Rich_L said:
Haven't you got technically got until 1st August to find 3 other tenants? The landlord can use the 3 girls deposits as their 'rent' and you two can move in and try and fill the other rooms.
Just an option if you haven't already considered it
No, you haven't, I'm afraid.
If this is, as stated, a joint tenancy, then there is only ONE tenant .... the group. That grouping is part of the contract. If any one of the group pulls out (*), it effectively ends the agreement. And as most agreements are fixed term, you can't do that. The effect of a fixed-term joint tenancy is that ALL the members of the group are committed, and ALL are liable for the contract. You can't just substitute another person(s).
What you can do, IF the landlord agrees, is find replacements for the members of the group, terminate the current tenancy agreement and create another one. But bear in mind, landlords have a right to vet tenants, and to agree or not to agree.
What many people don't seem to understand is that this is a contract, and if you signed it, you can be held to it. If it's a fixed term, it's for that fixed term. If that's for twelve months, that means twelve months rent, and the liability for that rent falls on each of the original members, in full. Or, if any of them had guarantors (as is often the case with students, for example), then the guarantors can be held fully liable.
Most landlords certainly won't push it quite that far, especially if alternative tenants can be found. But, it's unreasonableto expect the landlord to end up out of pocket because some of the tenants breached the contract. He could hold the original tenants to it, and could go after them (or any guarantors) if they don't meet their obligations. This is why I said his offer looked like a good one - because it precludes such a possibility.
Oh, and this is also why I never use joint tenancies, and a significant part (but not all) of the reason why I never, EVER rent to students. The possibilities for complications with joint tenancies escalate exponentially with the number of tenants.
(*) By "oull out", I mean formally quit the property. They can decide not to live there if they wish, but they're still liable for the rent. Also, most tenancy contracts preclude sub-lettting, so you can't legally just rent the spare space out to someone else. You'll almost certainly be in breach of contract if you do.
