UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi there, Desperately looking for some advice.

Currently 3 months into a 6 month fixed term tenancy,

I was offered a job in my home town which would mean leaving the tenancy early, this was discussed with my partner at the time as we have a joint tenancy agreement. We agreed the best course of action was to contact the estate agency/ landlord and see if we could get agreement from the landlord to end the tenancy early.

Shortly after this discussion, whilst in work I recieved a text from my partner to say that he had left me and had moved out of the property all whilst I was in work , I asked him if he had sorted things out with the landlord and he said yes. I am still looking to move out of the property myself within the month and whilst the landlord has agreed, it looks as though we are still liable to pay rent until the end of the fixed term as my ex partner did not get this in writing.

Financially I am unable to pay the full rent on my own and I hope that he will agree to pay half with me until the end of the term, however due to his flaky nature I dont believe he will be forthcoming in paying half of the rent even though he is also liable. I have no address for him and his phone number appears to have been cut off.

I am really going to struggle to pay this rent on my own and am unsure what I can do to ensure that he also takes responsibility for the payments.

This has been such a distressing experience and any advice would be greatly appreciated, Im desperate.

Thank you 🙂

It sounds like your ex was an honorary member of the Cambridge University Netball Team, so you're well shot of him, for a start!

Speak to your landlord: he's probably a human being, and the sooner he knows, the sooner he can get to work on finding new tenants. In law, he can't just sit back and leave the place empty whilst he recovers the full rent from you. He must mitigate his loss, which means he must make reasonable efforts to re-let the place and you should only be liable for the rent until the place is re-let, plus any reasonable costs incurred as a result of having to market the place sooner than he otherwise would have done. You can be a big help with that, by being flexible with regard to viewings and making sure the place is looking clean, tidy and attractive. If you happen to know of anybody who's looking for a place, then by all means mention them, although your landlord is under no obligation to take them on.

I assume you'll have paid a security deposit at the start of the tenancy, which should be in a protection scheme somewhere. If you've looked after the property so that there are minimal deductions for damage, whatever is left may well be enough to cover the remaining rent until the property is re-let, especially if it's the sort of place that rents quite easily.