flatmate can't pay her bills am i responsible too?

superstylin · 5 July 2007 at 6:01PM

hi all,
i've lived with my flatmate for the past 5months and we're due to end our tenancy after the 6th month. i've recently found out that she's not been paying her half of the bills and that we've been receiving red reminders for a while now. i currently pay for the telephone, sky and the council tax while she was meant to be paying tv licence, water and gas/electric. on top of this, it seems that this month she loaned her partner £300 so that they could pay their rent and expected to get it back before hers was due BUT they've split up and her ex has no intentions of paying her back! what this means for me is that the bills are not going to get paid.

what i want to know is, if my name doesn't appear on the bills that she should be paying, will i receive a black mark on my credit report because of the connection through the address?

apologies if this is in the wrong forum!

lynzpower · 5 July 2007 at 6:31PM

iAs far as I understand it, no.

She will remain liable for those bills - if they dont have your name on how can anyone come after you?

Has she been paying her rent tho? Cos that sometimes means you have to pay it if you are "jointly & severably liable"

alwaysonthego_2 · 5 July 2007 at 6:49PM

If your name isn't on the bills then you will not be liable for the debt

superstylin · 5 July 2007 at 7:12PM

she's been paying her rent by standing order, as have i. she just hasn't been paying bills. i asked her to arrange direct debits from the very beginning and reminded her constantly but it has never been done. we've basically been in arrears since the first requests for payment.

i'd been informed that though she is liable for the bills, my credit report will reference the address and this address will have a black mark against it because of her.

superstylin · 5 July 2007 at 7:20PM

lynzpower wrote: »

Has she been paying her rent tho? Cos that sometimes means you have to pay it if you are "jointly & severably liable"

i've just read the tenancy agreement and yes, we are "jointly and severably liable" which means if her rent is not paid then i can be responsible for reimbursing the landlady....if she doesn't pay her rent, then the landlady can take it from the bond which typically....i paid....:mad:

jacquij123 · 5 July 2007 at 8:27PM

superstylin wrote: »

my credit report will reference the address and this address will have a black mark against it because of her.

Credit reports used to go by addresses but now they are specific to the individual person. Only if you have financial links to another person, such as a joint bank account, will their debts appear on your report, and even then they are clearly marked as the other persons.

superstylin · 6 July 2007 at 6:17AM

thanks jacqui. that answered my question about credit scoring but unfortunately i've been caught out another way! from reading the tenancy agreement, as well as being "jointly and severably liable" for her rent (that she can't pay this month) which can be deducted from the bond (that i paid) the rest of the bond can also be held until the utility accounts are shown as fully paid. i'm not doing very well here am i

thesaint · 6 July 2007 at 6:37AM

superstylin wrote: »

thanks jacqui. that answered my question about credit scoring but unfortunately i've been caught out another way! from reading the tenancy agreement, as well as being "jointly and severably liable" for her rent (that she can't pay this month) which can be deducted from the bond (that i paid) the rest of the bond can also be held until the utility accounts are shown as fully paid. i'm not doing very well here am i

Your landlady is not entitled to keep your deposit to pay 3rd party debts(My opinion).

If she tries, you may have to sue to get it returned, but she will not have to pay the bill if you don't. This is just a standard term that has little basis.

olly300 · 6 July 2007 at 7:38AM

supersylin your landlady is allowed to keep part of your bond if your flatmate doesn't pay the rent.

Your landlady can not keep the deposit to cover 3rd party debts. She is not legally liable for debts owed by a third party and neither are you.

If she does keep the rest of your deposit over utility bills take her to the small claims court to get the money back. Post on this board if it does happen and you will get help when writing letters to her to ask for the money back as this could be proven to be an unfair contact term.

If your name is not on the debt then the utility companies will not chase you for it as you are not legally liable. They also cannot chase the landlady unless her name is on the bills. They will not credit blacklist you or the landlady because they either don't know your name or your name is not registered as owning the debt. However the company may have a company blacklist and may blacklist the property. This will not affect your credit file.

The only bill that you must ensure is paid is the council tax as not paying this could mean you get chased by debt recovery agencies, bailiffs and could end up in prison. Again the council will not chase the property owner but the people who are registered as being in the property at the time. You are legally jointly and severably liable to pay the council tax with your flatmate.

BTW I've had problems before with housemates over bills and the utility companies have chased them not the landlord or me because my name was not on the bills in question. They were people I knew before sharing with them and because I paid them the money to pay my part of the bills I gave the utility companies their forwarding addresses. They were not happy about being chased but I was not happy about taking money from me and not paying the bills. (Strangely the strangers I've lived with have never not paid their bills.)

superstylin · 6 July 2007 at 9:26AM

thankyou saint and olly

from that i guess then my 'recommendations' to my flatmate should be for her to pay her rent first, with whatever money she has. this should stop the landlady taking it from the bond that i paid.

if i'm not liable for bills in her name, nor the landlady and no black mark will be scored against me then i'm happy for her to just not pay and feel the wrath of the utility companies!

i don't have the tenancy agreement to hand but it stated that the bond can be held until the bills are paid in full. it doesn't say that she will take the money to pay the bill only that she will withhold it (though i don't understand why that is, unless she doesn't want her property blacklisted?)

superstylin · 6 July 2007 at 9:36AM

olly300 wrote: »

(Strangely the strangers I've lived with have never not paid their bills.)

i know exactly what you mean olly. i've shared before, each time with strangers. sometimes sharing with 6 other people and i have never had a problem until i shared with this 'friend'. it seems friends think they have a bit of leeway, though to my mind it smacks of taking advantage!

flatmate can't pay her bills am i responsible too?

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