Can a Tenant or Landlord exit an AST early?

It is not uncommon for tenants to want vacate arented property before the natural end of the tenancy agreement.  In this instance, where do the Landlord andTenant stand legally?

To sum it up - atenancy agreement is a legally binding agreement between two parties so whenyou sign the agreement you must be absolutely sure that you are prepared, as aLandlord, to let the property go for the term and, as a tenant, to pay the rentor consideration for the property, even if circumstances change or you do not ‘like’the property anymore.

Most tenancyagreements are created for a fixed period of time e.g. week, month, year etc.  A standard Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreementis a minimum of 6 months to maximum of 3 years.

The tenancy is legally enforceable by both parties and can only be endedor terminated in four ways:

1. Agreement between the Landlord and Tenant - This is where both parties agree tosurrender the terms of the tenancy agreement. In most cases, this would be agreed in writing by the Landlord and thekeys should be handed back to the Landlord or Letting Agent.  Generally, Landlords would seek to findreplacement Tenants before the existing Tenant vacates and the existing tenantwould be liable for the rent until the new tenant moves in.  It is sometimes agreed that the existingTenant would pay for any costs associated with finding new tenants such asCredit Checks etc
   
2. Performance – Thisis where the actual period of the agreement has come to a natural end.  Bearing in mind that for an AST, tenants arenot required by law to notify their landlord that they intend to leave theproperty at the end of the agreement.  Ifthe tenant does not vacate, the tenancy would revert to a Periodic TenancyAgreement.  The Landlord is required toissue a notice to the tenant call a Section 21 Notice 4(a) during the initialfixed term and the notice should be issued with 2 months remaining within thefixed term.  If the Tenancy becomes aPeriodic Tenancy, the Landlord would issue a Section 21 Notice 1(b) requiringpossession.
3. Breach of Contract– Inunfortunate circumstances, if a Landlord or Tenant breaches the terms of thetenancy agreement, they may find themselves at the nasty end of legalproceedings.  Landlords are able to servenotices onto tenants during the fixed term of the agreement based on legalgrounds – for example – if the tenant withholds 8 weeks rent from the landlord,the landlord may serve a Section 8 Notice based on Ground 8 of the Landlord andTenant Act.  There are 17 grounds underwhich the Landlord can serve notice on a Tenant and the first 8 grounds arecalled mandatory grounds, meaning that the Tenant would be ordered to give backpossession.  The rest of the grounds arediscretionary grounds, meaning that the Judge may not give possession back tothe Landlord immediately and instead, give the tenant a warning not to carry onthat particular breach of contract. 
4. Frustration – Anagreement would come to an end when something happens which is the not thefault of either party such as the death of the Landlord or Tenant.

The most common instances of endingan agreement are when both parties agree as in example 1 or the agreement seesout its agreed term as in example 2.  So,if either party wanted to end the agreement, it would need to be done by carefulnegotiation.