Shared tenancy- Housemate gone AWOL!

Aral2387

In June last year, me and two friends moved into a house with a 12 month shared tenancy agreement. All bills etc are in all of our namea. Last month there was a bit of an argument and one housemate went AWOL- He won't answer his phone or respond to texts or Facebook messages. Most of his stuff is still here, including tv and xbox- I've seriously been considering selling it to pay his bills but figured that was probably a little bit illegal lol! Since then, me and my other housemate have forked out nearly £100 to pay for his share of the bills. Our letting agents have said that they are happy to release us from the tenancy and readvertise the house, but they need him to sign to say he is happy to move out. On Friday they informed us that he hadn't paid his share of the rent. We are going to talk to the letting agents tomorrow to see where we stand, as we can't afford to cover his rent, but would appriciate some advice as well! Has anyone had similar experiences? Is there anything we can do?

19lottie82

if it's a "shared contract" then i'm guessing you are all jointly and separately liable for the rent. that means that you and your other flatmate will need to cover the whole rent as the LL / LA is legally able to chase one, two or all of you for the rent. It's not just a case of being responsible for 1/3 each.

i would be a bit worried if he has vanished and not come back to collect his stuff? do you have contact details for any of his family? have you heard anything about his whereabouts from anyone else? if not maybe you should call the police and report him missing?

do you know where he studies / works? a girlfriend / boyfriends house? have you actually tried to track him down?
I would suggest trying to contact him and remind him of his responsibilities. he can't just "walk away"

i think you and your other FM need to stump up the rent, and then take the other party to the small claims court, but obv this will be hard if you have no idea where he is.

thequant

19lottie82 wrote: »

if it's a "shared contract" then i'm guessing you are all jointly and separately liable for the rent. that means that you and your other flatmate will need to cover the whole rent as the LL / LA is legally able to chase one, two or all of you for the rent. It's not just a case of being responsible for 1/3 each.

i would be a bit worried if he has vanished and not come back to collect his stuff? do you have contact details for any of his family? have you heard anything about his whereabouts from anyone else? if not maybe you should call the police and report him missing?

do you know where he studies / works? a girlfriend / boyfriends house? have you actually tried to track him down?
I would suggest trying to contact him and remind him of his responsibilities. he can't just "walk away"

i think you and your other FM need to stump up the rent, and then take the other party to the small claims court, but obv this will be hard if you have no idea where he is.

+1 , only thing to add is that regarding his possessions you have legal duty of care to them until he returns. I.e. you can neither sell them or throw them out.

G_M

As lotties says, if you have a single 'joint and several' tenancy agreement with all your names on it, you are all equally responsible for the whole rent - not just a third each.

If you are in the Fixed Term (eg the initial 6 months or whatever) of the tenancy, it cann not be ended early unless ALL tenants, AND the landlord, agree.

However, if the Fixed Term has ended and you are now on a ('rolling', or 'monthly') Periodic tenancy, then any one of you can serve notice to end the tenancy. In that case, you can end it without him, but will have to vacate (including his possessions) on the date your notice expires.

Whether you then find a new house mate and sign a new tenancy is up to you.

Meanwhile, any rent he owes - either you pay it for him, or the landlord can chase YOU for it (far easier than chasing him as he's vanished!).

You will then have to chase him, ultimately via the Small Claims Court (if you can find him.)

Are you sure he is OK though? Should you report him missing to the police? Do you have contact numbers for his family? Other friends?

Aral2387

He's definitely ok, he's been on Facebook. I've gone into the pub he works in a few times but always miss him, and (understandably) they won't tell me what his shifts are. Ah well, looks like we're a bit stuck for the moment! Thank you for the replies

19lottie82

Ah ok, well keep trying the pub he works in, you'll catch him eventually. In the mean time, keep copies of everything re his unpaid rent and bills so you can use them against him at the small claims court if need be. Don't let it drop anyway, I certainly wouldn't.

How old are you guys? Can you message his parents on Facebook or anything? Just say he's vanished and you are very concerned (then mention the money he owes you..... You never know they might pay up, or get him to contact you)

grifferz

OP, can you answer whether you are inside your fixed term or outside it (and therefore on a standard periodic tenancy) now?

In view of minimising disruption to your life, would you be able to cover full rent and bills until your flatmate returns? If so, and you are outside your fixed term, would it be possible to ask your landlord if they would agree to ending to tenancy and then starting a new tenancy agreement for the same total rent but with just the two of you named, and allow you to fill the other room with a suitable lodger?

If not and you can't afford the rent and can't find and talk around your errant flatmate, I think you need to ask the landlord to get the property on the rental market again ASAP so you can be let out of your agreement before you are bankrupted.

19lottie82

grifferz wrote: »

OP, can you answer whether you are inside your fixed term or outside it (and therefore on a standard periodic tenancy) now?

In view of minimising disruption to your life, would you be able to cover full rent and bills until your flatmate returns? If so, and you are outside your fixed term, would it be possible to ask your landlord if they would agree to ending to tenancy and then starting a new tenancy agreement for the same total rent but with just the two of you named, and allow you to fill the other room with a suitable lodger?

If not and you can't afford the rent and can't find and talk around your errant flatmate, I think you need to ask the landlord to get the property on the rental market again ASAP so you can be let out of your agreement before you are bankrupted.

The OP and his flat mates signed a 12 month lease in June, so they can't end it without a formal agreement from the LL and ALL THREE tenants.

grifferz

19lottie82 wrote: »

The OP and his flat mates signed a 12 month lease in June

Ah, sorry, missed that bit.

Sounds like finding the missing flatmate is the only option then, as they won't even be able to surrender early.

RAS

CAn you leave a letter at the pub, explaining that the longer he leaves it the more monbey he is going to owe, so it would be in his best inbterests to copntact the letting agency and sign the release form?

francescachambers6813

RAS proposed a reasonable course of action. You should do that.