Student Joint Tenancy Problems

mealeys

Hi

Can anyone give me any advice?

My daughter is one of 8 students who signed up to rent an 8 bed property for 2nd year of studying. I am a parent guarantor and I understand all the other kids parents are. One student (the lead tenant) dropped out of uni and has only paid 1 months rent, now he owes 4 months.

I have been told by the letting agency that everyone is responsible for his rent and if he doesn't pay, they can keep all 8 deposits of £250 each which will still not cover all the rent. Also the letting agency have advised us to take him to a small claims court, and get him taken off lead tenancy as he can sign to release the deposots to cover the rent he hasn't paid.

What success do you think we are likely of getting by taking him to small claims and is it best to get a new lead tenant to take this over.

Thanks
A Very Worried Mum.

voytovdwiof

They would most likely win, but it will take time and cost money, the best bet is to assume he's gone and the money is unrecoverable and have your daughter and the other students work out a solution which is most likely going to mean each takes on an extra 1/8th of the other persons rental costs. While they will most likely be able to get the money via a small claims court it's going to mean court time and if (as I think is the case) they have to pay rent really soon it won't be fast enough, so their best bet is working out a solution that doesn't involved getting any money from the student who has abandoned.

So yes, they should take him to small claims court but I don't think that will be a short term solution, it'll take months (depending on the amount) to recover the money, so for the time being they should have a new person take over as the lead tenant and then cover the abandoning students rent.

getmore4less

My daughter is one of 8 students who signed up to rent an 8 bed property for 2nd year of studying. I am a parent guarantor and I understand all the other kids parents are. One student (the lead tenant) dropped out of uni and has only paid 1 months rent, now he owes 4 months

.

You may have inadvertently made yourself liable for the lot.

What does your guarantor agreement say?


Not a good idea to do joint tenant in these situations.

ashbash11

Has your daughter been looking for a new housemate? This would stop the problem escalating any more if someone were to move in, keeping the amount that is owed to a minimum.
You should definitely take the previous tenant to small claims court, even if it is a long process. It's quite an easy process though (having almost been through that route myself, although a different situation entirely) Just sending the paperwork with details of my claim to the landlord was enough to get our deposits back, so maybe if you started the process and sent the paperwork to the previous tenant, it would be enough to get them to pay up too.
Would you be able to explain to the landlord that this is what you are planning to do, and see if he will wait until then to be paid the owed amount? The worst that can happen is that the Landlord will say no.
In that case you will need to pay what's owed and then claim it back in small claims court.

G_M

Being a guarantor is a big financial/legal commitment. Being guarantor on a 'joint and several' tenancy is a HUGE commitment.

Theoretically, you as guarantor can be taken to court by the landlord/agent for ANY and ALL debts. So if 7 of the 8 students failed to pay, and their parents/guarantors vanished, YOU would be liable for it all.

It is important not to think in terms of separate rental amounts, but to look at the total rent for the property. The other 7 tenants are all equally responsible for the entire rent, so best thing is
a) from the date the lead student left, divide the total rent by 7 instead of 8 and that's what they should each pay. That stops the arrears escallating
b) as Ashbash says, get a replacement housemate in, then go back to paying 1/8th each.

The same is obviously true for bills. When the gas bill arrives, they'll need to pay it between them, dividing by however many are living there at the time.

As for the one who left - he signed a contract so is liable to pay the rent. It's a hard lesson kids have to learn as they grow up. However the landlord/agent is unlikely to chase him as it is easier to chase the 7 still there and/or their guarantors.

However the remaining 7 tenants CAN sue the one who left, and probobly should.

Get the name of the 'lead' tenant changed too.

tbs624

Why have your daughter and her housemates allowed the arrears to get to 4 month's worth before acting?

Their priorities should be:

(1) to get another T in situ asap - use the Uni accomms office and sites such as accommodation for students .com. Yes its mid term but there will still be people who want to move because things haven't worked out in their original rentals. It has to be someone who meets with the LLs approval so draw the ad up jointly.
(2) to get that Lead T name altered at the deposit scheme pronto. Check online - DPS, TDS, or mydeposits.

They will need an address for their former fellow T to pursue him to court - do they have one? If they don't, can they try to trace him via social networking sites etc? Does the LA have a forwarding address? They will need to write a "letter before action" before heading to court.

Acting as a parental guarantor on a J&SL contract is a worry and some parents will offer to merely meet a maximum fixed amount which equates to their own offspring's usual rent over the year, rather than signing to guarantee the full J&SL of their son or daughter ( some LLs will accept this, others won't)

adg1

Why has she left it this long!?

They need to assume their friend has gone, find a replacement and get them to pay the other share of the rent.

As a whole, they should be covering the difference in there rent.

1/8th rent shouldn't be a major cost when spread over 7 people. This would therefore reduce the arrears.

TBS - In a joint a several tenancy, is it not the case that, though there is a lead tenant, all tenants are joint and severally liable for everything, hence any can authorise the release of the deposit to cover the arrears as long as its the collective?

smartpicture

It's a bit sad that everyone's advice is basically to let the bad guy walk away scot-free though, and let everyone else pay for his mistakes.

silvercar

Get a new tenant ASAP.

Although the letting agent and landlord may be annoyed, under housing law they cannot take steps to evict until the tenancy is owing two months rent. This does mean that the day the second months rent is due and the whole of the previous month's rent is unpaid the landlord could serbe notice and then go to court. But the rent is considered as a whole, so one tenant not paying an eighth of the total rent would take 8 months before there is a whole month's arrears and then another seven months before two month's rent would be owing on a rent day.

So the actions I would take would be to find another tenant ASAP. Agree with the departing tenant that his missing rent will come from his deposit. My son had exactly this last year and the landlord got the errant tenant to sign that all the rent arrears would come from this one person's deposit rather than equally from them all.

silvercar

smartpicture wrote: »

It's a bit sad that everyone's advice is basically to let the bad guy walk away scot-free though, and let everyone else pay for his mistakes.

Its a pragmatic approach. It happened to my son, one student failed their course and dropped out midway through the year. They initially planned to get a job and remain in the house but as a non-student they would have been liable for the council tax for the whole property (with a 25% discount as the only non-student). So with the best will in the world, the ex-student couldn't afford to remain in the house.

adg1

smartpicture wrote: »

It's a bit sad that everyone's advice is basically to let the bad guy walk away scot-free though, and let everyone else pay for his mistakes.

A bit sad maybe, but unfortunately realistic.

Is it really worth taking someone to the small claims court for 1/8th of the rent? Costs would be higher than the claim and time spent would just not be worth it.

I am guessing, though, that the actual weekly rent being paid per person is relatively small?

Locally (Kingston Upon Thames) students tend to pay between 70 and 120 per week each. For 8 people, they'd pay less, so assume 70pw/7 = £10 per week extra to cover the additional rent. Find a new tenant and be done with it.