Breaking lease early? Legal consequences?

Cilar

I'm on a 6-month lease - signed last week, paid deposit and first month. Due to unexpected change of circumstances over the weekend, I will not be able to honor the contract (long story short, I was bidding to buy the apt I was currently renting, and the seller accepted my new offer after rejecting it 3 days before...).

Am I locked in a 6-month contract? My understanding is that I would lose the deposit and first month (what I've paid so far), which is probably fair... (and probably good money for the agent/landlord given that I've not moved there yet).

Rang the estate agent today, and he mentioned I'm locked at this point given that I've signed the contract (so I would have to pay for 6 months). Looking at citizeninformation on tenant rights, I do not believe the agent is telling the truth (citizeninformation is just mentioning I would lose the deposit). Any advice? Any exposed legally if I break the lease? Thanks.

NewBeefFarmer

lol. . . been in this position before. . .

you ring up there now and say, hours cut at work and cant afford for petrol, never mind house esb tv etc. . .

ill pay the legal costs if they follow you. . .

jlm29

They're right. You signed, they're entitled to the 6 months rent, unless you can reassign the lease, or come to another agreement with the landlord/letting agent.

NewBeefFarmer

think about it, suppose you own the house. . .

are you going to start looking for 5 months rent down the legal route. .

jlm29

The op asked about the legal consequences, and said they thought the letting agent was misleading her. I was just putting them straight. Obviously, I don't know what will actually happen.
If the op tries to reassign the lease, she could get her deposit back and not be out of pocket at all.

djimi

jlm29 wrote: »

They're right. You signed, they're entitled to the 6 months rent, unless you can reassign the lease, or come to another agreement with the landlord/letting agent.

They also have to move to mitigate their financial loss quickly. Seeing as how the OP has already paid up for the first month and still has three weeks left of said month, Id say the landlord would have a hard time claiming much from the deposit beyond the amount left from the first month paid unless they live in an absolutely dire rental area.

Cilar

Thanks, jlm29 is right, but in addition, I can also legally get out of the contract if the landlord refuse to let me sub-let or reassign the lease.

http://www.prtb.ie/dispute-resolution/disputes/terminating-a-fixed-term-tenancy