rent arrears (tenant)

smi85

unfortunately this year i spent a substantial amount of time off work, leading to quite a backlog of unpaid bills which i am just catching up on. my housemate has paid up all of his rent (£550 split between two of us) but i am unpaid by about 3 months payments, around £800 inc the admin charges. my tenancy is up and we are moving out this weekend, obviously i have my deposit which would cover some of the arrears but before i go into the lettings agency tomorrow afternoon to talk about it, i'd like to know if it's unreasonable to ask for some form of repayment plan with them? it's not a sum of money i have lying around at the moment and i'm certainly not trying to get out of paying. all help appreciated, especially from landlords perspectives!

silvercar

If it is a joint tenancy then your housemates deposit can be retained by the landlord to cover your arrears. If you have separate tenancies that it can't.

moromir

Are you and your housemate on the same tenancy agreement and are you jointly and severally liable?

If so do you both appreciate that neither of you owe 'half the rent', you both, jointly and alone, owe the whole rent? Does your housemate realise he could be persued in court for your arrears?

You can discuss it with the letting agent but realise that it isn't their decision, it is the landlords'.

If there are any dilapidations at the property then the landlord is within his rights to offset your (both of you) deposit against that before he considers offsetting it against your rent debt.

Its one of those situations where if you don't ask, you don't get, but be more than prepared for them to turn round and say no.

G_M

Firstly, what kind of tenancy do you have? Do you and housemate have a single tenancy (joint and several)?
Is it in Eng/Wales?
Is your deposit protected?

Assuming it's a single tenancy, then

my housemate has paid up all of his rent (£550 split between two of us) but i am unpaid by about 3 months payments

is inaccurate. You are jointly in arrears. The landlord (and his agent) will not differentiate or care which one of you has/has not paid. Between you you both owe the full rent (whatever that is).

So you are BOTH in arrears. And the money will be taken from the whole deposit, notjust from 'yours'.

If the deposit does not cover the amount owed, the landlord's options are to
1) ask one or both of you to pay it all immediately
2) agree a payment plan
3) take one or more likely both of you to court

No LL likes going to court - it is slow, time-consuming, stressfull for everyone, and costs more money. So provided the LL thinks you are being reasonable, AND can be trusted, they are likely to agree to a payment plan.

Can you provide guarantees of where you will be living? working? The biggest fear will be that you 'disappear'.

may_fair

I'm a LL and I'd much prefer for a T in financial difficulties to discuss it with me and negotiate a settlement than have to take legal action against him. However, as has been pointed out, it may not just be you who's liable for the unpaid rent.

You mention 'admin charges' as part of the debt; but what are these admin charges? If they are penalties of some kind they may not be enforceable.

Jeffrey_Shaw

may_fair wrote: »

You mention 'admin charges' as part of the debt; but what are these admin charges? If they are penalties of some kind they may not be enforceable.

True. The first requirement is that the Letting Agreement states what they are; if it doesn't, they're not payable at all.

smi85

£20 has been added on a certain times during the arrears to cover 'admin fees'. I know nothing more than that. Yes we are jointly liable but we have always paid seperately with our own standing orders from personal accounts. I'm happy to give them my new contact details, I do genuinely want to pay it off and I'm planning to go into the agency in the morning to discuss it with them. The only scenario that would come of them penalising my housemate for the arrears is that I'd reimburse him myself as essentially it is my debt not his. Hopefully it can all be sorted out.

somethingcorporate

Contractually assuming the above it is neither your nor his debt but both. You need to understand that they can and will chase you both.

It may be better if you can come to some arrangement with him and get him to clear both of your arrears.

Edit: As a landlord I would appreciate you trying to get up to date. If it is by a payment plan then so be it, better than not getting anything.

DVardysShadow

smi85 wrote: »

£20 has been added on a certain times during the arrears to cover 'admin fees'. I know nothing more than that.

If nothing is said in your contract about admin fees, when you do send money, send a covering letter saying '£xx for rent period yy to zz'. Keep a copy.

At leas that way, you will have paid your rent and you can leave the agent to sing for his 'admin fees'.

smi85

ok thanks very much for your help, has helped put my mind at ease a bit, never been in trouble with money before so it's not a good time!

G_M

I too would question whether you should be paying the admin fees.

And you might well do better discussing the arrears and payment plan with the landlord - not his agent. You owe this money to the landlord after all.