couple split. who gets deposit??

picnic

im looking for some advice for my neice.. her and her BF have split up and he has left and gone back to live with his parents, he has stated he will not pay anymore bill for the flat inc the rent BUT when the deposit is refunded he is expecting ALL of it as it was paid from his bank but in HER name? questions:
1. is he legally responsable for the rent until the either she can find someone else to move in? or the aggrement is up (2 months)
2. who gets the deposit? (is it not 50/50)? and how can she make sure she gets her half?
3. can she get his name removed from the tenancy with out his knowledge?
4. can she then change the locks?

im sorry if these are 'you sould know this' kind of questions but Iv never rented so have no idea on how to advise her...

thanks in advance for any help.

duchy

Depends on the agreement they signed when taking out the tenency and if the tenency was joint or not (TBH all this about he paid the money in her name isn't very clear). Is her name on the agreement at all ? Has she talked to the landlord about changing the names on it ? etc.

poppysarah

Is it a joint tenancy?

Technically the deposit is his. If she can stay there on her own (without a change of tenancy) then there's no need (or desire from the landlord point of view) to give her the deposit back.


EDIT:

Technically the money is his, but the deposit is hers...
(if its a sole tenancy then she owes him the money but he'd have to sue to get it if she doesn't want to give it)

maginot

1) If both names are on the lease then, yes he would still be jointly liable for the full rent, the same as your niece.
2) you could probably get this paid 50/50 and all the properties I have stayed in the depsit is normally refunded to the same account that the rent is being paid from, not the original account.
3) This would be almost impossible, the landlord would need to serve notice if he wasn't willing to be taken off the lease in agreement with the landlord and give your niece a new lease (more trouble for landlord as would have less people to go after for rent).
4) if he is still a legal tenant on the lease, it would not be advisable to change locks. Also, although you could technically change locks, it again would be advisable to seek landlord permission if your niece is planning on staying there longer term.

How long is left on the lease? May be a good idea to ask landlord how much to break lease and just make a quick break ( try to charge this to deposit, so avoids deposit animosity).

HappyMJ

picnic wrote: »

im looking for some advice for my neice.. her and her BF have split up and he has left and gone back to live with his parents, he has stated he will not pay anymore bill for the flat inc the rent BUT when the deposit is refunded he is expecting ALL of it as it was paid from his bank but in HER name? questions:
1. is he legally responsable for the rent until the either she can find someone else to move in? or the aggrement is up (2 months)Why does everyone today appear to say legally. It's not illegal...Legally he doesn't have to do anything. It's a civil matter if he doesn't pay the contracted rent then she pays it and files a claim in the county court to get her money back.
2. who gets the deposit? (is it not 50/50)? and how can she make sure she gets her half? Whoever claims it. If she doesn't get her half and it goes to him then again she must file a claim against him.
3. can she get his name removed from the tenancy with out his knowledge? If her name is on the tenancy as well she has to hand in notice and sign a new tenancy agreeement if she wants his name removed. He will know as notification of the refund of the deposit will come back to him although the notice will be at this address so he probably won't know.
4. can she then change the locks? She can but she technically has to give a copy of the keys to the BF. It's still his home as he is still on the tenancy agreement.

im sorry if these are 'you sould know this' kind of questions but Iv never rented so have no idea on how to advise her...

thanks in advance for any help.

The above is my opinion only. Seek legal advice for more accurate information.

Hijabee

50/50 could be the best answer.

tyler80

When our deposit was returned we were sent a cheque in both our names. Since we didn't have a joint account I asked for it to be issued in my name only. Before they would do this they wanted a signed letter from my partner that it was ok to issue the cheque.

So it was clear the letting agent considered it to be our deposit

picnic

thanks to everyone for the advice. I will pass this on to my neice.. all the info I have is in the first post, if & when I find out any more info I will come back.

princeofpounds

1. is he legally responsable for the rent until the either she can find someone else to move in? or the aggrement is up (2 months)

They are jointly and severally responsible for the rent. That means the LL can pursue, him, her or both of them as he likes for rent.

After the LL is settled, the question comes to sharing responsibility between the co-tenants. There is an assumed contract between them - contracts do not need to be written, they can be verbal or even established by your intentions and actions. So for example, if they had been paying 50% of the rent each for 10 months and he skips the last 2 then a small claims court judge is likely to (but not certain to) hold him responsible for it. Should you go to the trouble to taking a claim that far.

2. who gets the deposit? (is it not 50/50)? and how can she make sure she gets her half?

The person who gets the deposit from the LL is either who they send it to, or whoever the lead tenant is under the custodial scheme, depending on how the deposit is protected.

Again, there is then an assumed contract between the co-tenants. If he can prove he paid all the deposit then he has a decent chance of getting it back as the original money was not 'communal'.

3. can she get his name removed from the tenancy with out his knowledge?

Knowledge? Or permission? She can't scrub him from the tenancy, she has to end the tenancy and get a new one reassigned to her by the LL. As he is currently out of the property that is a bit easier, because she can end the tenancy as normal, his permanent absence can be interpreted as conduct indicating an agreement to the end of the tenancy, and she can sign a new one.

4. can she then change the locks?

IF she gets him off the tenancy, she can change the locks, if the LL agrees or if she restores the original (or similar so no loss is incurred) locks on exit so the LL is not inconvenienced.

It helps to think of this as two separate contractual arrangements - Ts (*together*) and LL, then between co-tenants.

It's unclear where the deposit money really did come from, but if it was originally his money I would suggest the following - give it all back to him, minus damages, minus his share of missed rental payments. He would find it hard to get any more back from her even in court. If it did not all come from him (i.e. did she pay something into his bank before he paid the whole thing?) then divide as appropriate.