Breaking a 12 month Lease?

_Chaos

Hey there,
Myself and two other students are renting an apartment in Chapelizod, and as part of renting, we were asked to sign a contract (along with giving a reference, a copy of our passports/driving licenses, and a letter from the college saying we will be attending in Sept).

Now, the letting agent is less than co-operative. Being students, when viewing, we stated we would need a 9month lease. She said that's alright, so we paid the booking fee (€300 total) and that was grand.
Today we went to sign the contract, in which it stated a 12 month lease. None of us were happy about this, as we don't know much about it being students, but the letting agent said that after we have been living there for 6 months, we can legally give a months notice in writing and we are free to break the lease. (She mentioned that it was part of some Act of 2004, but I can't remember which one!?) Can anyone confirm this for us?!

The other thing is, only my name and the other girl's name is on the lease, even though there's another guy living there. He did not have to sign any of the papers or anything?
When we mentioned this, she said she could amend it later....but would she not still need his signature?! Also, I mentioned when she was changing that, could she not just put it as a 9 months lease- to which she answered the landlord thinks it's a 12 months lease, and if she changes it, 'things will just get messy'.....so this leads me to believe that she won't be adding in his name either....

Throughout the whole meeting myself and the other two tenants were incredibly uncomfortable, and coming out of the place, we all felt pushed into signing the contract and she wasn't very helpful. Advise anyone?! The letting agency we are dealing with is MTS in Rathgar.

Victor

Questions:

1. Are the three of you a group that approached the landlord / agent?
2. Have you signed?
3. What are the terms of the booking deposit?

You've paid a booking deposit. You risk losing this if you pull out.

If the general agreement is that the three of you are renting the property, then all three should be on the lease.

The landlord is pffering the property for a year. You should never have asked to look at the place if it is only available for a year.

If you leave part way through the year, you can assign the lease to someone else, but you may be stuck for covering part of the rent.

_Chaos

1. Are the three of you a group that approached the landlord / agent?
Yes, there is 3 of us, all students

2. Have you signed?
Yes, we all signed reluctantly today....apart from the boy (who doesn't seem to be on the lease at all apart from being set up for the gas/esb bill?)

3. What are the terms of the booking deposit?
We each paid €100, and this is part of my security deposit. I have not paid yet, we were asked to do this tomorrow, so it's a months rent (€350) + deposit (€350), but since we already paid €100 each, it's just €600 we have to pay.


The ad for the place didn't state a lease. When viewing, the agent reassured us a 9 month contract would be drawn up.

When you say 'but you may be stuck for covering part of the rent.', what do you mean? How much? Does this usually happen?
I have read something about me having to find other tenants, but would the lease not just be signed over to them, then I'm off the hook?
(I apologize if I'm getting this all mixed up, I didn't do business, and have no previous experience of this kinda thing!)

Victor

_Chaos wrote: »

When you say 'but you may be stuck for covering part of the rent.', what do you mean? How much? Does this usually happen? I have read something about me having to find other tenants, but would the lease not just be signed over to them, then I'm off the hook?

When the future tenant comes to rent the place, they may not be willing to pay as much and/or you might have difficulty finding anyone at all.

There is generally a surplus of property around colleges during the summer, although it was not so obvious during the boom years when it was being used by foreign students working here.

ryan84

That seems a bit dodgy to me. Personally I would be finding somewhere else. I would not sign a contract saying that I will stay somewhere for 12months when I know I will only stay for 9. And if there are problems when you are trying to leave then it is only going to affect the two of you and not the boy. Definitely not good.

_Chaos

Victor wrote: »

Questions:

1. Are the three of you a group that approached the landlord / agent?
2. Have you signed?
3. What are the terms of the booking deposit?

You've paid a booking deposit. You risk losing this if you pull out.

If the general agreement is that the three of you are renting the property, then all three should be on the lease.

The landlord is pffering the property for a year. You should never have asked to look at the place if it is only available for a year.

If you leave part way through the year, you can assign the lease to someone else, but you may be stuck for covering part of the rent.

Okay, well I guess I can't go back now, but IS there something about giving a month's notice in writing and still getting our deposits back? This is what the letting agent has lead us to believe

Ray Palmer

Never trust a person you don't know who says they are lying to somebody else for your benefit. They are lying to the LL or you but the LL is paying them as such. Who would you lie to?
You signed a year lease you will be held to it. It doesn't matter what was said.

xper

_Chaos wrote: »

... the letting agent said that after we have been living there for 6 months, we can legally give a months notice in writing and we are free to break the lease. (She mentioned that it was part of some Act of 2004, but I can't remember which one!?) Can anyone confirm this for us?!

The agent was talking bollocks. She either deliberatly lied to get you to sign the lease and close the deal or she doesn't know the basics of her job (I know which one my money is on). The act she referred to is the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 but it does not grant you the right which she said it does. You have signed what is known as a Fixed Term Lease (which is a perfectly normal and most common way of commencing a tenancy). You have contracted with the agent/landlord to pay rent for your tenancy for tweleve months. Unless there is a specific clause in the lease you signed which explicitly states that you may leave the tenancy before the twelve months is up by giving x days notice, then you cannot legally do so (Some fixed term leases do have such clauses but most don't as it kind of misses the point of ensuring income for the landlord).

In nine months time, you could of course just up sticks and leave but you'd wave goodbye to your deposit and they would be within their legal rights to chase you for further rent outstanding for the remainder of the lease term if you haven't found another tenant to replace you as suggested but that is not easy.

I suppose it is just possible that she really doesn't know her job and will accept a months notice from you before the lease is finished and not look for the rest of the rent or just do it as 'the decent thing' but I wouldn't bet on that - its far more likely that she'll deny saying what she said to you and hold you to the lease terms.

Anyway, what's done is done. You've signed the contract so you'll have to live with it. Hard lesson learned. Look after the premises, don't give the agent/landlord any excuse to think of you as difficult tenants - it might just stand to you when time comes to leave and this all gets down to the nitty-gritty. In the meantime, enjoy your time at college. Who knows, maybe in nine months time, you'll want to spend the summer in Dublin!

Oh, and here's your first bit of homework:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/tenants_rights_and_obligations.html

_Chaos

xper wrote: »

The agent was talking bollocks. She either deliberatly lied to get you to sign the lease and close the deal or she doesn't know the basics of her job (I know which one my money is on). The act she referred to is the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 but it does not grant you the right which she said it does. You have signed what is known as a Fixed Term Lease (which is a perfectly normal and most common way of commencing a tenancy). You have contracted with the agent/landlord to pay rent for your tenancy for tweleve months. Unless there is a specific clause in the lease you signed which explicitly states that you may leave the tenancy before the twelve months is up by giving x days notice, then you cannot legally do so (Some fixed term leases do have such clauses but most don't as it kind of misses the point of ensuring income for the landlord).

In nine months time, you could of course just up sticks and leave but you'd wave goodbye to your deposit and they would be within their legal rights to chase you for further rent outstanding for the remainder of the lease term if you haven't found another tenant to replace you as suggested but that is not easy.

I suppose it is just possible that she really doesn't know her job and will accept a months notice from you before the lease is finished and not look for the rest of the rent or just do it as 'the decent thing' but I wouldn't bet on that - its far more likely that she'll deny saying what she said to you and hold you to the lease terms.

Anyway, what's done is done. You've signed the contract so you'll have to live with it. Hard lesson learned. Look after the premises, don't give the agent/landlord any excuse to think of you as difficult tenants - it might just stand to you when time comes to leave and this all gets down to the nitty-gritty. In the meantime, enjoy your time at college. Who knows, maybe in nine months time, you'll want to spend the summer in Dublin!

Oh, and here's your first bit of homework:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/tenants_rights_and_obligations.html

Thank you SO much xper! Previous to this, she stud us up 3times for viewing the apartment, so I doubt she's gonna do us any favors!
Yes, it's not the end of the world!
Thank you for replying