got to say.He is a nice old lad and hope he will understand my situation as i am leaving the country..Worst case i dont mind loosing the deposit....as paying off the rent would be too difficult for me...
I had a look at my tenancy agreement and it says BREAK CLAUSE - 'NONE'...so i have a feeling that i am safe here...

sn

Sorry its me again...

I should have specified more clearly...my agreement says

BREAK CLAUSE OPTION - NONE

So i guess it means that under no circumstances i can leave the tenancy?

J-blk

sn wrote: »

Sorry its me again...

I should have specified more clearly...my agreement says

BREAK CLAUSE OPTION - NONE

So i guess it means that under no circumstances i can leave the tenancy?

Yes, that's what it means and it's pretty standard though a lot of people now tend to negotiate break clauses along with rent reductions (e.g. I can break my lease at the 6 month point or any time after).

Most landlords will accept a replacement tenant if you can find one for them, but they are not obliged to. AFAIK, if they are not happy with the tenant(s) you suggest, that still does not give you the right to just break the lease which Sesna seems to suggest, but I may be wrong on this so it might be worth your while looking into further.

Failing replacement tenants, you are liable for the rest of the rent for the remaining term on the lease and the landlord can pursue you for it. In the "boom" days this never, ever happened since it was easy to replace tenants leaving (though you would lose your deposit anyway) but it could be more of an issue now.

my men were in that chopper

http://www.threshold.ie/page.asp?menu=70&page=256


What happens if there is a fixed term lease in place?
A tenant cannot avail of the notice periods where they are bound by a fixed term lease which they signed. They can, however, end the tenancy where the landlord is in breach of an obligation and where they have written to the landlord regarding the breach and giving the landlord an opportunity to rectify the position.

A tenant can also avail of section 186 of the Residential Tenancies Act to end a fixed term lease where the landlord refuses their wish to assign the lease to somebody else.

If a tenant wants to end of fixed-term tenancy early, they should inform the landlord in writing of their wish to assign or sublet the lease. Where the landlord refuses to give his or her consent, the tenant is entitled to serve a Notice of Termination.

The length of notice is determined by duration of the tenancy (see the Table above) and the Notice should correspond to the example Notice of Termination provided above.

The tenant is entitled to the return of their deposit if they take these steps.

OS119

J-blk wrote: »

Failing replacement tenants, you are liable for the rest of the rent for the remaining term on the lease and the landlord can pursue you for it. In the "boom" days this never, ever happened since it was easy to replace tenants leaving (though you would lose your deposit anyway) but it could be more of an issue now.

OP, given that you are moving overseas, do you really expect your landlord to persue you?

if you don't have a break clause you can expect to lose your deposit - you are breaking the contract, and your LL has to go through the aggro of finding a new tenent and waiting for them to start paying rent, so its fair that you should dip your hand in your pocket to make good his reasonable expences. however, any talk of either you being forced to hand over cash to cover the remainder of the tenancy, or him chasing you for the cash when you're away - or even upon your return - is way OTT.

it just doesn't happen - give him as much notice as possible so he has a chance to get a new tennent in as soon as you leave, and then just walk away. if you think he'll get a bit narky then just make sure you aren't to specific about where you're moving to, and to get all your mail re-directed to a friend or relative.

there are lots of potential tenents out there, if he can't get one he's charging too much - and thats his problem, not yours.

Fol20

I thought the landlord would have the right to choose if a tenant is acceptable or not.Ie if i were a landlord i wouldnt want agro from a dodgy tenant.The way you make it seem is that if you hand up any person and they dont accept them as the replacement tenant,you can terminate the contract.

Second Chance

J-blk wrote: »

Yes, that's what it means and it's pretty standard though a lot of people now tend to negotiate break clauses along with rent reductions (e.g. I can break my lease at the 6 month point or any time after).

Most landlords will accept a replacement tenant if you can find one for them, but they are not obliged to. AFAIK, if they are not happy with the tenant(s) you suggest, that still does not give you the right to just break the lease which Sesna seems to suggest, but I may be wrong on this so it might be worth your while looking into further.

Failing replacement tenants, you are liable for the rest of the rent for the remaining term on the lease and the landlord can pursue you for it. In the "boom" days this never, ever happened since it was easy to replace tenants leaving (though you would lose your deposit anyway) but it could be more of an issue now.

Entirely wrong. You can break a fixed term lease handy enough.

http://irishlandlord.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1212

sn

Thanks to evrryone for the extensive information...

I will anyways come to know very soon when i will be moving from ireland..most likely it will be by November...So as OS119 said i will give him close to 2 months notice period ...maybe on the grounds that i gave him more than enough notice period he might give me a fair deal by not asking me to pay the rent and even return me the deposit...
I also rang the PRTB to enquire about this and they adviced me the same too to find a nother tenant...but i am actually very sure that my LL wont agree to this...

I hope all ends well....

I will definitely reply to this thread to let you guys know how it went along alhough it may take a few weeks :P ...I guess others in similiar situation would really raring to know how it went along :P

thanks again everyone

Regards

J-blk

Second Chance wrote: »

Entirely wrong. You can break a fixed term lease handy enough.

http://irishlandlord.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1212

I said in my original post that I was not sure about being able to break the lease:

J-blk wrote: »

I may be wrong on this so it might be worth your while looking into further.

So thanks for clarifying. Seems pretty unfair to landlords really (and I'm saying that as a tenant) but there are some pretty odd laws out there...

Osgoodisgood

OS119 wrote: »

OP, given that you are moving overseas, do you really expect your landlord to persue you?

He probably won't. Which is a shame, what with breaking the contract and leaving himself open for prosecution.

if you don't have a break clause you can expect to lose your deposit - you are breaking the contract, and your LL has to go through the aggro of finding a new tenent and waiting for them to start paying rent, so its fair that you should dip your hand in your pocket to make good his reasonable expences.

No, what would be fair is the tenant meeting his contractual responsibilities.

however, any talk of either you being forced to hand over cash to cover the remainder of the tenancy, or him chasing you for the cash when you're away - or even upon your return - is way OTT.

No it is exactly what you should expect. The landlord appears to have met his obligations and the tenant needs to meet his. Changing the terms of the contract by running away would seem to be a poor option and the landlord would be entitled to persue the outstanding money using the limited means at his disposal.

it just doesn't happen - give him as much notice as possible so he has a chance to get a new tennent in as soon as you leave, and then just walk away. if you think he'll get a bit narky then just make sure you aren't to specific about where you're moving to, and to get all your mail re-directed to a friend or relative.

Excellent advice Moriarty.

there are lots of potential tenents out there, if he can't get one he's charging too much - and thats his problem, not yours.

The tenant signed the contract so it seems safe to assume that at one point it represented good value. And that's the tenant's problem. The tenant entered into a business relationship with a landlord and signed a binding contract to that effect. If the tenant wished to have an arrangement whereby he could come and go as he pleased to meet his changing lifestyle without impacting his financial obligations to the supplier of his house he probably should have stayed with Mammy.

the_syco

OS119 wrote: »

if you think he'll get a bit narky then just make sure you aren't to specific about where you're moving to, and to get all your mail re-directed to a friend or relative.

There's an An Post package, that for X a month, they'll reroute your mail to a different address. If you think your LL may "forget" to forward on the mail, look into this.

OS119

Osgoodisgood wrote: »

....and leaving himself open for prosecution....

are you on crack or something?

the OP will, however much you don't like it, face no adverse consequences whatsoever (apart from losing his deposit) for legging it halfway through the lease.

he won't get taken to court, he won't be forced to pay out the rest of his contract even if he chooses not to live there, he won't be stoned in the street or transported to the New World for his actions. like it or not, the law, and wider society, won't give the slightest crap that the OP is breaking his contract.

his landlord will just have to get over it - as will any other landlord - the trick here is to make the process as fair as possible within that context, and we do that by giving the landlord as much notice as possible, possibly telling a little white lie - like that the OP is being made redundant and so won't be able to pay his rent anyway - and the OP accepting that his deposit is the price to pay for breaking the contract.

coz, well that is what its for...

if the OP were less fastidious about the aggro he's going to cause his landlord he could just withold his rent for a month claiming some awful banking screw-up, and then leg it: deposit lost, but a months rent saved. fortunately he's not, so the landlord can either get out of a less than ideal situation as easily/cheaply as is possible, or he can fight it out and waste time, effort and money on something he can't change.

pooch90

OS119 wrote: »

are you on crack or something?

the OP will, however much you don't like it, face no adverse consequences whatsoever (apart from losing his deposit) for legging it halfway through the lease.

he won't get taken to court, he won't be forced to pay out the rest of his contract even if he chooses not to live there, he won't be stoned in the street or transported to the New World for his actions. like it or not, the law, and wider society, won't give the slightest crap that the OP is breaking his contract.

his landlord will just have to get over it - as will any other landlord - the trick here is to make the process as fair as possible within that context, and we do that by giving the landlord as much notice as possible, possibly telling a little white lie - like that the OP is being made redundant and so won't be able to pay his rent anyway - and the OP accepting that his deposit is the price to pay for breaking the contract.

coz, well that is what its for...

if the OP were less fastidious about the aggro he's going to cause his landlord he could just withold his rent for a month claiming some awful banking screw-up, and then leg it: deposit lost, but a months rent saved. fortunately he's not, so the landlord can either get out of a less than ideal situation as easily/cheaply as is possible, or he can fight it out and waste time, effort and money on something he can't change.

If he finds someone to takeover the lease then he'll get his deposit back so that is exactly what he should do.
If the ll is unhappy, then he can terminate the lease (with 30 days notice)but will have to return deposit.

Otherwise talk to ll and he may turn out to be a decent bloke - just offer him a few quid for the hassle/advertising as you have to appreciate that the tenant is reneging on a legal contract and the ll is being decent enough to let him.

Osgoodisgood

OS119 wrote: »

are you on crack or something?


the OP will, however much you don't like it, face no adverse consequences whatsoever (apart from losing his deposit) for legging it halfway through the lease.

I'm sure you're right. The OP more than likely will face no penalty. That doesn't make it right of course.

he won't get taken to court, he won't be forced to pay out the rest of his contract even if he chooses not to live there, he won't be stoned in the street or transported to the New World for his actions. like it or not, the law, and wider society, won't give the slightest crap that the OP is breaking his contract.

Such is the utter disdain for landlords, both good and bad, in this country. If the landlord had acted with such disregard for the contract you'd have exactly the same view I assume?

his landlord will just have to get over it - as will any other landlord - the trick here is to make the process as fair as possible within that context, and we do that by giving the landlord as much notice as possible, possibly telling a little white lie - like that the OP is being made redundant and so won't be able to pay his rent anyway - and the OP accepting that his deposit is the price to pay for breaking the contract.

Your "tricks", puerile as they are, have nothing to do with "fairness" and everything to do with guilting the landlord into ignoring the specific terms of the contract and accepting a loss for which he was not responsible.

coz, well that is what its for...

No, it really isn't. When landlords attempt to use the deposit to defray lost rental through non-payment they get in trouble.

if the OP were less fastidious about the aggro he's going to cause his landlord he could just withold his rent for a month claiming some awful banking screw-up, and then leg it: deposit lost, but a months rent saved. fortunately he's not, so the landlord can either get out of a less than ideal situation as easily/cheaply as is possible, or he can fight it out and waste time, effort and money on something he can't change.

Charming. So tell me, what is the point of a rental contract?

OS119

Osgoodisgood wrote: »

Charming. So tell me, what is the point of a rental contract?

aspiration.

you understand the legal and societal context, and as a landlord you need to live with that business reality.

don't like it? don't be a landlord.

i am a landlord, i have long got used to the idea that i can be stiffed by a tenant and there will be no realistic chance of redress - so i make it my business to make it as easy as possible for the tenant to not stiff me.

most tenants are nice people who will avoid stiffing their landlord if they can avoid it - a landlord who attempts to force something that the tenant doesn't like (regardless of what the contract says or what the law theoretically says) is likely to end up footing a large bill.

its crap, its not like 'real' business, but if being a landlord is how you earn your money, or how you get your mortgage paid, or how you put money in your pension pot you need to used to it and operate within those contraints.