The gist of the legislation
If the tenant requests to vacate during a fixed term contract, they will incur breach costs.
The important parts, at a glance
We’ve picked out the key parts of the legislation and made them as easy as possible to read and understand.
1.
If a tenant requests to vacate while they are in the first half of their fixed term contact, they are required to pay gap rent from the date they vacate until a new tenant is found for a maximum of 6 weeks. The tenant is also required to pay a breach fee to cover part of the reletting and advertising costs, which is equal to one week’s rent.
2.
If a tenant requests to vacate while they are in the second half of their fixed term contact, they are required to pay rent from the date they vacate until a new tenant is found for a maximum of 3 weeks. The tenant is also required to pay a breach fee to cover reletting and advertising costs, which is two thirds of one week’s rent.
3.
The tenant is only liable to pay the gap rent and breach costs if the landlord and Property Manger are actively doing everything possible to secure a new tenant and minimise the tenant’s costs.
4.
If there are delays in re-advertising the property, or any activity that suggests there hasn’t been a strong effort to secure a new tenant in the shortest possible timeframe, the tenant could take the matter to tribunal to dispute the breach costs.
5.
The tenant will be notified when a new tenant has been secured and informed of the total amount of gap rent they will have to pay, or have paid. The rent debits will be stopped when the breach costs have been covered.
6.
Landlords will likely need to cover some re-letting and/or advertising costs to secure a new tenant.
