Leaving a periodic assured tenancy without the agreement of the other joint tenant

[stroke29]

I was sharing a flat with my girlfriend last year. We split up before Christmas and I moved out. For various reasons I continued to pay rent on our flat without complaining.

However, my goodwill towards her has run out and I want to stop paying. We're now on a periodic assured tenancy agreement; both of our names were on the original fixed-term contract.

Can I stop paying if I give the usual month's notice to the landlord or do I need my ex-girlfriend's agreement? If her agreement is required I suspect I'll be forced to continue paying rent on the property for the foreseeable future and I can't quite believe this is the case. I've asked the CAB and they didn't know despite waffling at me for what seemed like hours.

I will be talking to a solicitor if I can't find the answer but that takes time and the next month's rent deadline is fast approaching.

[jeffrey]

As long as the periodic tenancy is an SPT (i.e. not one expressly created by the Tenancy Agreement), any of the joint tenants can serve Notice To Quit. This will bind all of them (even ones who wish to remain resident- they'd need a new Letting Agreement, if so). The NTQ must:
a. have a Notice period of at least the SPT period; and
b. expire immediately after an SPT period ends (e.g. if the SPT is calendar monthly, an NTQ served today would take effect 'after 30 June 2010").

[stroke29]

Many thanks Jeffrey, probably a simple answer to you but it means I can finally start getting my life sorted