student accomm

imported_goldie

Hi, my son is currently in halls at uni and decidedt he wanted to house-share next year. He and hisfriend found a three bed house, signed the tenancy agreement and paid the deposit. However, they are having trouble finding a third person and my son is having second thoughts. Although he has signed the agreement can he pull out (I know he will lose his deposit) if he lets the landlord know now so he can find alternate tenants?

jrrowleyws

A signed contract means youve agreed to fulfill the agreement on the paper.

Not a good move to sign a contract without having enough people as the third person wouldnt be in the contract so things can get very messy.

This scenario is a common occurance, get your son to get advice through his student union.

Blacksheep1979

The landlord has to do everything to minimise the loss so yes should try find alternate tennants - but if he doesn't you/your son is liable for the cost (and is liable for the cost of finding new tennants and the rent till he does)

Nealmason1986

It shouldnt be to hard for him to find replacement tenants. Get your sun to put posters up on some of his buildings notice boards at uni and maybe send some internal emails around uni. The same thing happened to me and i managed to sort it. You probably find that everyone else in the uni is advertising there spares rooms using posters and there are probably loads of people out there that want to find a house

minimoocow

Hi!

I'm a student landlord so from my perspective:

Not sure what contract your son has but the contracts I use would allow me to keep the deposit and to pursue the tenants for the FULL YEARS RENT! :eek:

In reality however, I would sooner know now so I could readvertise and find new tenants and if there was no lose to me I would refund the deposit.

If your son does decide to pull out he could assist the landlord by trying to find new tenants himself. The local uni near me will let students advertise but not landlords so this could help.

But before it gets that far - what has your son done to find another tenant? And does he know what will happen if he doesn't? I have a 4 bed house and have let it to 3 people before and agreed that both parties will look for a 4th tenant. If they get one they get to be picky, if I get one they don't however although the contract is a joint one I have not charged them for the vacant room - is your son sure he would be charged?

As for advertising for a housemate - has he tried adverts in shop windows, post offices etc nearby (usually only a couple of £ to do) or asked Uni if there is an notice board to advertise on for free - some unis now do this online as well. Also a site I have used is accommodationforstudents.com - this is free for students to join and once a member he would be able to advertise for housemates. Finally it is worth asking lecturers if they are aware of any foreign post grad students who will be coming over and need accommodation as soon as they get into the country - often lecturers assist them informally.

Hope some of that helps and your son gets it all sorted soon!

MMC

antonfrompreston

Tell him to become a member on this website and put up a posting under the 'find housemates' section of the city/town that he studies in. This is how me and one of my mates found our housemates for next year.

http://www.accommodationforstudents.com/

imported_goldie

Thanks everyone, will let him know all the advice you have given, its very helpful. Will get him to go on the student accomm website too so hopefully should be able to sort something out.

emmaglet

antonfrompreston wrote: »

Tell him to become a member on this website and put up a posting under the 'find housemates' section of the city/town that he studies in. This is how me and one of my mates found our housemates for next year.

http://www.accommodationforstudents.com/

That site is amazing! I have had so much interest, and been able to rent my other rooms from that site!

antonfrompreston

emmaglet wrote: »

That site is amazing! I have had so much interest, and been able to rent my other rooms from that site!

It is very good; it seems to be, by far, the busiest website of it kind interms of the number of messages posted and there are lots of landlords who use the message/notice boards.

Blacksheep1979

Nealmason1986 wrote: »

You probably find that everyone else in the uni is advertising there spares rooms using posters and there are probably loads of people out there that want to find a house

yup and thats why its hard to get anyone as there are loads of rooms/houses available.