Just want to leave..:'(

blunt_crayon

i would definitely go to the student union/welfare officer/accommodation office and explain your situation. your degree has to be the priority here and it sounds like these issues are seriously affecting you and the way you work, stress, worry, getting ill etc. they may be able to sort you out with some temporary accommodation in their halls of residence. at the very least they should be able to offer you decent advice on your rights and the legalities of the contract. good luck.

ILW

Regarding the dodgy guy you are sharing with, your boyfriend or dad should "have a word" with him rather than leaving it all to you. Let him know his behaviour is unacceptable.

t1gger

Uh! Hate these situations, shared accommodation can be a total nightmare. The first place I got on my own was probably the best year of my life! Peace at last.....

Definitely take this to the student accommodation office. With regards to your AST, it sounds like you would have to give notice after 4 months that you were leaving after 6, otherwise be liable to pay a fee. I did this before and they charged me £500, best money I ever spent at the time.

It sounds like you should leave for your own sanity. It may not be the first time in your life you have to spend a bit of money to make a problem go away (and I don't mean getting your partner whacked).

tbs624

sandraroffey wrote: »

lanlords are supposed to be registered with the local council. and they are also supposed to keep the place up to scratch; thats why they are registered. get onto the housing/health department at the council. they can make thelandlord put it right.

The requirement for *all* LLs to be registered with the Council applies in Scotland, but not in E& Wales.

However, itwasyou86, how many occupants does this house usually have, and how many storeys are there?

It is probable that this property is a licensable HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) and as such has to meet certain standards, and the owner/manager has to be registered. You can check with the local Council to find out:

(a) whether it should be licensed and
(b) whether it actually has been , or has an application pending

so ask either for the person responsible for HMO registration or whoever deals with all private sector rentals -often called a TRO (tenancy relations officer). You will have to persist as they tend to be busy.

If the property has repairs/safety issues then the couincil can inspect and ensure that the LL brings things up to standard. If the property should have a license but no application has been made then the Council can prosecute the LL (up to £20K fine) and the Tenants can get up to a year's rent repaid under a Rent Repayment Order.

I am assuming that you didn't find this property via the Uni's accomms list becuase there are normally certain compliance rules to be met before a LL can list with Unis and colleges. The Accomms officer or student welfare adviser should still be able to help you with all of this, as well as you making use of the council's appropriate depts.

Are you each signed up to an individual contract, rather than all tenants signed up to one with what is called *joint & several liability"?

Most ASTs contain a clause about not causing "nuisance" to neighbours or to other occupants of the house. Some of your fellow tenant's behaviour sounds as though it would come under that heading and your LL should be dealing with it. You need to make complaints in writing & keep copies not just do it verbally and then the LL *has* to act.

You do not have to have your sole name on bills etc and you should have made it clear that you were not prepared to accept this. If you are paying the tv/internet costs and getting no assistance with bills then simply adjust the settings so that the non-paying tenants cannot have access. It's amazing how a couple of days without an" internet fix" can focus house sharers' minds on bill payments.;) What does the clause in the AST about utility bills say?

As regards the contract and the break clause, can you post the full clause up on here?

sooz

tbs624 wrote: »

If you are paying the tv/internet costs and getting no assistance with bills then simply adjust the settings so that the non-paying tenants cannot have access. It's amazing how a couple of days without an" internet fix" can focus house sharers' minds on bill payments.;) What does the clause in the AST about utility bills say?

Great suggestion. When I was at university, (in the dark ages before internet), we used to take the fuse out of the tv plug, remove the loo roll, & take the bulbs out of the non-paying flatmate's bedroom lights. Then they would remember that they could pay, & go without beer that week.

Soot2006

Back in my student days I got so angry with everything that I let the electricity meter run out and refused to put another penny on. I ate cold food for WEEKS and used a high powered torch that I recharged in the university library while I did my reading! I started taking regular showers at the university gym. And all th, while, the other tenants moaned and complained (and they smelled pretty bad too!) .. and they NEVER put any money on the damn thing!

ARGH! It winds me up just remembering it, and it was 10 years ago!

Of course in the end I cracked!

Pee

You are a student. You have no money. Who is going to take you to court for the fees?

The Student's Union will have someone who can help, or the Law dept may have a free representation unit.

If you are a student, you should avoid living with working people because of the Council Tax rules.

You do seem a little reliant on your parents. Maybe Halls of Residence would be a better place for you to be living.

itwasyou86

Hey everyone, thanks for your messages. I'll try to answer all questions as best I can, got a rotten cold again today, one out of the many I've had in this house, and to think, before I moved in I only ever got the cold once every year or so, haha.

Basically when I moved to Uni I moved to a different city, I couldn't handle halls because I'm generally quite anxious person, so I tried to find a house to live in, at the time my dad (who lives in the Uni city) worked with this girl who her dad owns this 4 bedroomed house, and a room had become available. So I came up to view it, and at the time, the room the damp is in was the front downstairs room being used as a bedroom so I never saw this damp.

Anyway I paid a deposit of £100, then moved in, everything was fine, I paid my bills on time and it was all okay, this guy was still here but I wasn't having to deal with him at the time.

Then I go home for Christmas, I come back, the gas and electric are in my name, the landlady came round and told me basically if I don't put the Virgin Media in my name then we 'just won't have it altogether'. I need this for the internet connection for my Uni work obviously, and I suggested rather than have the tv aswell , we should just get a freeview box - But no, she said the house isn't connected up to any aerial points so we'll have to pay £250 to get it connected so she said might aswell just go with the virgin media cos its fibre optic or something.

So I got it in my name, but I panicked because when it was in the other girls name, this guy who lives here ran up a bill of £15 by watching all these films, and when the bill came in he refused to pay it, so I was scared he'd do it to me, so my dad said he'll pay it, then when this guy found out my dad was paying it he made out he could watch as much as he wanted. I said no and I've changed the code so he can't 'buy' anything without paying for it.

Just before the other girl moved out at Christmas, the landlady came round and I was spending up to three hours a day trying to keep the house cleaned, and she came round cos the other girl had been moaning that I hadn't been clearing up when she and her boyfriend had made a mess, so the landlady comes and threatens to use our deposits to pay for a cleaner to do it??

I'm just sick of the whole thing, I don't even know whats going on with the house interms of who owns it because it was meant to be her dad's house but then she said that he'd sold it to her so she was now our landlady but then we had a small period where bailiffs were knocking on the door for her and she said to us not to tell them she's our landlady if they ask who it is say her dad's solicitor??
She said if the bailiffs come back we'll need to prove who we are so they don't start taking things but whenever someones knocked we've either been out or just ignored it.

Bleh, I best get more tissues. heh. Thanks again for all your messages, I've spoken to my mum she says the only thing she thinks I can do is stick it out til September and go to the Citizen's Advice Beraeu(?) and ask them if it's okay to go then.
Because she's now said I'm contracted til January so mine and my boyfriend's contracts run alongside eachothers, but I've not signed anything??

Oh, and also, the house has 3 bedrooms, but she rents out 4 rooms. Basically there are three bedrooms upstairs, and the front room downstairs with the front door etc. Me and my boyfriend share one room upstairs, but we're paying £200 per month for the downstairs room aswell just because if we didn't she'd let it to someone as a 4th bedroom and we'd have no access to the front door or the gas meter. Some might say why don't you both just rent the front room, that does sound more sensible but I have mild athsma and that would mean sleeping in that front room and thats where 98% of the damp is, whereby the other 2% is in the bathroom.
So at the moment, me and my boyfriend share 1 room, theres the empty room that I was in but moved out of because it's more sensible for me and bf to share the bigger one. And then there's ****head's room on the other end of the house, then downstairs we've got the front room, plus another lounge and the kitchen and the bathroom joins onto the back of the house, but it doesn't have a bath. Just a shower, sink and toilet.
We've also been finding slugs in the house? We've found them in the shower, the kitchen, the lounge on the wall, and we've found trails of slime on the walls and once even on the sofa. :eek:
Plus we have had the Hee-oogest spiders I've ever seen in my life. >.<

xx

itwasyou86

I'd just like to say I'm not so reliant on my parents as it seems, Because of a mistake through my LEA I didn't recieve any instalment in January this year, my parents help me out with £20 a week til next week when I get my next instalment. Once I've got that back they'll stop. Which is fine.

sooz

If you didn't rent the front room too, you'd have no access to the front door????????????????????????????????? Or the gas meter, where presumably the only gas mains stop c*ck is? :mad: Ignoring the problems with your flatmate, this place sounds like a death trap.

Phone your local council now. Ask to speak to the tenancy relations officer, (or the private renting/housing officer). Speak to your uni welfare lot too.