FAQs

For most types of tenancy agreements, it is very difficult to leave. Quite often the only way of doing this is if you find a replacement tenant for yourself if you are in a joint tenancy. It is always a good idea to speak to your letting agent or landlord as there may be a break clause in your contract with them. Failing this you may have a landlord who is willing to let you out of the contract. We would also advise that you look to advertise your room on other platforms too such as Gumtree and Spareroom. These platforms may reach a larger audience and increase your chance of finding a replacement sooner. Something to be aware of is that often when it comes to amending a housing contract, there is a fee involved. Again this should be noted on your contract and if not, you should ask your letting agent or landlord how much this will be. Further to this, you may also wish to consider what will be happening with your share of the deposit.

Landlords/agents withholding deposits from students is very common. Your landlord/agent should have protected your deposit in one of three tenancy deposit protection (TDP) schemes. If you have given your landlord/agent reasonable opportunity to return your deposit but they have chosen not to or have become unresponsive, you are best approaching your TDP scheme directly and requesting the deposit be returned through them. Most TDP schemes will give you three months from the end of your tenancy agreement to request the return of your deposit. If you have confirmed that your landlord/agent has not protected your deposit in one of the three schemes then you can file for court proceedings against the landlord/agent directly and will almost certainly win. If you landlord/agent has protected the deposit in a scheme, all you need to do is work out which one it is and follow the processes and procedures on their website to secure the return of your deposit. The process will give the landlord/agent the opportunity to dispute the deposit return and then the process will require you to provide a written submission to dispute the landlord/agent deductions.