Housemate Problems?

fede80_2

Hey Guys,

Wonder if you could lend some advice on a problem I have.

Last month we rented a room out to a flatmate, it started to go great and we got on well then we relieased that more a less she was having people round all the time and sleeping here. We raised the issue and she agreed that she would calm down, after a week it started again so we raised the issue (again) and came to a negaition that she could have people around twice a week in our some flat which we thought was reasonable.
We also mentioned that my girlfriend is going away for a year so it would be just me and her living here from August and we couldnt afford it until the rent with just two people living here and we would get a couple in, however we said we would give it until august and go from there.
Last week our flatmate turned around and mentioned that she had been viewing properties and that she has seen this one and that she likes, it turns out that she has got it so we advertised the flat and had a couple viewing it. We really liked the couple and left it for two days for them to view so more properties and unfortunately they called back and said they didnt choose our flat.
So basically she gave us a weeks notice and we have no one to move in now, I am really angry and dont know what to do?

Look forward to your replies.

Many Thanks
Fede80

kimmi_b

I'm not too sure what you are asking for advice on - the problems you have had with your flatmate in terms of her having friends stay over, or the fact that she is now moving out

With regards to her notice period, if you have accepted 1 weeks notice then you have to stick by this regardless of whether you have anyone else to rent the room. You can't expect her to stay paying you rent until you have rented her room out as she also needs to secure alternative accommodation.

As for her having friends over to stay, I think it's a bit unreasonable to rent a room out to a lodger and then try to put restrictions on what that person does in that room. I assume you are talking about male friends staying over in her room and this bothers you? I have rented rooms out before in a previous property I owned and had the same 'issue' with flatmates having boyfriends stay over - however I felt that having the extra money to help with the mortgage was worth the inconvenience of having to remember to put pee-jays on before going to the loo in the middle of the night!

Sorry if I have the wrong end of the stick though!

LittleMissAspie

Are you subletting? Did she have any kind of contract?

skintchick

Did you have a written agreement? I always did with my lodgers and it stated a month's notice.

I also did not allow stopovers as the spare room is a single and I'm a christian and don;t agree with sex before marriage, but I always made that clear in advance in case they had a problem with it.

There's not a lot you can do now except learn from your mistakes and have a written agreement next time.

fede80_2

The problem with her friends was that they were here almost everyday using facilities they didn't pay for since the rent was based on 1 person and that's the reason why we adressed the issue. If we wanted 2 persons permanently here we would have choosen a couple and consequently charged more. The main problem now is about her moving out without giving enough notice since we had all agreed on 1 month notice (in order to get back the deposit)in case she wanted to move or we wanted her to. She pretended she didn't know and didn't even informed us she had started searching. Last week she mentioned that maybe she had found something but wasn't sure, leaving us with 1 week to find someone else and without a sure date to say to the people viewing the flat. She basically expected us to accomodate her until she would have found a flat to move to, regardless to the fact that we have to pay the whole amount to the landlord on the 1st of each month. We have lost alredy 2 people since we couldn't tell them a date to move in. She decided we should have let her stay here until whenever was suitable for her without expecting her,in the case we hadn't found someone else, to stay longer. Based on these facts we don't know what to do now regarding her deposit since she has left us in this situation.

skintchick

Sounds like you've handled this badly TBH. Tell her she has to honour the month you agreed on, or you won;t give her deposit back.

Tell new people the date they can move in and don't worry about what she will do - she has given notice.

I agree with you on the people staying all week but it's not clear to me whether this is a shared flat or your own property as that makes a difference in how people view these agreements.

fede80_2

It is a quite small shared flat with only 2 bedrooms. Me and my girlfriend are staying in on of them and since our names are both in the contract we always warned in advace about this not being a party house and about the 1 month notice. Unfortunately, due to personal problems I didn't draw a written agreement as I usually do.

skintchick

Right, but it was verbal? So tell her you're holding her to it or witholding her deposit, aand give prospective tenants the date they can move in, after which she will have to move out.

Time to get tough.

fede80_2

Yes it was verbal, and my girlfriend was there when we agreed. The problem is that now she has found a place for the 31st of this month and she expects her deposit back. We tought we did as well, but now the persons have choosen another property due to the "unsure" date of moving, leaving us in a bad situation. I wouldn't have had a problem in giving her the deposit back, even if i'm really angry about how she handled things, if we had people moving in on that date as well. But since we lost them because of her, now don't know whether to give the deposit back or not.

Lady_Lea

I come across this a lot. You should ALWAYS do a formal agreement, but if you have not and you did a verbal one, and took a deposit and had agreed the notice period was the same length that the deposit represents, then you can keep this.

She may fight you - and it would be up to you to prove the agreement, on the other hand she may not fight it - and you may be fine.

Don't give it back. And if she formally (gets legal letters etc) fights you - its your call, if you want to have the hassle.

skintchick

I agree. Wait till she's gone to tell her though!