Landlord wants rent to come out of one account

girl_withno_name

princeofpounds wrote: »

I don't see too much problem with routing all payments through one of the lead tenants. Although there is a counterparty risk there, they are almost certainly jointly liable anyway. So even if they send in money separately if one of the parties doesn't pay up they could all be liable.

The point I am making is to a certain degree they are cross-liable already anyway, so don't think that organising a single payment is an entirely new domain of risk.

This assumes jointly and severally liable tenants (I'm not sure this has been confirmed or denied by OP) whereas not all student tenancies will be this way.

The approach suggested will put additional responsibility onto the lead tenants, who will now (instead of the LL) have to "sit & trawl thru their bank statements and work out who invidually has/has not paid" before passing the payment on to the LL, something I'm not sure many students want to do either! But if they don't then the lead tenant could end up out of pocket and potentially involved in lengthy arguments getting the missing rent payments from their house mates.

I also guess that this relies (hopes) that the landlord would act reasonably if rent wasn't paid in full, or paid late. There's definitely a risk that the lead tenant would also become the main contact in such instances and would have to deal with the LL's complaints while the other tenants may avoid such confrontations.

tbs624

girl_withno_name wrote: »

This assumes jointly and severally liable tenants (I'm not sure this has been confirmed or denied by OP) whereas not all student tenancies will be this way.

Your're right that not all tenancies willl be J&SL ones but the request for a single rent payment suggests that this one *is* likely to be one

girl_withno_name wrote: »

The approach suggested will put additional responsibility onto the lead tenants, who will now (instead of the LL) have to "sit & trawl thru their bank statements and work out who invidually has/has not paid" before passing the payment on to the LL, something I'm not sure many students want to do either!

Part of being a grown up - it is after all the Ts responsibility to ensure that they meet their own obligations. If its a J&SL contract the Ts are... erm ..."jointly and severally" liable for the rent etc, ie for their own and their fellow Ts payments

Ts do not have to appoint a "Lead Tenant" for anything other than dealing with the tenancy deposit ( although not all 3 schemes insist)

girl_withno_name

tbs624 wrote: »

Part of being a grown up - it is after all the Ts responsibility to ensure that they meet their own obligations. If its a J&SL contract the Ts are... erm ..."jointly and severally" liable for the rent etc, ie for their own and their fellow Ts payments

Ts do not have to appoint a "Lead Tenant" for anything other than dealing with the tenancy deposit ( although not all 3 schemes insist)

Have I missed something in this thread confirming that the Ts are indeed jointly and severally liable?? And couldn't you argue that checking you've received all payments also part and parcel of being a LL?

If they're J&SL then it's not one tenant's responsibility anymore than another's, but it would become so if one tenant was responsible for making the rent payments on behalf of the entire household... surely? (Maybe not legally, but in terms of legwork and chasing other tenants)

tbs624

No doubt the OP will help by confirming on the J&SL issue

"One payment" does not mean "one tenant" has to deal with it all.

And couldn't you argue that checking you've received all payments also part and parcel of being a LL?

Of course it is, if you want to be a succesful LL, but you want to be able to do so in the most straightforward way.

Note however that contracts don't say" LL must collect rent/check payment has been received" - they do say, however, "Rent must be paid by the T(s) on x date, by y method"

If anyone as a T finds the burden of J&SL too great the answer is clear - rent a studio flat by yourself or rent a room only.

Angry_Bear

Let's not forget that the other tenants have to trust that the "lead tenant" (for want of a better phrase) will actually pay the rent once the money has landed in their account.

I'm sure most of us have seen thread on here with people saying "I've been paying my flatmate for rent/utilities/council tax, and it turns out they haven't been passing it on. Where do I stand?" With the answer usually being "screwed".

Personally, I'd just say that payments from one account aren't possible and look elsewhere if necessary.

pimento

tbs624 wrote: »

The LL is not being philanthropical btw in agreeing to payment in 3 student loan-related chunks - he just knows he's more likely to get full payment if he has first call on the loan money before the students have had chance to wee it away on cheap alcohol and takeaways.

This is precisely why I suggested my son pay his rent like that.

girl_withno_name

tbs624 wrote: »

"One payment" does not mean "one tenant" has to deal with it all.

In reality, how do you think it would work out?

Angry_Bear wrote: »

Let's not forget that the other tenants have to trust that the "lead tenant" (for want of a better phrase) will actually pay the rent once the money has landed in their account.

I hadn't thought of it from this angle! Have definitely lived with people I wouldn't have trusted ... even if just because they were forgetful :rotfl:

All in all, it sounds to me like a recipe for resentment and there are enough of those already in shared accommodation!

jjlandlord

princeofpounds wrote: »

The point I am making is to a certain degree they are cross-liable already anyway, so don't think that organising a single payment is an entirely new domain of risk.

It can be.
If they open a joint account they will become financially linked and that could affect their credit rating. Plus there will be the issue of the account going overdraft etc.
If they pay their 'share' to a lead tenant who then fails to pay the landlord they'll have trouble getting the money back and still be liable to the landlord.

pimento

Surely if you're a landlord running a business it's up to you to make sure that you sort out who has paid what. It can't be that difficult to give your tenants an individual reference number each for them to use when they make a payment to identify their payments into your bank account?

Why should a tenant do anything but pay the landlord direct?

tbs624

There is normally at least one particularly gobby person in any shared house who would probably relish the role of "rent payment butt kicker" ...usually the ones who volunteered as Hall Reps in their first year at Uni

There is of course the possibility of having the one shared bank a/c out of which to fund all rent/house related bills and all Ts must then make an appropriate SO payt into this account in good time. Having joint signatories prevents just the one T absconding with the lot

There is no hassle free way of sharing a house & sorting out bills etc and many students/other young adults soon realise that their own family were, after all, really nice people to live with