Help the community and expand your practice! Find out how.
Already registered? Login here.
Question Details: I found a nice flat earlier this year. I agreed to rent it for a fixed 12 month lease with the landlord. She gave me a tenancy agreement to sign and return to her. I never got around to giving it back. She asked a few times, but I never did it. Now I want to leave the flat. But they say its a fixed term tenancy till next year. But as I never signed the tenancy agreement, can I just leave by giving 21 days notice?
Filed under Tenancy | 1503 View(s)
Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley
No, you will not be able to leave simply by giving 21 days' notice. You can only leave early if your landlord agrees or you get an order from the Tenancy Tribunal.
Tenancy agreements should be in writing. However, if a tenancy agreement is not in writing then the terms of the agreement are whatever was agreed verbally between you and your landlord, and the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act still apply to the tenancy. Because you verbally agreed to a twelve month tenancy you cannot leave by giving notice before the expiry of the tenancy.
However, you may end the tenancy early by agreement with your landlord. It would be worth asking your landlord if he or she would be willing to end your tenancy early if you can find someone to take over the tenancy until the end date.
You may also end the tenancy early by getting an order from the Tenancy Tribunal, but the Tribunal only grants these orders in special circumstances.
You can find more information on tenancies and how a fixed-term tenancy may be ended early at the following links: www.communitylaw.org.nz and www.dbh.govt.nz or by calling 0800 TENANCY.
Answered 5 Sep 2013. The IMPORTANT NOTICE below is part of this answer.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The answer provided above is intended for general informational purposes only and cannot be
considered a substitute for face-to-face legal advice. It should not be relied upon as the sole
basis for taking action in relation to a legal issue. Laws change frequently, and small
variations in the facts, or a fact not provided in the question, can often change a legal
outcome or a lawyer’s conclusion. No liability whatsoever is accepted by the authors or
publishers of the answer, for loss, damage or inconvenience arising in any way from the use of
this site. While each answer has been published by a lawyer with a practising certificate, that
person may not necessarily have experience in the particular area of law involved.
For more information about this website, please review our
Terms of Use.