is she liable???

homealone_2

my daughter along with 3 friends rented a house last year to share whilst doing their 2nd year at uni. they all left a cheque each as a deposit and went along there way. when the time came to move in they had heard nothing from one of their friends and even after many attempts to contact her she would not reply!! they then found a letter from the landlord saying her cheque had bounced. they finally contacted her and she said she would sort it. she didnt, and the next months rent being due soon the landlord said they would have to find a new no.4 to share. this they did really quickly thankfully and she paid her one months deposit and rent. they were really worried about making up the difference as the landlord said this new no. 4 did not wipe out what their friend owed. he did say he would sort out something but never said anymore. they are not getting close to end of lease and he is saying he wants them to add money owed, whic he says is 2 months rent totalling £600 onto the last months rent. saying they are all equally responsible as it was a joint tenacy. they are getting hold of lease agreement this week to read through as they dont remember much of what it said originally but are panicked they will have to pay up, is this true??? they are also now looking for a new property now and so will need as much money as possible for deposit on new flat??? where do they stand???

Debt_Free_Chick

homealone wrote:

he is saying he wants them to add money owed, whic he says is 2 months rent totalling £600 onto the last months rent. saying they are all equally responsible as it was a joint tenacy.

Yes, this is the normal term in a tenancy agreement - if one tenant doesn't pay, the others are liable! It's really for them to sort out with the friend who backed out.

chant1l

As a student I had exactly the same thing happen, people backing out but not telling you and expecting you to cough up to the financial costs. I guess since she never returned your calls she won't be rushing to throw money at you.
The landlord is not totally blameless here however, afraid to rock the boat he didn't immediately advise you that one girl had backed out, he should have notified the other signatures on the lease to give them time to find another person.

homealone_2

thanks everyone not the news she wanted to hear but i feel alot better having now heard from mser's that she has no choice. valuable lesson she has learned. upsetting all round really as they were best friends for 11 years and we did so much for her over that time it is sad for it to end in this way!!!! watch out any other students out there!!!!!!

barnaby-bear

homealone wrote:

thanks everyone not the news she wanted to hear but i feel alot better having now heard from mser's that she has no choice. valuable lesson she has learned. upsetting all round really as they were best friends for 11 years and we did so much for her over that time it is sad for it to end in this way!!!! watch out any other students out there!!!!!!

They will have a case against the one who didn't pay, can be pursued via Small Claims.

clutton_2

""The landlord is not totally blameless here however, afraid to rock the boat he didn't immediately advise you that one girl had backed out, he should have notified the other signatures on the lease to give them time to find another person.""

this is nothing whatsoever to do with the landlord - this is an irresponsible non-communicative tenant who cannot face up to her liabilities - Pleeeeease lets not start landlrd-bashing AGAIN - particularly when it is entirely inappropriate. The other tenants could, presumably, SEE that she had left ?

Twopints

clutton wrote:

""The landlord is not totally blameless here however, afraid to rock the boat he didn't immediately advise you that one girl had backed out, he should have notified the other signatures on the lease to give them time to find another person.""

this is nothing whatsoever to do with the landlord - this is an irresponsible non-communicative tenant who cannot face up to her liabilities - Pleeeeease lets not start landlrd-bashing AGAIN - particularly when it is entirely inappropriate. The other tenants could, presumably, SEE that she had left ?

No, from the OP, the tenants had not moved in! The landlord sent the letter about the bounced cheque to the rented property so the first they knew that one tenant had backed out was when they arrived at the property.

Surely the landlord must have known that they would not be there until the tenancy began and could have made some attempt to contact the other tenants at their existing addresses - there were three of them after all.

homealone_2

Twopints wrote:

No, from the OP, the tenants had not moved in! The landlord sent the letter about the bounced cheque to the rented property so the first they knew that one tenant had backed out was when they arrived at the property.

Surely the landlord must have known that they would not be there until the tenancy began and could have made some attempt to contact the other tenants at their existing addresses - there were three of them after all.

thanks for picking up on my points, was not trying to start any landlord bashing was just concerned that my daughter was going to be paying this money through no fault of her own. as you rightly pointed out it was not discovered till they moved in. there would be alot less rows on here if people read posts throughly before retalliating. i hope it ends here

JohnB2007

hi there, not much experience in this sort of thing but if all four tennants signed a legal tennancy then i would have thought you could have a case against her "friend" who never showed. She herself mustve know the cheque was going to bounce and she is 100% to blame for the current situation.

Just a thought but why are they looking to move to another property? Could you not strike a deal with the landlord that he'll forget the £600 owing if they sign up for another year with him. It'll save him time and money searching for new tennants and save you daughter the cost.

Peace and harmony all round (o: