I have been researhing this topic on my daughter's behalf.  She has a Assured Shorthold fixed term tenancy agreement of twelve months that she wishes to end before the 12 months is up because she has found new permanent employment as a nurse some distance from where she is now living.

I have found very little in the way of useful sources of information but this may be of use to you and others.

The Agent claims that early termination would leave her liable for the balance of the rent and the landlord's costs of finding a new tenant.

As that is not stated in the contract it is my opinion that cannot be the case as it is the Landlord's responsibilty to ensure the contract is clearly written in terms that a tenant can understand otherwise it is invalid and unenforceable.  The exception would be if the contract was signed after the independent advice of a solicitor had been provided.

In the contract my daughter has it is made clear that the Landlord may not terminate the contract during the first six months of the 12 month term, which implies that he/she can after six months if one of the conditions that make that possible should apply.  The conditions are laid down in the Housing Act 1988.

I would argue that if the landlord has that right so must the tenant otherwise the contract would be unfair and so be in breach of the unfair contract terms act 1977.

Unfortunately as a layman with some knowledge and understanding of law I have been unable to find any one of the many agencies that claim that they offer help to people that would actually give any views on the subject.

Most say it is beyond their remit and suggest some other agency, all of which have proved fruitless.

If you have any success in finding an answer that relates either to the law or better still a precident case I for one would find it most interesting.

The advice I have given my daughter is that  she should write a friendly letter to the landlord asking for agreement to early termination and hope for a reasonable and fair reponse.

I have noted during my searches that it is clear that no landlord that made no effort to relet the property could possibly justify penalising the tenant by charging rent by for instance withholding any deposit held by them or their agent.

If that were to happen I believe the correct course of action by the tenant would be to make a claim in the small claims court for the money withheld.  The landlord would then have to justify not making any effort to mitigate their loss or proving they had tried and failed which is a duty imposed on any person that claims a loss against another.

I hope this helps and others may be able to add to, correct, or point to other sources of information that I have so far not found.

Of course we are all entitled to an opinion but what I would ask for is not contrary opinions which no doubt a landlord or estate agent might have but a pointer to some actual authoritive source (s).  I have found no law but seen an opinion or interpretation that tenants seem not to have the right to terminate before the end of the term but as written above we are all entitled to an opinion.

Both an experienced landlord and local estate agent known to me have the view that any tenant has the right to terminate a tenancy agreement at any time during the term on one months notice but I have the view that is most likely their commonsense approach rather than based on the law.

One final point is that when agreeing the new tenacy with my daughter over the telephone the Agent said to her 'the same terms as before?' which she agreed.  The terms she had through the same agent with a different landlord was also an assured shorthold tenancy of fixed term of twelve months but the landlord exercised his right of early termination using one of the qualifying conditions - he wished to return to the house that he had previously lived.

I say what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!!!

Good luck in dealing with you problem.   

Freddy Crabbe

I would disagree.  If you would post the case name/number and full details I would be keen to view. Although Scottish laws for property do differ to English.

You cannot force a tenant to stay but certainly they can be sued for the loss of rent until new tenants move in and expences during a fixed term tenancy with no break clause.

The cases we have assised with the owners have won - county courts in England. - about 4 over the last 9 years.

It rarely gets that far as when the tenants take legal advice they are told they are liable and will lose.