Owner of the Aprtment Will Take the Aval

[Unregistered]

My contract is up to end of Oct but I have to leave the apartment on April 15 because I lost my job. I advi'sed him of the scenario on March 6 and he agreed. Few days before the schedule of termination (April 11), the landlord said he will take the aval bancario because I was unable to complete the contract. He never said this before, he just said its ok if I will leave, he'll find another tenant. In fact he arranged several visits of potential tenats from March 15. Can you advice me on this. Thanks in advance.

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Dear Sir or Madam,

You can leave before the tenancy is up whenever you please providing you give due notice.

However that does not mean that you will not be held liable to pay the let until the month of October. So if your landlord has a rental bank guarantee from you he is in his legal right to execute it to offset the lost rental from April to October.

Tenants often make the mistake in thinking that only because they are giving notice of leaving the property in advance of the Tenancy's termination they are not liable to pay the outstanding let. This is a huge mistake.

When you for example sign an eleven month Tenancy agreement if you pull out on the third month, for whatever reason, you will still owe 8 months rental regardless if you gave notice or not to your landlord. Another matter is if your landlord will pursue you legally to claim on the lost rental, some do some don't as they consider it's not worth the hassle and legal fees.

However if a landlord already has a rental bank guarantee it makes his life easier; he can just execute it.

Remember that on signing a rental contract it is a binding contract and you are agreeing to paying the full let (i.e. eleven months) whether you stay in the property for the 11 months or move out ahead.

Quoting my article on Landlord: Keys to Successful Rental Income - 31st January 2008

At what stage is this rental bank guarantee handed over to the landlord?

This guarantee is handed over by the tenant at the time of signing the rental agreement, never after. The landlord will hold it and deliver it back once the tenancy is terminated satisfactorily with no pending amounts owed.

In your case there are pending amounts owed to him, that's why he is executing it.

Yours faithfully,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt