rent and legal rights

lifedon

I am a Uni student and have just moved out of my rented property. I left providing a months notice, have no legal obligation to the house which i shared with a mate. As I did not sign nor see the contract. I left the property as i was paying £300 a month of a £600 contract lease of 11 months. I found this fair however the other tenant ("friend") abused the use of the communial areas (kitchen, living room, bathroom) the problem got so bad that u couldnt use any of these rooms. (kim and aggie style). The problem has now arose that it is my legal obligation to pay the rent. However the house is not legal for rent due to no smoke alarms, and the breech of other Gov policies. I have had threaten phone calls and letters from the landlord party, but feel it is not my obligation to return to the property or funding. I have been told the rent payment will be halfed for the rest of the lease but i must pay it. Can the landlord do this (is it breech of the contract?) please help. thanks

g_attrill

If you did not sign the contract but paid half the rent to your friend then you have no liabilities to anybody, why do you say that you do have such an obligation? I am certain that living there and paying half the rent does not in any way make you a party to the contract, likewise it gave you no rights to live there - your friend may have been breaking his contract and the landlord could have insisted that you moved out.

maninthestreet

Your friend was sub-letting to you. There is, nor never was, a contract between you and the landlord of the property. The obligation to pay the rent lies to the landlord lies with your friend.

theartfullodger

A tenancy/license does not have to be written: Think you'll find you have legal obligations... question is does you friend/the landlord realise this & will they take action... possibly not, time will tell..

Cheers!

Lodger

princeofpounds

OK, you need to be much clearer with your descriptions. Property law is a precise matter and not about blurting out various grievances.

Did you pay rent to the LL or to your friend?

Who signed the tenancy agreement?

Did you pay a deposit?

Is in in England or Wales?

Two more general points:-

You cannot back out of a rental just because your mate is messy. That's between you and him(her?) and nothing to do wiht the LL. You will be able to if you are a lodger and not a co-tenant however. That depends on the answers to the questions above.

Landlords failing in their obligations and you failing to pay the rent are two totally separate issues. You cannot just claim 'breach of contract' and leave because you are irritated. There are procedures to enforce the LL's obligations.

You really, really, really need to educate yourself on renting given that you are in the big bad world now and clearly unprepared for it. Read as much of this forum and landlordzone as you can.

tbs624

If your co-tenant took on the property in its entirety and allowed you to live there as a lodger/sub-tenant the rules will be different from if you both took the property on but have no formal paperwork from the LL. If you have exclusive occupation of the property and pay rent in the latter circumstances your tenancy will by default be an AST and you may be held to a minimum term of 6 months.

As you say you are a student get thee along to your Uni Accomodations Officer and/or Welfare Adviser. This is the sort of thing that they are there for.

You can also contact the Private Sector Rentals Officer at the local Council: this is especially the case if, as you say, the LL has failed to meet his legal obligations.

lifedon

Cheers for all the replies, and info. Well my ex-housemate has emailed me today asking for at least 1 more months worth of rent and that is that. However i still do not feel it is my duty to do so. The LL has asked that i find another tenant to take my place but is this not sub-letting and up to the current tennant as he has the contract to the house. I relise that im niave to all of this but I want to do what is right, i havnt left due to the mess of the house but that it was not safe to live there. (i know im going around the problem but i dont feel it is that important but maybe it is). I have paid a deposit but that was to the current tennant not the LL.

lifedon

princeofpounds wrote: »

OK, you need to be much clearer with your descriptions. Property law is a precise matter and not about blurting out various grievances.

Did you pay rent to the LL or to your friend?

Who signed the tenancy agreement?

Did you pay a deposit?

Is in in England or Wales?

Two more general points:-

You cannot back out of a rental just because your mate is messy. That's between you and him(her?) and nothing to do wiht the LL. You will be able to if you are a lodger and not a co-tenant however. That depends on the answers to the questions above.

Landlords failing in their obligations and you failing to pay the rent are two totally separate issues. You cannot just claim 'breach of contract' and leave because you are irritated. There are procedures to enforce the LL's obligations.

You really, really, really need to educate yourself on renting given that you are in the big bad world now and clearly unprepared for it. Read as much of this forum and landlordzone as you can.

Cheers, and here our my answers to the above. Rent was paid to my mate, he signed the tennacy agreement, i paid a deposit. and its in England. I agree with your above statement "You cannot just claim 'breach of contract' and leave because you are irritated" that is not accepatble. However, when it becomes a danger to yourself, and causes damage to the property, thats when LL obligations were not enforced, so thats when I left. Now its time to swat up on Info. Thanks again.

lifedon

g_attrill wrote: »

If you did not sign the contract but paid half the rent to your friend then you have no liabilities to anybody, why do you say that you do have such an obligation? I am certain that living there and paying half the rent does not in any way make you a party to the contract, likewise it gave you no rights to live there - your friend may have been breaking his contract and the landlord could have insisted that you moved out.

The LL knew i was living there but did not care as long as he got his money, but now iv moved out the LL asks for me to return and the rent will be "discounted" by a third. I have no clue what thats about but i don't want to know. thanks for the reply.

lifedon

tbs624 wrote: »

If your co-tenant took on the property in its entirety and allowed you to live there as a lodger/sub-tenant the rules will be different from if you both took the property on but have no formal paperwork from the LL. If you have exclusive occupation of the property and pay rent in the latter circumstances your tenancy will by default be an AST and you may be held to a minimum term of 6 months.

As you say you are a student get thee along to your Uni Accomodations Officer and/or Welfare Adviser. This is the sort of thing that they are there for.

You can also contact the Private Sector Rentals Officer at the local Council: this is especially the case if, as you say, the LL has failed to meet his legal obligations.

Cheers alot of help. I know this is going to be idiotic but what is an AST rent agreement, you gotta learn some were.

theartfullodger

Assured Shorthold tenancy see...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assured_shorthold_tenancy

Cheers!

Lodger