Housemate moved out without paying bills or cleaning and is now abroad until Sept

thisisnic

Hi everyone,

I am having problems with my housemate who has just moved out and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice?

I've been living in a shared (student) house for the past 9 months and have been living with 2 guys I didn't know before we lived together. One moved out earlier this year, so up until a few days ago there was just me and another guy. The bills were all in my name as I moved in a month before either of them.

He owes me around £250 in bills and was living intermittently between our house and his sister's house 30 miles away as he's finished university for the year. He said he'd be back this week to collect his stuff and pay me the money he owed me, but he has now moved out (and is at home in Belgium until September) without paying me any money. The house is also a complete mess.

Two different questions:

Firstly, he has done absolutely no cleaning before he moved out. He has left rubbish in his room and has left mess and dirty pans he has abandoned all over the kitchen. I phoned our landlady to ask if I was responsible for cleaning this. I explained that I was happy to do the majority of the cleaning, and asked if she could take money out of his deposit to sort the rest. She seemed unwilling and said not to worry about his room, and that she'd look at the rest of the house when I come to move out in 2 weeks. I think I know the answer to this question, but I'll ask anyway: am I responsible for cleaning the whole house now? I presume I am, which is annoying, especially as she'll be withholding his £100 deposit anyway.

Secondly, and more importantly: the money he owes me for bills. The only contact details I have for him are his email address, UK mobile number (which doesn't work now) and his sisters and brother-in-law's landline number. I phoned this number earlier to try to find out what is going on, which is when I found that he had left the country.

Steps I have taken so far:

1. Given my mobile number to his brother-in-law and asked him to tell my housemate to call me ASAP. I explained the entire situation with the mess and bills to him, and he was very sympathetic.

2. Phoned landlady as mentioned above. She has contact details for his parents in Belgium and I have also emailed to ask for those details.

3. Emailed him and asked if he can get in touch ASAP to sort this so I don't have to go down the small claims route. Said I presumed he just "forgot to pay" to try to keep things civil.

So, to summarise, my questions are:
A. Am I responsible for cleaning of the entire house?
B. Is there anything else I should do to try to sort this? If he doesn't get in touch within a week, I'm going to look into small claims court action. I believe I may have to look at the European small claims court, although I don't know much about this.
C. He has paid me cash for some of the bills this year. If I take it to the small claims court, the burden of proof is on me to prove he owes me money. I have kept records of when he has paid me and what bills I have paid, but is this enough?

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me and I hope I posted this in the right forum!

BitterAndTwisted

You're on a hiding to nothing about the money for bills, I'm afraid.

Unless you're all on a joint tenancy the mess they have left behind is nothing to do with you. If it is a joint-tenancy you'd better buy some rubber gloves and get cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

thisisnic

How does it work if we all signed separate contracts as we moved in separately, but the landlord has included the term "joint tenancy" in it?

may_fair

thisisnic wrote: »

How does it work if we all signed separate contracts as we moved in separately, but the landlord has included the term "joint tenancy" in it?

It won't be a joint tenancy just because of the words 'joint tenancy'.

Is the rental property in England/Wales with LL non-resident?

Did the three contracts all start on different dates, with just one name (as tenant) on each separate contract, and the rental property identified as a particular room in the house with shared access to communal areas?

What does the contract say on the subject of liability for utilities bills? What did the LL tell you before you moved in?

thisisnic

Thanks

Yeah, it is a "rental property in England/Wales with LL non-resident".

All contracts were on different dates, all have just one name on each contract. However, no mention of particular rooms or communal areas at all has been made on any of the contracts.

Regarding bills, it says "All the Tenants will pay for gas and electricity supplied to the premises during the tenancy". Another basically identical statement covers phone calls and line rental.

Regarding the deposit: "A deposit of £100 is payable by the tenant to secure the accommodation on booking. This then acts as a returnable breakage and cleaning bond which will be returned when the property has been inspected and the keys returned to the landlord." I don't know if it's relevant, but we all have a separate set of keys which includes a key for our own bedroom. Also, "The Tenants will return the property to the landlord in the same state of cleanliness as it was received".

I can't remember what was said before we moved in, but it would have been just something vague along the lines of "bills aren't included, so you sort them out yourselves".

G_M

On the basis of what you say:
1) you have separate tenancies
2) so you have separate deposits
3) provided the areas for which you are responsible (communal plus your room) are clean/undamaged you should get your (£100) deposit back. The other deposits are nothing to do with you.
4) even if there is dirt/damage, your deposit can only be reduced if the LL can prove the dirt/damage was not there when you moved in - did you sign an inventory at move-in?
5) if the utilitites are in your name, you are legally responsible. They are nothing to do with the LL. If unpaid, the utility companies will chase you. Whether you succeed in getting a contribution from your house-mates is entirely down to your communication/relationship with them. You could try suing them, but it will be an uphill struggle, esp abroad.

Yorkie1

Sounds as though the housemate is only abroad until September, when he returns for next year's course.

I'm sure the small claims court could wait until then...

may_fair

thisisnic wrote: »

Regarding bills, it says "All the Tenants will pay for gas and electricity supplied to the premises during the tenancy". Another basically identical statement covers phone calls and line rental.

Okay, yes, you'll have to claim against the guy who hasn't paid his share. Basically, you had a verbal contract with the other two tenants that they would contribute a % share of the bills. It should be enough to show evidence of previous payments made to you, and obviously copies of all the bills in your name.

Better to wait till he's back in England. Claim procedure is really slow, so if you went via European small claims, it'd not only be more complicated, but you'd have the added complication that half-way through the claim the defendant moved country.

Regarding the deposit: "A deposit of £100 is payable by the tenant to secure the accommodation on booking. This then acts as a returnable breakage and cleaning bond which will be returned when the property has been inspected and the keys returned to the landlord." I don't know if it's relevant, but we all have a separate set of keys which includes a key for our own bedroom. Also, "The Tenants will return the property to the landlord in the same state of cleanliness as it was received".

Whilst all three of you are responsible for cleaning the communal areas (and individually for your bedrooms), you're the last one left so it would be advisable to clean the communal areas (and your room). You don't have to clean the bedrooms of the tenants who've moved out; their bedrooms are their sole responsibility.