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One of our tenants never moved in and now owes 9 months rent

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Hi, I'm a student and I'm in a 5 bedroomed house, but there is only 4 of us. The 5th never moved in, and stopped paying rent soon after that. They've tried ringing her but they have no address for her so the letting agency have now asked us to pay under our joint tenancy agreement.

We know we've got to pay, but they've also charged us £25 for every late month's rent..
We asked them months ago what would happen, because if there was going to be any charges we would obviously pay early to avoid them and they said charges like this would only apply to her. I'm ringing them tomorrow so hopefully they'll waive them.

Just in case though - £25 sounds a bit steep for a late payment charge - are they legally allowed to charge an amount that has no relation to the amount of work they have to do? (even though it's in the contract - like the banking charges that were deemed illegal)

I think I remember something like unfair terms in contracts are not binding?

And any other help people can give us would be great..
Thanks!
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Comments

  • Beardmidget
    Beardmidget Posts: 156 Forumite
    Some questions so we can better understand your problem-

    Precisely what sort of agreement do you have?

    Is it one agreement where all 5 of you are named or did you each sign an individual agreement?

    Did you all sign the agreement/ agreements?

    Do you pay rent as one lump sum to the landlord/ agent or do you pay individually?

    Do you know where this errant tenant has gone?

    How is the house arranged- are there locks on the internal doors?
  • williham
    williham Posts: 1,223 Forumite
    All 5 of us are named, and we all signed it.

    We pay individually by standing order to the letting agent.

    We don't know where she is and she doesn't answer her phone anymore.

    The house is just like a normal house - no locks as the landlord says they are illegal.

    Thanks.
  • williham
    williham Posts: 1,223 Forumite
    And she was credit checked instead of having a guarantor.
  • That's a bit of a !!!!!!- the lettings agent can pursue any and all of the tenants for the money owed.

    It's a bit shonky of them not to tell you about the £25 per month for late payment- given that you specifically asked! Not sure about the application of bank charge litigation to this sort of agreement- but i wouldn't hold your breath as that case is still ongoing and I think you can now only claim if you are in financial hardship.

    Does this 5th person attend your uni? Is her parents' address on the tenancy agreement? I find it difficult to believe that she can have simply vanished. If you can track down her parents, you can find her- and sue her for the money she owes!
  • Enfieldian
    Enfieldian Posts: 2,893 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 30 April 2009 at 10:43PM
    As stated before, the rest of you are liable for the shortfall.

    Why has it taken the agent 9 months to realise that they are only getting 80% of the rent?

    Did you try and get someone else to take her place?

    Does the credit check come with a rent guarantee service? (Homelet will pay the rent if a person they passed stops or is unable to pay for various reasons.....)

    It sounds as though you, the LL and the Agent have all been lax in your individual responsibilities.

    Have you offered to pay off the outstanding amount in installments?
  • tbs624
    tbs624 Posts: 10,816 Forumite
    Do any of you know this 5th tenant beforehand or did the LL/LA gather everyone together? Does s/he have a my space/facebook/bebo profile?

    The rest of you should have got proper clarification on the terms of your contract prior to signing up - if you had fully understood what JS&L meant for you all then no doubt you would have done your utmost to get a fifth tenant in to take this person's place once it became apparent that she wasn't moving in.

    Did this original 5th person pay a deposit and if so has the LL/LA taken that into account towards unpaid rent?

    If the 5th T was credit checked then she will have had to provide NI number, passport number or driving licence number etc (presumably with parental home address) and will be traceable - its just that it is easier for the LL/LA to go for you lot as JS&L Ts.

    Your Uni will have an accomms office -even if you didn't get this property via one of the Uni approved lists they should be able to help you with this.

    Whether or not a contract term is an unfair one (ie, on the late payment charges)can only be decided by a judge/court but the LL should have notified you all in writing that there was an additional debt accruing after a couple of months max IMO.

    Have you paid tenancy deposits and, if so, have they been scheme-registered and the prescribed info on the scheme passed onto you all?

    Is this house registered as an HMO?

    These may seem side issues to your query but depending on your answers either/both could provide you with some negotiation leverage.
  • williham
    williham Posts: 1,223 Forumite
    Does this 5th person attend your uni? Is her parents' address on the tenancy agreement? I find it difficult to believe that she can have simply vanished. If you can track down her parents, you can find her- and sue her for the money she owes!
    No she doesn't attend our uni, and there aren't any addresses on our tenancy agreement :(
  • williham
    williham Posts: 1,223 Forumite
    Do any of you know this 5th tenant beforehand or did the LL/LA gather everyone together? Does s/he have a my space/facebook/bebo profile?
    One of our friends (who has now left uni) recommended her as we only had 4 people and needed a 5th.

    The rest of you should have got proper clarification on the terms of your contract prior to signing up - if you had fully understood what JS&L meant for you all then no doubt you would have done your utmost to get a fifth tenant in to take this person's place once it became apparent that she wasn't moving in.
    We thought there wasn't a problem because she kept paying till autumn, then we tried looking for someone to stay but no luck.

    Did this original 5th person pay a deposit and if so has the LL/LA taken that into account towards unpaid rent?
    They did pay a deposit but it hasn't been taken in to account, should it have been?

    If the 5th T was credit checked then she will have had to provide NI number, passport number or driving licence number etc (presumably with parental home address) and will be traceable - its just that it is easier for the LL/LA to go for you lot as JS&L Ts.
    If they have her parental address can I sue her there or would I have to find out her current address?

    Your Uni will have an accomms office -even if you didn't get this property via one of the Uni approved lists they should be able to help you with this.
    We will speak to them soon, thanks.

    Whether or not a contract term is an unfair one (ie, on the late payment charges)can only be decided by a judge/court but the LL should have notified you all in writing that there was an additional debt accruing after a couple of months max IMO.

    Have you paid tenancy deposits and, if so, have they been scheme-registered and the prescribed info on the scheme passed onto you all?
    We all paid £300, they were scheme registered but we haven't received any information.

    Is this house registered as an HMO?
    What's a HMO :P

    These may seem side issues to your query but depending on your answers either/both could provide you with some negotiation leverage.
    Thanks for your help.
  • alexlyne
    alexlyne Posts: 740 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Not that it helps now, but when I was at Uni, when hunting for information on renting, it was always advised that everybody have individual contracts. To be liable for someone that you either know or not can be seen as rather risky.

    You're here because you need help, you're also here to learn for the future - that's the best thing about this site :)
    I can't offer advice on what other people have said, but good luck!
  • williham
    williham Posts: 1,223 Forumite
    Yeah I've definitely learnt alot of "life lessons" over the last year :p
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