Student Joint Tenancy Problems

WhiteHorse

Many parents are caught like this. Check the small print very carefully indeed and don't be bamboozled by offspring claiming that 'Smith and Jones' are allright and it'll 'all be okay'.

It won't. Letting agents tend to be very aggressive. They can and will come after you for the money.

maria90uk_2

Hi Jayme,

We didn't think of doing that but as we don't go to a great uni in terms of student support we fear they will just refer us back to the CAB. It is something we will try now you have mentioned it.

Can you give any other advice?

Thanks

jayme1

maria90uk wrote: »

Hi Jayme,

We didn't think of doing that but as we don't go to a great uni in terms of student support we fear they will just refer us back to the CAB. It is something we will try now you have mentioned it.

Can you give any other advice?

Thanks

see how it goes with the uni even if they fob you off (which they really shouldn't) you can email (or better is a formal written letter) telling the letting agency that you have involved the university, you can also arrange a meating with the letting agency to talk things out maybe even with the university as moderators.

maria90uk_2

jayme1 wrote: »

see how it goes with the uni even if they fob you off (which they really shouldn't) you can email (or better is a formal written letter) telling the letting agency that you have involved the university, you can also arrange a meating with the letting agency to talk things out maybe even with the university as moderators.

Ok, I understand your suggestion but it has been nearly 4 weeks since we last had contact with our letting agent and we are unsure whether they have completely dropped the issue or whether they are looking to take things further.

We have researched and have read that they can issue us with a default notice which goes onto each of our credit files. We are wondering if a default notice is paid within its given time limit (we're reading 7 days) will it still go on our credit file?

Thanks

00ec25

maria90uk wrote: »

Maria

assuming you are in England, then the Shelter website explains the correct legal process for enforcing the LL's "repairing obligations",

note the tenant witholding rent from the outset is not one of the legal steps

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets

bristol_pilot

@maria90uk - welcome to the forum. It is customary to start a new thread when posting a new issue. For a start, you are far more likely to get more useful replies.

The Cit.Av. advice is correct - you are not entitled to withold rent if there are problems with the house.

Is your rent really £1196 per month per tenant? That is a hell of a lot of rent - is it in central London?

jayme1

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Is your rent really £1196 per month per tenant? That is a hell of a lot of rent - is it in central London?

thats only £300 per month (£75ish a week) each (as that's how student housing is done per student not the whole house), depending where she is that is about the correct price for a mid to very good student house.

deary65

I have been reading this thread with interest, and it fascinates me, how people believe what they read. Having read the facts posted I can find no evidence of a joint tenancy in law. Some background information by way of explanation. Originally land could only descend by way of the fee ( inheritance) and before a person could give direction to land by will, the law speaks of giving land direction, that is, directing it away from its rightful owner the crown. It is a fact in English law, a living person has no heirs, this left the inheritance vulnerable a man could not be sure who would inherit the land to secure his wife’s future,a process was invented by way of device, whereby the fee would be transferred to another person ( known as a straw man) who would in turn re-convey the land to the several tenants to be held as joint tenants. This had the effect of putting the inheritance into abeyance until there remained one sole tenant.

The law has devised a process by which joint an several liability can be established known as the four unities.

For a joint tenancy to exist, each 'tenant' must have an identical interest in the whole land and every part of it. The interest of each person is the same in extent, nature and duration. In the case of freeholds, the seisin, and, in the case of leaseholds, the possession, is vested in all; none holds any part to the exclusion of the others. At common law the interest of each must vest at the same time. These are the four unities of title, interest, possession and time.


If any of these elements is missing, the joint tenancy is ineffective, and the joint tenancy will be treated as a tenancy in common in equal shares.

I have never known student accommodation not to have independently locked bedroom doors, if this is the case then there is no joint tenancy in law. It is in the agents interest to convince people sharing that they hold by way of join and several liability it makes their life a lot less complicated.


Sorry if the post is a bit long winded.

bristol_pilot

deary65 wrote: »

I have never known student accommodation not to have independently locked bedroom doors,

Err...we ARE talking about student accommodation that does not have independently locked bedroom doors. It is very common.

If students individually rent a room from the landlord there is no issue with joint tenancy, I agree. But what is often the case is that 6 or 7 students rent a whole house together on a joint tenancy agreement. If one or more students move out, the others have to make up the rent. Now, in the worst case scenario, all but one students move out owing rent then the last remaining one is liable for the whole rent. If their parents have signed a guarantee then...oh dear.

Renting rooms separately from a landlord has its own issues, not least the fact that the LL can rent out an empty room to any person he chooses. The only time I was ever robbed as a student was when the LL put someone into the house on that type of contract who turned out to be a thief.

maria90uk_2

bristol_pilot wrote: »

@maria90uk - welcome to the forum. It is customary to start a new thread when posting a new issue. For a start, you are far more likely to get more useful replies.

The Cit.Av. advice is correct - you are not entitled to withold rent if there are problems with the house.

Is your rent really £1196 per month per tenant? That is a hell of a lot of rent - is it in central London?

Thanks, I would have posted a new thread but I can't actually work out how to do it. Once I find out I will do it.

It is £1196 every four months per tenant. So roughly £300 per month. The letting agency gets 3 months money in advance! I actually worked out that over the course of the two years that we will have lived here, we will have paid nearly £30,000 of rent. Now that may be the going rate, but I think it's disgusting.

Anyway, I am going off the point. We decided to hold back some rent because we thought it was the only weapon we had to get them to do necessary repair work. We should have done research before we made the decision I admit that; the problem now is my housemates are panicking that we will receive a default notice/CCJ from our letting agent. I think it's highly unlikely as it has been nearly a month since we last heard from him, and when we did hear from him it was through one phone call (which wasn't even our actual agent) and two emails. I think that if he was really bothered about claiming £75 x 3 back from us he would have put a bit more effort in than that.

We are not sure whether we can be issued with a default notice without enough prior threats? Does anyone know anything about default notices?

Thanks in advance