Afternoon all, due to some rather bad luck me and my friends have got in a spot of housing related bother - so i'll lay out the tale and then let the oracle speak... 
In January we signed a Joint tennancy aggreement on a house in Birmingham, the move in date is set for the first of July, we paid £360 each for the deposite (£1800)
3 weeks ago 3 of girls I was meant to be living with said they didnt want to live with us anymore and so we decided to termanate the tenancy agreement - we know we're cutting it fine - but we can't find 3 replacement housemates on such short notice. Our land lord was understandably miffed (perfectly reasonably IMO) and has told us that we will have to still pay until the house becomes occupied by replacement tennants. My question is;
Do we really - can't we just ditch him with the deposites and tell him its his problem? (I know its morrally wrong but my housemates may not be able to pay - and I'm willing to pay no more than my own share)
Yesterday he rang and told us if we all gave him £316 quid (£1580 total) and allowed him to keep the deposites he'd release us from the contract.
We are seeking advice from other sources before you all shout at me to do so - just wondered what the collective thought?

In January we signed a Joint tennancy aggreement on a house in Birmingham, the move in date is set for the first of July, we paid £360 each for the deposite (£1800)
3 weeks ago 3 of girls I was meant to be living with said they didnt want to live with us anymore and so we decided to termanate the tenancy agreement - we know we're cutting it fine - but we can't find 3 replacement housemates on such short notice. Our land lord was understandably miffed (perfectly reasonably IMO) and has told us that we will have to still pay until the house becomes occupied by replacement tennants. My question is;
Do we really - can't we just ditch him with the deposites and tell him its his problem? (I know its morrally wrong but my housemates may not be able to pay - and I'm willing to pay no more than my own share)
Yesterday he rang and told us if we all gave him £316 quid (£1580 total) and allowed him to keep the deposites he'd release us from the contract.
We are seeking advice from other sources before you all shout at me to do so - just wondered what the collective thought?