How do you get out of your shared house lease?

mhoc

Like everyone says we have to stand firm on this and hold our ground. If we are paying the rent and bills we are calling the shots. And yes that is what she does, create a crisis and we have to bail things out for her. These crisis come up on the third week of every second month and this one was bang on time so we were expecting it. Trouble is the crisis is different every time, except for the money situation which is ongoing. And yes her behaviour is very immature and she does not learn from her mistakes. And yes she is very headstrong. She is also very manipulative.
Rent in their city is huge. This 2 bedroom flat is nearly £600 a month so BF will need to get a lodger but I dont see that as a problem because of his hospital connections - there are always students coming and going.
For her pub job she is paid in cash so I dont know where that goes, probally in the pub. I do know where else her money goes because I have 3rd party authority on her bank account and can see her statements. Mostly it is the usual eating and drinking out - she seems to live her life as if she is always on holiday. Also New Look and Top Shop, the hairdressers and beauty salon. She has always spent like this and I dont think it will ever change.
For instance the other week they decided to use the badminton courts at BFs work which are free to hire. But in two days she went to two sports shops and the free game cost £45
Yes some very tough love it needed. The other thing she does is say one thing to Dad and another to me because she knows I am harder and to some extent she can manipulate her Dad. I expect that she is also saying another thing again to BF and another to the landlord.

m

Blacksheep1979

do you pay the rent directly or give her the money for it? as one thing you should maybe watch out for is her signing the contract anyway and using the money for the rent on the new place, not paying the old rent and *bang* you and your husband are still liable. Wouldn't bother with the CAB, at points they can be worse than useless (wrong info etc) - does depend on who you see though. If she's earning a fair chunk of cash and has a student loan have you maybe thought about a spot of tough love and tried cutting back the amount of money you give her? Maybe not pay for her bills, just her rent?

mhoc

No the rent for D room is paid directly by standing order each month from our account and the landlord sends us the invoices for bills and we pay them directly to him. We never give her any money for these because thye would not be paid. If bills are not paid on time the landlord imposes a £1 a day late payment fee so everything is done correctly and I always ask to see fuel and telephone bills so I know that the correct ammount is being paid.

I actually had a thought this morning about her forging her Dads signature. Well I know logically his signature cant be forged but she did forge mine on her homework diary at school so I know what she is capable of.

I know I am probally the worst parent ever for interferring and I know I should stand back from this but I rang the letting agent this morning, very relieved that I knew who they were and where the building was. I told her all the details above and loads more and the agent understood exactly what I meant. What we did not know is that when the final signing is done they also have to hand over £1300 for the bond and first months rent in advance. My daughter has never said anything about this money or the ammount or when it is paid. I dont know where she thought this money was to come from or when she was going to tell us about it. Or how we were supposed to get it to her.
So the only way the new flat will go through will be if BFs parents bail him out with the money and if he signs the lease himself or one of his parents signs as the other half. Agent also said he cant have a lodger, lodgers name would have to be on the lease so he has to find one this week or if he finds one later on a new lease needs to be signed.
So I said it might be a good idea for agent to ring BF regarding this. She was a bit annoyed at them D and BF, said that they had wasted the agents time and money because flat was now off the market and not earning rent. Worse still the flat is currently rented by a friend of BF.
m

mhoc

Problem number two this morning is D account. I have been checking the account on line almost everday because she is at her OD limit. On Sunday I again checked it but the system would not let me in.

This morning a letter arrives saying that someone has tried to access the account several times with the wrong password etc and enclosing a letter for my daughter to sign and send back and then someone from the bank will ring with the security details.

So I have to complete this form for her and send it to her to sign and send to them. Problem there is that she does not open her post and is never around in the morning to collect her mail plus it is a shared house so mail is not secure. The form asks for account details which I think is quite a security risk. What is to stop a rogue sorting office worker opening this letter, it has everything needed for them to commit fraud.

I tried ringing various departments at the bank but could not get any information from anyone except that someone tried to use telephone banking on Wednesday. It was not me, I only use the online service and it was not D. Someone else suggested this morning that her account might have been tampered with, she does leave her bag lying around.. So really I need to get her to put a stop on her card.

Even if it is done today it will take a week to get a new card sent out and to reset the security details.

And D will have to live on whatever is left from her wages from Sunday until then.

But I have decided to beome an ostrich and not to worry about this at all. Worrying is not going to influence anything or make cards or security come any faster and while I cant see what she has been doing with her account there is no point in fretting about it

One problem at a time

M

mhoc

melancholly wrote:

not just her that's looking for the lease - you don't want to end up being responsible for the (very recent!) boyfriend too!

Yes, I am worried about BF being homeless.

Mind you I have said to D why dont they ask her landlord if BF can have the spare room in the shared house that is not occupied. Ok it is more of a broom cupboard but it is somewhere to store stuff and it is not leased for the next six months. And yes the house is disgusting but that is how it is

m

midlandsfairy

Hi Mhoc,

Just thought i'd jump in as noticed the header of the OP and was in a similar situation myself a couple of years ago. I didn't get on with the other students I shared with and wanted to move out in Feb when the contract wasn't due to end until the June but the housing association we had our student lease with wouldn't let me out of the contract unless I could find someone else to take it over. I tried putting up posters etc around the campus but there were loads of others listed also, as I think you said your daughter mentioned.

My housing association were dead set against not letting me out of the contract and I got a letter from a solicitor warning me that they would come after myself or my father (the guaranter) when I threatened to just leave. I eventually moved out anyway, stayed with a friend and paid the rent for the empty room for the rest of the year, but thats just because I was SO desperate to be out, I'm not suggesting your DD does this! I think your idea of the BF moving into the spare room until the end of the contract sounds good....and the landlord would surely like it as then he would be getting rent for a previously empty room. I'm assuming the BF would probable be sharing DD's room so it would only need to be cupboard size anyway? (If a comment about the room size is made)

I dont know if you can get a stop on her card for her but if you are sending sensitive information why not try sending it signed for? My parents used to do this when I was in a student house to be sure it got to me.

I don't know if any of this is helpful, or just me rambling, but I just thought I would add my first hand experience of this to pot. Most contracts, esp student ones, tend to be watertight.

Hope you manage to get things sorted

Blacksheep1979

signed for (recorded delivery) is no more secure than standard post, it travels with it - only special delivery is sent seperately. As to the bf moving in it makes the whole house liable for council tax.

kittiwoz

It only makes the boyfriend liable for council tax but he would have to pay it for the whole house (with 25% discount) so probably a lot more than he would be paying on the flat.

I have heard it suggested that it is a very bad idea to send things like that by recorded delivery because it doesn't provide any real protection but flags them as being of possible value to anyone with sticky fingers. It's probably better to put it in a plain envelope that looks as uninteresting as possible.

Blacksheep1979

the whole house and anyone who lives there is liable for the council tax, but yes you get a 25% discount due to there only being one person who isn't in full time education.

mhoc

I have sent her the papers for signing in a plain brown envlope plus a postal certificate which has to be stamped by the PO when she sends her signed form off. I also put a letter in for her to sign giving authority for the bank to speak to me. Then all I have to do is wait in every morning for x number of days until they decide to ring with the security details. A very long winded way of doing things.

If BF moved into spare room in shared house he would have to pay 75% of council tax which would be a lot more for a 7 bedroom house than a two bedroom flat but he would only be paying for six months and he would also need a parking permit.

Mind you is is far better than being homeless or having to pay £600 rent plus bills every month. Plus the house is central so he would save on petrol because they could walk everywhere and they would save on food bills - they would eat in more as he cooks. Plus the bills would be divided by 7 instead of 6 so it would be cheaper for everyone.

Think I will email D, dont think she opens her emails though. Not talking to me now.

She says though the house is a student house so only students can live in it. Can that be right?

Would everyone in the hosue need to complete the form that they are students to get the 25% reduction or would just one do?.

m