Tenant breaking fixed term lease for good reason. I need help!

Hairdo

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I have lost my job and am applying for rent allowance. The landlord will accept it but the rent is above the limit set by social welfare. The agent is asking the landlord to lower the rent so I can avail of the rent allowance but I don't think he will do that. I have paid up to date but it was difficult and I won't be able to keep that up.

I have told the agent that if he won't lower it I will not be able to afford the rent so will have to move, even though I would like to stay. She said that because I signed a lease for 12 months I am liable for the remaining 8 months. They will follow me for it. But I don't have this money either. Also I'm very worried as in my lease, it states that any cost incurred in any legal proceedings would be my expense.

I have been speaking to Citizens Advice and Threshold and they advised me to ask to reassign or sublet. The problem is in the lease it also states that I cannot assign or sublet so I think I may have signed away my option to do this also, even though legally I am allowed to do this. Can this clause in the lease prevent me from taking this action?

Also, on the Citizens Advice website it says you can terminate a fixed lease for "good reason", but doesn't give any indication of what "good reason" is. Would losing your job and not being able to afford the rent be good enough reason?
Please can anyone offer any advice on this matter as I feel I'm quickly running out of options!
 
You are entitled to terminate your tenancy by giving the landlord adequate notice. You will not be liable for the additional 8 months.
28 days notice is sufficient if you have been there for less than 6 months.
Please see the PTRB website for more details. http://www.prtb.ie/
The PTRB can also be of assistance if there is a dispute between you and the landlord, but hopefully that won't arise.

Rental contracts can be scary to read, but please note disputes between landlords and tenants are now settled by the PTRB and not the courts.

Realistically I wouldn't expect the Landlord to lower the rent, especially with rents rising in general.
Is it possible for you to top up the rent allowance so as to make up your normal rent payment?
 
You are entitled to terminate your tenancy by giving the landlord adequate notice. You will not be liable for the additional 8 months.
28 days notice is sufficient if you have been there for less than 6 months.

Please see the PTRB website for more details. http://www.prtb.ie/
The PTRB can also be of assistance if there is a dispute between you and the landlord, but hopefully that won't arise.

Rental contracts can be scary to read, but please note disputes between landlords and tenants are now settled by the PTRB and not the courts.

Realistically I wouldn't expect the Landlord to lower the rent, especially with rents rising in general.
Is it possible for you to top up the rent allowance so as to make up your normal rent payment?

The OP stated that s/he has a fixed term lease:
She said that because I signed a lease for 12 months

Therefore, s/he cannot give notice, unless there is a break clause. A fixed term is, as it says on the label, for a specific period, in this case, 12 months. You are quoting for either a Periodic tenancy or a Part 4 tenancy laws.

The OP's best option is for an assignment. If s/he sublets, s/he still has to pay the landlord the rent.

However, the OP has not stated if s/he has a spare room available in the property, in which case s/he may be able to rent out that room to a lodger/licensee, with the agreement of the landlord.
 
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why did you sign a 12 month con tract if you cant afford it???

seems to me that you've made your bed and should sleep in it (harsh as it may seem)
 
why did you sign a 12 month con tract if you cant afford it???

seems to me that you've made your bed and should sleep in it (harsh as it may seem)

This is indeed very harsh and there is really no need for it. The OP clearly states he is after losing his job, how was he to know that when he signed the lease? Maybe you should read before you dish out your criticism.

It's bad enough to lose the security of one's job but to lose the security of his home down on top of it must be a very stressful experience. OP your best best is to try and get a cheaper place landlords can't discriminate against those on RA anymore though I am sure many will continue to do all the same.
 
why did you sign a 12 month con tract if you cant afford it???

seems to me that you've made your bed and should sleep in it (harsh as it may seem)

If the OP cannot afford the rent then there is nothing a landlord can do, lease or no lease. In any case if a tenant leaves as far as I know in Ireland a landlord is obliged to get in a new tenant as soon as possible so maybe the OP would lose a couple of weeks rent, alernatively a new tenant can be found by OP.

Any landlord who losess a tenant will be on the ball immediately with an ad in daft. And will just chalk this loss off to the normal experience of all landlords.
 
Is it possible for you to top up the rent allowance so as to make up your normal rent payment?


No no no no.

1. It's not allowed by social welfare
2. Landlord would have to falsify SW form
3. Makes everything underhand
4. Mess of one rent on SW form, different rent on PRTB and potentially explaining all of that to revenue
5. Landlord in trouble as now tenant will have a new lease with a rent that is lower than real rent.

Solutions:
1. Landlord reduces rent
or
2. Tenant leaves and landlord sorts it out by getting new tenant
 
I have told the agent that if he won't lower it I will not be able to afford the rent so will have to move, even though I would like to stay. She said that because I signed a lease for 12 months I am liable for the remaining 8 months. They will follow me for it. But I don't have this money either. Also I'm very worried as in my lease, it states that any cost incurred in any legal proceedings would be my expense.

I have been speaking to Citizens Advice and Threshold and they advised me to ask to reassign or sublet.

I''m surprised neither CA or Threshold were of much help to you. And I honestly laugh at the suggestion you find a new tenant. 99.9 % of landlords will prefer to find their own tenants.

Firslty you need to stop being worried, you've explained the situation to the EA and she's just doing her job explaining the legal implications, but in reality she knows if you are genuinely, which you are, on the dole then there is nothing they can do. No way are they able to follow you for 8 months rent. (I don't even believe that due to the obligation to re let on landlords they would get this - and what landlord is going to leave a place empty for 8 months !) It's not worth them pursuing, tell the EA politely that you have no money and that you have no problem with her talking a case, which will be via the PRTB (hope landlord is registered) and work from there. It's not worth the time, hassle and cost of wasting time going to the PRTB if you are a landlord as every landlord on here will tell you. She's just trying it on with you.
 
OP your best best is to try and get a cheaper place landlords can't discriminate against those on RA anymore though I am sure many will continue to do all the same.

This post deserves a thread all of it's own. And what cost to all the landlords and tenants who now have to converse with each other to figure out the landlord is not taking RA. Total waste of time and phone calls cost. Total waste of time landlords now having to see so many people. And I note Alex White is 'mouthing' off this weekend on doing more. And the whole mess is not goign away, dying to see what nonsense he comes up with to solve it, when they wouldn't even solve the real issue which is lack of social housing and no no supply.
 
The OP clearly states he is after losing his job, how was he to know that when he signed the lease?

Dont sign the lease unless you have factored in the possibility of loosing your job and the effect that will have. You could say the same for any committment one makes. its unfortunate for the OP that he lost his job but he has signed a 12 mnth lease and that in itself brings the obligation to fulfill it come what may. This isnt a critisism of the OP in any way, I am not defending or attacking anyone just making a cold point.

If your logic is to hold then how can anyone ever sign a 12 mnth lease (in case they were to loose their job)...whats the point of having a 12 month lease?
 
admitedly none of this is helping the OP but I am maing a fair point.
 
If your logic is to hold then how can anyone ever sign a 12 mnth lease (in case they were to loose their job)...whats the point of having a 12 month lease?
I can only speak for the leases I've signed. They've allowed me to 'break' the lease after 28/30 days notice, leaving my deposit behind to cover the cost of re-letting.
 
I''m surprised neither CA or Threshold were of much help to you. And I honestly laugh at the suggestion you find a new tenant. 99.9 % of landlords will prefer to find their own tenants.
If neither CA nor Threshold were not of much help, it would seem to me that there is more to this story that they got and which we are not getting.

The law provides an option for a tenant (but not for a landlord) to extract himself from a fixed term lease. This is by either an assignment or a sub-let.

For either one, the tenant must first obtain permission from the landlord to do so. If permission is denied, they the tenant may walk away after serving the landlord with a notice of termination giving 28 days notice AND the tenant's deposit is returned in full (less any damage).

Once permission is given or an assignment, the ball is now in the hands of the tenant to find a suitable replacement tenant and pay any costs in doing so (advertising, legal etc.). The tenant is liable for the rent etc., until the replacement takes over all rights and obligations of the lease whereupon the original tenant is released from them.

A sub-let is a completely different matter. The tenant vacates the property and becomes a landlord in his own right. He finds a tenant and has a tenancy agreement with the new tenant. Thus, the new tenant pays his rent to the original tenant (now called the "head tenant") and in turn, the head tenant pays his rent to his landlord (usually the owner of the property).

Few tenants wanting to get out of a fixed term lease will want to have the problems of becoming a landlord, thus, an assignment is the way to go. The principle of an assignment is that it offers a way out of a lease at no cost to the landlord. If the landlord incurs any costs from a tenant breaking a fixed term agreement (lost rent, advertising, agents fees, legal etc.) then those costs may deducted from the tenant's deposit.
 
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