Leaving Early & Sub-letting

If you are renting accommodation from the University or privately, there may come a time when you decide you want to move out. Below we've listed some advice on how you might be able to end your tenancy early depending on the type of accommodation or tenancy agreement you have.

Leaving a tenancy earlier than planned

If you have a ‘Private Residential Tenancy’ (PRT) (leases created after 1 December 2017) if you wish to leave, you must give your landlord or letting agent 28 days’ notice in writing. Although you will not have an end date on your PRT, in a joint tenancy if one tenant leaves, this does not automatically bring the lease to an end.

In a PRT, only if all the tenants in the property decide to leave at the same time, and provide adequate notice, will the lease come to an end.

If all joint tenants want to leave, you must all give notice. This can be done by any of the following ways:

signing the same written notice and posting it to your landlord
signing the same written notice and emailing a photo or scanned copy to your landlord
each tenant sending their own notice by email, making sure the notice expires on the same day

Leaving a Joint Tenancy

If you share the PRT with others and decide you want to leave but your flatmates want to stay, you may be responsible for seeking a replacement tenant to take your place. The replacement tenant has to be suitable, and someone with whom your flatmates would be happy to live, and also an appropriate tenant from your landlord’s point of view.

If you're the only person who wants to leave, you can provide notice, but you will also have to ask your landlord's permission to sign your part of the tenancy over to the remaining tenants or a new tenant.

Get any agreement in writing, so that there are no misunderstandings.

If no replacement can be found, you could end up liable for continuing to pay rent even if you are not still living there, or the remaining tenants may become responsible for paying your share of the monthly rent.

If you are moving out because you are unhappy with your living situation, then it may help to speak with your flatmates first, and/or your landlord, in case there is an alternative way of resolving the matter.

Do talk things over with your flatmates if you are thinking of leaving. If they have a ‘joint and several tenancy’ with you, they have a right to know that you are intending to leave, or that you are intending to seek a replacement for yourself.

Don’t forget to speak with your landlord/letting agent to let them know you are intending to move out, as they will have to agree in principle to releasing you from your contract and finding or helping you to find the replacement.

The landlord should try to re-let the tenancy as soon as possible but can continue to claim rent from you for the time between you leaving and another tenant taking over while the lease is still running.

Leaving the property

Do make sure that your share of rent is paid up to date. This will be up until the date when the replacement tenant moves in.

Don’t forget to make sure that the replacement tenant is ready to move in, and knows when the start date is to be.

Do make sure your inventory is checked, and read all the utility meters before you leave – preferably with the landlord. Make sure you have settled any outstanding bills with your flatmates.

Don’t forget to leave your accommodation in a clean and tidy condition – you may find yourself with a hefty bill for cleaning or redecorating, or deductions from your deposit, if the flat is not as it was at the start of the tenancy. Remove all your possessions and dispose of rubbish properly. It’s a good idea to take photos before leaving, in case there is a dispute about the condition in which you left the flat.

More information is on our Moving Out page.

Sub-letting…or not?

There is a big difference between finding a replacement to take over your tenancy, and sub-letting your room. If someone takes over your tenancy (technically you ‘assign’ your tenancy to them), they have a contract with the landlord and you no longer have any responsibility or liability as a tenant. However, if you sub-let, it means you still have responsibilities under your tenancy agreement, plus you become effectively the landlord to the person you are sub-letting to (the sub-tenant). This, as you can imagine, can be fraught with issues.

In both cases though, you are not permitted to sublet, take in a lodger, or pass your tenancy on to someone else before first getting written agreement from your letting agent/landlord. Sub-letting without the landlord/letting agent’s knowledge or permission is an illegal sub-let.

Sub-letting without permission can negatively affect buildings and contents household insurance.

Leaving University of Glasgow accommodation early

The University of Glasgow has a number of student halls for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

If you are an undergraduate student, you are likely to have a 9 month contract, whereas postgraduate students normally have a 1 year contract.

If you wish to leave early, you will need to check the cancellaion policy and your terms and conditions in your UofG Accommodation agreement. This usually means you can provide 28 days' advance notice, but only if you have managed to find a suitable replacement tenant to take over your room and continue paying the remainder of the rent until the new student takes over your room.

The replacement tenant will need to also be a UofG student and should be a similar match to yourself (for example, if you are an undergraduate they may have to be the same year of study or if you are a postgraduate student then they will also need to be a postgrad student.)

Before you look for a replacement student to take over your room we would recommend that you get in contact with UofG Accommodation Services to let them know that you are intending to move out and that you have are looking for a replacement to take over your room. Accommodation Services can advise on any restrictions they might have on the profile of student that can take over the room - for example if they must be an undergraduate or postgraduate etc.

Further information on the UofG Accommodation Services Cancellation policy and leaving University halls early can be found here.

If you need to withdraw or suspend your studies due to health or personal circumstances outwith your control and therefore need to move out of your University accommodation early, we would recommend that you contact the SRC Advice Centre for advice on negotiating an early exit from your tenancy agreement with the University.

Leaving Purpose Built Student Accommodation early

There are many different private providers of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (private student halls) around the city. They are all different companies, but most will operate on similar, but not identical, guiding principles.

If you live in a PBSA you are likely to have a 51 week agreement with the provider. If you have a UK based guarantor, then you should be able to pay your rent by instalment. If you don't have a guarantor, you may have to pay the entire rent in advance. This is sometimes referred to as the 'full license fee'.

The license or agreement is binding and the rules for leaving a PBSA early will be stated in the terms and conditions of your signed agreement and/or on your accommodation provider’s website usually under the 'Cancellation Policy' section.

if you wish to leave early, first check the terms and conditions of your agreement and then check with your PBSA that they will agree to release you from your agreement if you can find a suitable tenant to take over your room. Not all PBSA providers allow students to find replacement tenants to take over their room even if you wish to leave early. We recommend that you read the terms and conditions of your PBSA contract very carefully before signing and consider what this might mean for you in practice if you decide you wish to leave early.

As with leaving University halls, if you decide you wish to leave the agreement early, and the terms & conditions of the agreement allow this, we recommend that you speak to the PBSA provider directly to discuss any additional conditions they might have on you finding a replacement tenant. Most PBSA's have a welfare or admin office who you can make contact with to discuss this.

Once you have found a suitable replacement tenant, if you have paid the full license fee in advance, you will need to ask the PBSA to refund you any surplus rent, once you have left and the replacment tenant has taken over.

The PBSA won’t refund you until the student replacing you has taken over your room’s contract, signed the tenancy agreement, paid, and moved in.

You may have to pay an additional administration fee as well and this amount can vary.

If you can’t find someone to take over your tenancy, you’ll be responsible for paying the full rent until the end of your tenancy agreement.

SRC Flatshare Service

The SRC has a Flatshare service which is free for UofG students to use. if you are looking for a replacement tenant then you can create a login and advertise your room. Other Unviersity of Glasgow students will first have to log in to be able to view or respond to the advertisement.

Tenancy Deposit Schemes

If you have paid a deposit, do ensure that you get your money back after you move out.

The three tenancy deposit schemes in Scotland have a special process for changing over one tenant when the rest wish to continue. Your landlord/letting agent will need to contact the scheme and inform them of the change, but there is no charge for this service.

More information about Tenancy Deposit Schemes.

Going away for a short break?

You may be contemplating letting out your room temporarily while you are away, and planning to return to the property when you come back. If you lease out your room on a temporary basis, this is likely to be considered a sub-let. In other words, you would effectively become the replacement tenant’s landlord, while at the same time, you are also a tenant and subject to tenant’s responsibilities and duties.

As we’ve mentioned above, this situation can quickly become confusing unless things are fully understood. If you are planning to sub-let your room, do make sure you understand what that means, and do make sure you get written permission from your landlord/letting agent.

Shelter Scotland have some advice on their website here on what your responsibilities would be if you decide to sub-let your room, and the type of tenancy agreement you should issue to your tenant.

Further advice

If you need more information or to chat through your situation with an adviser, please contact the SRC Advice Centre .