Landlord is claiming the contract's 'break clause' means we need to give him two month's notice

[Bertstandards]

Did you sign the contract with landlord directly or through agency? You can get help of the agent...

I signed with the landlord directly.

[HK_Katherine]

The small claims court is not toothless although yes it can be hard to get a judgement enforced. I think if you stand your ground and do all the things suggested here you have a good chance of getting it sorted out. Just continue to be polite and professional, but firm, keep photos, witnesses, copies of everything etc. Good luck.

[MandM!]

Everyone does 2 years, that's normal. It lets you stay on without having to sign another contract. And without paying another stamp duty.

What are the dates on your stamp duty, one year?

[MandM!]

Being nice and a good tenant is your problem right there.

[Bertstandards]

At this point I'm thinking our best chance of getting our deposit returned is to have a legal representative take a look at the agreement to 100% confirm that we are right and that we are not legally obligated to give him this two months' notice at the end of our 12-month term (just typing it sounds ludicrous - a 14-month term!?) and then have them contact him by mail and a phone call to explain that he is wrong about the terms.

My hope is at this point things will be still cordial enough that we can discuss the matter and I can even suggest that I will help him find new tenants and basically be as accommodating as possible until our deposit is returned.

Does anyone have a contact I could speak to about a letter and a conversation with the landlord?

Many thanks

[shafiq]

Some important information that might be helpful....http://www.hkclic.org/en/topics/

Legal Aid...http://www.hkclic.org/en/topics/legalAid/

[Soutie]

As with most things contractual you really need to understand what you are signing & what the implications of it are. Items like modifying a 2 year agreement to change it to 1 year by someone without any contractual knowledge is very risky as you have found out. In a contract you have to consider at all the provisions as a whole and look for the intentions of the parties. I know nobody wants to pay a few thousand dollars for a Solicitor to review a lease but this is what happens when you don't - a few thousand seems great compared to the impending 2 months deposit loss.

So when considering legal agreements caveat emptor is the rule to follow.

For piece of mind I don't think an agent would have helped - they only do standard EAA contracts & they amend them just as you have without any concept of the ramifications (and you would have to pay for their service too)!

I am afraid trial & error is difficult to swallow sometimes - just negotiate the best deal you can get, take the experience as positive & avoid it in the future. Its shit but there it is!