Problems in shared student house. Advice needed please

Lady_K

I know that they will really have to pay his share if he does not because they will not want to risk being blacklisted along with him and this could still happen even if they both paid thier own share and he didnt unfortunately.

I don't think any companies would go for bills being made liable to 'the occupier'. The only interest the landlord has taken billwise is to chase up people who have left and not paid just before my daughter and her friend moved in. He wanted the names of the people the bills were in. They have taken readings from when they moved in so they should not be liable for bills previous to that date but they will have to closely check that.

Good idea about the lads parents, goodness knows what they would find when contacting them though. If things get too bad they will have to inform them that they will be taking him to the small claims court if necessary and they may bail him out. We have no idea whats true or not though and they may not give a damn. But this all depends on if the landlord will give them the details though. If not, they dont even know his surname name yet but once they find out we will start investigating and play it by ear to get as much info as possible. All they know is he is from London and rents the house all year round but goes to London very regular to see his friends, doesnt mention going back to parents. He could even be on drugs but something weirds going on anyway

xycom1

I can't see the landlord disclosing information like that to you unless they are as dodgy as this 'lad' you're talking about.

If they have the tenancy agreement with his signature on it, then surely they can see his surname from that?

If you're fretting this badly not, then I'd highly recommend not putting the bills in joint names - if they do and even 1 penny goes unpaid then they'll get disconnected from the service and still have to pay the bill before the service gets reconnected (imagine not having any electricity...).

Best thing to do is to have all the bills in your daughter's/friend's name then you will know what's going on, what's been paid, etc. If they have to end up forking out for the other guy's share then that's just something to chalk up to experience - they will have to hassle him until he pays, hassle the landlord to hassle him/his parents, etc.

Lady_K

They have had a better look at the tenancy and it actually has his full name and address on it and my daughter and her friends. It also states that they will be sharing the bill payments between the three of them.

The other girl has now sorted it so the elec and gas bills are in her name but she has now asked them to add to it all of the tenants names. The bills will be paid whatever happens whether he pays his share or not and if he doesnt they will just persue him for what he should have paid later in whatever way necessary.

They have found all this out more or less as soon as they moved in and although its not nice they at least know and can be more prepared for things. Because of this they will push to try and get the bills paid early for the year.

Still not sorted the water or tv license out yet though but the properties tv is now in the lounge. If the tv license is put into 3 names though that might start them off bugging them about charging 3 licenses rather than one so prob best keep that in one name if possible. My daughter will bring her portable back home rather than risk anything but they wont know what the lad has in his room

jennifernil

What he has in his room is not for them to worry about, as long as they are following the rules they will be ok.
I am curious as to how the 2 of them come to be sharing with a complete stranger. I take it this is not an official college residence? Mostly it is 2 or 3 friends that take a flat together. I do hope it all works out. Things are already sounding better.

Lady_K

She has stayed in student halls for the last 4 years and had really had enough of halls they are so small and very restricted.

This is her second time at uni and although she was only 21 last year when she started this second course she found it to be a big difference as a lot of the students come from high school and are 18. She found herself in the middle. There were a lot of young ones and some much older mature ones but not many her age. She met some girls but they either lived in the area already at home or with boyfriends so she strugged to find people to share with. She found this private accom, it has large rooms, is decent and has a reasonable place to park her car which is not easy in the area so she took the risk as places were getting booked up. I was naturally worried but I also knew the halls made her depressed and she really really wanted to live in a house this time.

Hopefully things will not turn out so bad, she is happy with the place apart from things with the guy, he is still not back from London and has still not returned texts or calls. NTL came round to inform them that the broadband installation arranged by the lad had been rejected but the girls get thiers in tomorrow and they will encript it

CrispyUK

jennifernil wrote:

On the TV licence.........if a tv is in a room to which only one person has access then that tv requires its own licence.

Do I need my own licence if I live in shared accommodation?

If you are going to be sharing a house, a separate tenancy agreement would normally mean your room is classified a separately occupied place. In this case, if you have a TV in your room, you will need your own TV Licence.

However, if there is only one TV in a communal area, then only one TV Licence is required. Similarly, if your house can be treated as one place shared by all, then only one TV Licence is required - a joint tenancy agreement would normally indicate that there is only one separately occupied place.

This is taken from the Student section of the TV Licensing website. As the property in question has a joint tenancy agreement then a single TV licence should suffice.

Lady_K

thankyou that helps a lot she can leave her portable in her room then now

Lady_K

Just wanted to ask could they move out of this accommodation now even though the guarantor paper has been signed? They have not handed the tenancy agreement to the landlord yet so if this is ripped up there is no legal tenancy is there? They have actually signed it but they just wouldnt give it him back to him can they do this?

Thing is the guarantor papers have a start date on them of the 30th July for a 48 week tenancy, they moved in earlier by 3 weeks but its not down in the tenancy. The landlord has just increased the monthly payments by so much each month over 11 months as he wants a month in advance to cover the extra 3 weeks and thats not on paper. So basically they arent really in a tenancy agreement yet. I've told her and her friend not to give it the landlord yet.

The lad has still not come back and the landlord did say today that previous tenants had said that the lad was contantly going away for weeks on end and not coming back and they never knew where he went. But all the landlord was bothered about was getting another tenant in to get the max 4 to pay rent.

I'm just wondering if they may be better off moving to a shared flat before its too late. The uni has shared ones for 2 people they arent cheap but at least they wouldnt have the worry of bills and water rates and everything plus its going to be expensive for them if they are paying everything themselves. My daughter didnt want halls again but these flats are maybe a little better.

I'm just concerned about the guarantor thing but surely even though its signed if they move out they cant hold them or the guarantor liable to pay can they coz the tenancy never started did it legally?

They would need definite proof that they had moved out though, I doubt the landlord would want to make that easy for them though seeing as he will only be left with 1 tenant out of 4.

They will tell him that its totally due to the tenant already living in. Its obvious that there are going to be big problems and they really cant do with the stress, the hours and placements are long on a nursing course and to come home to all that worry its going to be very stressfull. My daughter said that the mail they have for this lad and the previous tenant is unbelievable A sea of mail every day. They wont feel safe leaving anything around with him in th house

The girl has signed to move gas and elec companies too though on Friday and put them in her name with the other tenants listed she may be able to cancel that or can she? its ebico they are moving to. They will pay for what they use till they move.

Before they make a final decision though I think it would be worth contacting his parents and see if they will pay his share of the bills for the whole year ahead preferably on advance. I don't feel too confident about this actually happening though but if they do usually help him but give him the money they may pay it direct if they know there are problems

My daughter also had NTL internet fitted on Sat but I think she can end that within 30 days