Moving A Distance - Rental Question

[Guest AuntJess]

I am looking to move a distance across the country to buy my next dwelling. If I rent a property for, say, six months, in order to look around for a suitable house to buy, what would happen if I found one and completed with them within 3 - 4 months. Do I have to pay the full sixth months worth or a proportion of it?

[MrShed]

Short answer is yes you have to pay the full 6 months. Long answer is if the eventuality occurs, then there are some options to reduce the amount owed(such as assignment and subletting with the landlords approval) but ultimately the responsibility is still yours.

Contrary to the thoughts of some by the way, you CAN take out a tenancy for only 3 months/4 months/whichever you wish. But you will struggle to find a landlord offering such a term.

[Guest AuntJess]

Short answer is yes you have to pay the full 6 months. Long answer is if the eventuality occurs, then there are some options to reduce the amount owed(such as assignment and subletting with the landlords approval) but ultimately the responsibility is still yours.

Contrary to the thoughts of some by the way, you CAN take out a tenancy for only 3 months/4 months/whichever you wish. But you will struggle to find a landlord offering such a term.

Thanks, that is what I thought. You are right: Most rental agencies stipulate 6 months as a minimum.. or say " winter let" indicating that it starts mid October and goes through , I assume, to next spring.

I was bothered as I have this belief that if I take a rental on 6 months, a house to buy will pop up and I will be stuck paying for a lot more months. I guess I will have to budget for that and get the cheapest let I can manage with.

[waitingandsaving]

Even if you took on a 6 month agreement, it could potentially take that long to move in to somewhere- a couple of months to settle in, work out the best areas and to find a house you like (depending on how choosy you are and what's available ) wouldn't be unreasonable, and I've seen with friends, even though everything is set for a quick exchange, these things can drag for another couple of months - taking you up to potentially 5 months in total without too much difficulty. Having not experienced the house buying process myself, I'm not speaking from personal experience, and therefore don't know if it's a "done" thing, but presumably you could spin out surveys, etc for another month wiithout too much difficulty- so 6 months tenancy agreement wouldn't be too bad?

[Guest AuntJess]

Even if you took on a 6 month agreement, it could potentially take that long to move in to somewhere- a couple of months to settle in, work out the best areas and to find a house you like (depending on how choosy you are and what's available ) wouldn't be unreasonable, and I've seen with friends, even though everything is set for a quick exchange, these things can drag for another couple of months - taking you up to potentially 5 months in total without too much difficulty. Having not experienced the house buying process myself, I'm not speaking from personal experience, and therefore don't know if it's a "done" thing, but presumably you could spin out surveys, etc for another month wiithout too much difficulty- so 6 months tenancy agreement wouldn't be too bad?

Yes, I was begining to come round to that idea . As you say you must secure the lease when the sale of your own house goes through, then getting in and looking round, especially with houses 'thinning out' in the Winter months. I guess the next thing to hope for is that you don't overshoot the deadline!

[MrShed]

Just as a point of information for you, I have listed the ways to get out of a fixed term AST on another thread:

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=33427

But, waitingandsaving is absolutely right, it would be quite unusual for you to find a house and complete within 6 months.

You could ask any new landlord to put a 1 months notice break clause in the AST for you?

[waitingandsaving]

We've been renting for a few years now, and all contracts we've had have turned into Statutory Periodic Tenancies after the 1st 6 months (ie no new contract, it just goes onto a month by month rolling contract - we have to give them 1 month notice if we want to move out, but the LL has to give us 2 months notice if he wants shot of us) I thought this was the norm - but am getting the impression that maybe it isn't - but it saves paperwork etc every 6 - 12 months

[IamSpartacus]

I am looking to move a distance across the country to buy my next dwelling. If I rent a property for, say, six months, in order to look around for a suitable house to buy, what would happen if I found one and completed with them within 3 - 4 months. Do I have to pay the full sixth months worth or a proportion of it?

I've just done exactly that and was able to find and buy my property in 3 months. The way I did so was to avoid letting agencies like the plague and look for a private landlord/landlady. There are plenty of websites out there that allow you to hook up with people offering rooms to rent, often without contracts or on a very short-term basis. I sold most of my furniture with my last house so this was very easy for me, but you could always put your stuff in storage and rent a furnished room. This was also a great way to get to know some people in a new area - I'm now good friends with my old housemates and they live just down the street from me