I have a fixed term tenancy for two concurrent periods of 6m

Hello and thank you for your question. My name is ***** ***** I will be very pleased to assist you. I'm a practising lawyer in England with over 15 years’ experience. Please be aware that although I will endeavour to reply to you promptly, I am also in full time private practice and so I may not be available to respond immediately and it may also take me a few minutes to prepare a reply. The site will notify you as soon as I respond. I look forward to working with you to answer your question fully.

the break clause appears to give you a specific right to determine the tenancy at the six month marker of the term. May I confirm this is the exact wording word for word that appears on the tenancy agreement and in particular, there is no reference to "after 6 months"?

thank you. The break clause is not terribly well crafted. On the one hand, it appears to relatively definitively specify the date at which the break clause can be exercised as at six months but then goes on to talk about "a relevant period" which may potentially imply that the break clause relates to any time after the first six months rather than only at the specific point of six months.

however, it is clear that the clause whilst  not being conclusive as regards ***** ***** at which can be exercised, is equally inconclusive in terms of definitively giving you a right to break the tenancy early and as such, in the assumption you and the landlord will not agree on interpretation in respect of the clause, the matter will ultimately have to be determined by court and although you would have the benefit of the contra preferentum rule that determines any ambiguities in favour of the person that did not draft the agreement, it would be risky to move out of the property before the matter has been determined by court because if the court finds against you, you may find yourself liable for additional rent whilst reasonably also having by that time committed yourself to an alternative contractual tenancy agreement elsewhere. as such, given the time it would take for the matter to come to a hearing, I'm not sure this necessarily benefits you in any practical sense as whilst you may be able to successfully obtain an order determining the clause in your favour, by the time the court had decided the matter, it may be that a large part if not in did all of the benefit of potentially breaking the tenancy early may have expired.

Full, it is open to you to seek to replace yourself as tenant under the tenancy agreement either by seeking a new tenant yourself or asking the landlord to do so for you and I wonder whether in the circumstances given the above, this may be the least bad option to consider

notwithstanding what we have discussed above in relation to the break clause, you cannot give notice earlier than the expiry of the fixed term of the tenancy

I hope the above is of some assistance but if you have any further questions, please revert to me.

this limit does not contradict what I've said above. I expressed a view that the break clause was not clear in limiting the break option to one precise point in time, but I went on to say that it is far from conclusive that it gives you a right to serve a notice at another point in time, and it would likely require an application to court for an order as regards ***** ***** I might gently invite you to reread that post again

I trust the above was of assistance and that you do not have any follow up questions for now. If there is anything else I can help with please reply back to me though.