Updating post from Reddit.
I have made a request to my landlord to end my tenancy agreement early ( due to end at the end of October), and my landlord agreed to do it, but I need to pay the relisting fee of around £800.
I agreed as i understand it would be easy for her just to say no, but the £800 fee is the incentive as it saves her needing to pay it herself in October when the tenancy ends. Assuming we find a new tenant before the end of September, I’ve also benefitted financially too.
From a landlords perspective, is this a fair deal both ways? Also if you’ve agreed to end a tenancy early, what did you request to make it work?
EDIT: I forgot to add, but I also need to continue paying rent until a new tenant is found. I imagine this will be very fast though.
I’ve agreed to it once. I didn’t ask for the listing fee but they did offer. It wasn’t anything like 800 quid - I think it was 60? So I declined to take their money.
Yes the agreement you have came to seems fair. There’s a bit of hassle from the landlords POV to be interviewing tenants but TBH it’s not always roses and passive so things like that have never bothered me.
But £800 … that’s some listing fee
Sounds like you’re a very reasonable person. She said to her this is a business transaction, so it needs to make sense for her financially. I do need to pay rent until a new tenant is found too, so I hope it’s soon.
Sure it does, but she is also a landlord. She can try and fob off any fees she feels like. Whether they are valid is a different issue.
You are on the hook for the contract length. It's worth asking if you can promote the room to find a new tenant to take over, don't rely on her. She has no incentive to sort you out.
If you get a new tenant in place and she still then tries to charge you that much then come back to check whether it's reasonable.
Does the listing fee definitely 100% fully release you from the tenancy?
Or is it just to try and find a replacement tenant?
No, I still need to pay rent until a new tenant is found.
Then the deal is pointless. Don’t do it. Why be £800 + a few months rent down?! They are trying to rip you off.
It would pay off if a new tenant can be in by the end of September, as it would save me 1 months rent of £1250, plus council tax and bills. Hopefully it could be even sooner than that.
If the LL doesnt act and sort a new tenant, leaving OP on the hook for the full tenancy, then this fee must be refunded.
Personally I would agree to let a tenant leave early as long as they gave reasonable notice. But I rent in London and my rents are reasonable so finding new tenants is very easy - usually takes 2 weeks max. £800 “relisting” fee is outrageous - open rent is less than £100 and that gets you on to Zoopla and Rightmove. This is the kind of thing that gets landlords a bad name sadly.
The £800 goes to the letting agent. There is no incentive. I am sure the landlord is being flexible as nothing worse than having a tenant that doesn’t want to stay.
We let the last tenant go on reasonable terms. She was an older lady who was buying a house.
My own mother has been in a similar position with a scammy agent, so we agreed the right thing to do was to refund rent and full deposit to the day the keys came back with flexibility. There were a few issues that we picked up on, as she'd paid around £150k over 12 years, we decided to let them go as we needed to redecorate anyway.
I own the company that manages the property (plus own 25% of the property, shared with 3 other family members), so no fees in any event as under a strict reading of the law, I would deem that an unfair fee.
We advertised it on Openrent and a local Facebook group about 2 weeks after having the keys back, we had a 4 hour open viewing block the following Saturday and the property was let late the following week following references. That was 4 years ago, the family we let to are still there and likely to stay 10+ more years before we are likely to repeat the above process.
£800 is steep for marketing but it sounds like theyre actually including the whole tenant find fee, referencing etc. which normally through an agent is around amonths rent. So with that in mind, its a fair amount.
I wouldnt be cheap over this as it sounds like your LL will indeed act quickly and of course the whole point of this additional fee is to release you early so yes you should see a good couple of months benefit. Turn round for a new tenant should be in a couple of weeks, not months. If indeed they dont act and you find youre still on the hook for the full tenancy, then this fee must be refunded to you. They cant just add £800 to your contract for shits and giggles.
I think youll be OK OP and as its just 60% of your monthly rent, falls withing a very reasonable compromise between you both.