she signed contract till June 2013 but wants to leave uni

dimbo61

Your daughter should speak to the landlords and post an advert on the university housing website. Most uni,s have housing officers and even offices such as Manchester Student Homes. She can also post an ad on easyroomate or spareroom or student websites.

googler

worriedfordaughter wrote: »

The letting agent wrote to her saying she is liable to pay till June 2013 as she signed a contract with that clause.

Any ideas on how to go forward? .... The only way we can see is for her to return to uni and complete the year....

The agent says she/you have to PAY to June, not that your daughter has to stay there against her will.

She moves back, she/you continue paying until you clarify the contract. When the contract is clarified, you request early termination from the landlord on the grounds of illness, and take it from there.

blackshirtuk

Hi and welcome,

You/your daughter need to get actively advertising your daughter's room ASAP, try gumtree, accommodation for students, university forums etc.

You need to find someone, as the other parties will not suffer if no one is found. The other tenants benefit from less people in the house, The LL will get his rent from you/guarantor.

Keep friendly with the remaining tenants as you need them to be cooperative, keeping the house tidy, maybe even helping with viewings if you are not able.

xtinataguba

my only advice is go seek a lawyers advice. it is better to be in a legal when it comes to this kind of situation.

19lottie82

xtinataguba wrote: »

my only advice is go seek a lawyers advice. it is better to be in a legal when it comes to this kind of situation.

There is no need for a lawyer in this situation (slightly ridiculous suggestion!). The OP's daughter signed a contract, and if the LL wants, they can hold her to it. However, they MAY let her out of it as a gesture of goodwill, considering her illness. A lawyer will tell the OP exactly the same thing.

googler

xtinataguba wrote: »

my only advice is go seek a lawyers advice. it is better to be in a legal when it comes to this kind of situation.

The majority of your 6 posts thus far on various threads have said 'seek a lawyer'. If this is all you have to offer,.....

thelem

Try and think of things from the landlord's point of view, as that can often help you to understand what they will / won't find acceptable, assuming there is no written clause in the agreement that would allow you to break the tenancy early.

Student tenancies tend to be for an academic year with no break clause, as most students are planning to stay for one year when they sign their contract. The landlord's main priorities are that the rent is paid and the house isn't damaged, but they have no incentive to go out and find a new tenant when they've already got one obliged to pay the rent. If you can find someone suitable though, then most landlords will be happy to change the name on the contract.

You might find it tricky to find a replacement tenant though, because most students will already have their house for the year, while non-students will be wary of noise and mess and probably make the house liable for council tax. I'd definitely recommend advertising via the university's student housing service, as they are likely to have people who have fallen out with their housemates or are unable to live in their original student house for some other reason.

tbs624

worriedfordaughter wrote: »

My daughter is a uni student, 2nd year and rented a house with class mates. She is unwell and needs to leave uni and come home to live. She's really stressed and depressed and it breaks my heart to see this.
We wrote a letter to quit the house, to the letting agent, giving the months notice following the Housing Act legislation. The letting agent wrote to her saying she is liable to pay till June 2013 as she signed a contract with that clause.
I have yet to see the contract, my sister took it upon herself to be her guarantor.
Any ideas on how to go forward?

As the others have said, your daughter needs to ask the LL for an early release from the Fixed Term tenancy. What LLs usually say in these circumstances is that provided a suitable new T can be found to replace the one who wants to leave and agreement can be reached on the outgoing student T paying reasonable advertsiing costs etc (plus meeting the rent payments & any other bills due under the contract until the new T can be moved in) then the issue can be resolved. Get everything confirmed in writing, including the cessation of your sister's guarantor duties

The LA is legally obliged to provide the name and address if the LL is one of the Ts writes to them - they have 21 days from recipt of that written request to supply the info or they would be committing a criminal offence. Note it must be one of the Ts - not you as a parent, although obviously you can draft it and put pen in daughter's hand for signature. LL's address may appear on Gas Safety Cert. LAs basically want an easy life so deal direct of the LA is being obstructive. Experienced intelligent LLs are used to dealing with these mid-term changes without too much fuss, especially with student Ts.

If you daughter has a reasonable relationship with the other Ts they may help her get the property advertised if the LL is willing to accept a replacement. As you have mentioned that they all signed separate contracts they won't share any of the rent liability incurred by your daughter so they may not be too bothered but they will obviously have to share communal space so may be up for being involved. ( All signed to one contract means that all or any of the Ts (and usually all or any of the guarantors can be pursued for the full rent for the property)

Note that some Unis will only permit a LL's property to be advertsied via them if the LL has signed to a specific Code of Conduct and his properties have been "approved". There lots of online places though -.accommodationforstudents, easyroommate.com/Students, student.spareroom.co.uk/, homesforstudents.co.uk/, uk.easyroommate.com, gumtree and so on.

Students '*do* move mid-term often because of fallouts in their current home or because they have been commuting in etc.Some Unis have work placements that don't fit in with the usual academic year so you may get a returner who wants somewhere from January If necessary, you could perhaps consider offering a "sweetener" to a replacement T by offering to transfer your daughter's deposit to them or pay the first fortnight's rent or whatever.

Do get guidance from the Uni Welfare Officer as well as the family GP - it may be that your daughter could switch to a home town Uni, or go via the Open Uni or just take a year out and return when her health improves. Let her know that she is not the only student who has had to work through this situation.

Although there are other MSE posters who will have had personal experience of depressive illness, and who are well intentioned, please note the forum rules

"Medical Advice This is a MoneySaving site. If you have a medical problem please use NHS Direct or go to your doctor. This forum.. [is]... not the place to discuss it.
The Health board is for discussion of all issues surrounding health, diet, nutrition and how they relate to MoneySaving. Discussing medical insurance policies, cheaper ways to see consultants, cashback for alternative health treatments, how to get specific medication cheaper (legally) are all perfectly acceptable forms of discussion.
It is very specifically and strictly not for the discussion of what to do in the event of certain medical problems.

Fire_Fox

tbs624 wrote: »

Although there are other MSE posters who will have had personal experience of depressive illness, and who are well intentioned, please note the forum rules

"Medical Advice This is a MoneySaving site. If you have a medical problem please use NHS Direct or go to your doctor. This forum.. [is]... not the place to discuss it.
The Health board is for discussion of all issues surrounding health, diet, nutrition and how they relate to MoneySaving. Discussing medical insurance policies, cheaper ways to see consultants, cashback for alternative health treatments, how to get specific medication cheaper (legally) are all perfectly acceptable forms of discussion.
It is very specifically and strictly not for the discussion of what to do in the event of certain medical problems.

Because of my work background I have previously PM'd the MSE powers-that-be about what does and does not count as medical advice as regards lifestyle modification (take your point about this board tho! ). What has been suggested here fits in completely with mainstream medical guidance for physical activity and diet for general health and mental wellbeing.

V_Chic_Chick

I'm going to assume that this is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) and that she is still within the fixed period of 12 months - this is almost universally the case for student tenancies.

If so, then there are a few options
- continue paying the rent until the end of the fixed term (as other have said, you can't give the one month notice within the fixed term, only once it has rolled over into a periodic tenancy at the end of the fixed term). If your daughter cannot pay, then theoretically they could take the guarantor to court for the money, as they are just as liable, legally speaking, for the debt as your daughter is.
- ask the landlord to release her from the agreement, and make sure that they won't then chase the other tenants for the rent (which they could if it says they are jointly and severally liable - and it almost certainly will say that)
- find another tenant. This is the most common route out of such a situation, but it can be challenging as it will almost certainly have to be a student (because of the issues surrounding council tax liability for non-students) and those can be hard to find at this time of year, because the vast majority of students find a house and stay put for the rest of the year.

With regards to dropping out though, it may be best if she takes an interruption of studies - essentially a mid-degree gap year - and sees how she feels about going back in September next year to finish her degree. In all likelihood, the university will agree to this quite readily as she has a valid reason and they need to keep their drop-out figures as low as possible for funding reasons. If she was to go back, then there could be extra options like going part time, and if she is disabled (this includes mental health problems) then the university will fund things that make her life easier such as a note-taker.

If she does drop out altogether, then it will make returning to uni that much harder, because the funding rules state that the amount of funding you get = the length of the new course (in years) + 1 year - any previous years of funding. This would mean that, as she has already had two years of funding, she'd have to self-fund the first year of any new degree course upfront, including tuition fees and living costs.