Housemates moving out - what bills should they pay?

Elsterap

I and 2 others rent a 3person house, and we are all on the same tenancy agreement.

We've all lived here about 10months and have 2 months left on our contract, but now my 2 housemates want to move out.

I know they still need to pay their rent up until the end of the agreement, but we've always split the council tax, the water, the electricity and gas bills exactly by a third.

But next week they will both be living in different houses,(1 in the same town and the other in a different town) and i'm worried i'll be left with all the bils to pay on a three bedroom house!

What bills do they have to still pay?

chewmylegoff

Elsterap wrote: »

I and 2 others rent a 3person house, and we are all on the same tenancy agreement.

We've all lived here about 10months and have 2 months left on our contract, but now my 2 housemates want to move out.

I know they still need to pay their rent up until the end of the agreement, but we've always split the council tax, the water, the electricity and gas bills exactly by a third.

But next week they will both be living in different houses,(1 in the same town and the other in a different town) and i'm worried i'll be left with all the bils to pay on a three bedroom house!

What bills do they have to still pay?

they will be paying council tax wherever they have moved to, and won't "have" to pay for council tax on your property. you will, however, be able to phone up the local council tax office and tell them that you are now living there alone, and you should get a 25% discount (pro-rata for the remaining period of the tenancy).

re the other bills, don't think they have any obligation to pay them either - unless you can negotiate some arrangement between you and the other housemates where they make a contribution on the basis that it's a bit unfair leaving the tenancy early and saddling you with the bills.

as you say they have to pay the rent.

pinkshoes

Other than the rent, they won't have to contribute to any other bills.

It's a little mean of them moving out so close to the end. Couldn't they wait 2 months??

blunt_crayon

What does it say on your tenancy agreement? I suspect it will just say that you are jointly and severably responsible for bills/rent i.e. if someone doesn't pay their share you have to make up the amount.

If you're on meters for gas, water and elec then your bills should reflect the reduced usage. Council tax won't (you could get 25% off for single occupancy, but might not be worth the hassle for 2 months). Can you negotiate with them and say you'll pay the utilities if they will continue to pay their share of the council tax?

samroo

you could read all the meters when they move out, call the utilities with the readings and split the bills into three, after that down to you to pay

Willsnarf1983

if you want to get all technical and the fact that on the council tax you were all pay 1/3rd then they should pay you 2/3rds of the single persons council tax because if they don't you'll be paying more than you are now!

Will

orangeslimes

I would say if they have signed up to the contract to the end of that time then they have also signed up to pay a share of the bills - even if they are not there.
Though maybe a smaller contribution to gas/electric as they won't be using it.
No idea what the legal position is just what i think is fair.