Tenant Moving Out. HELP!

sandsni

The LL won't care who takes the room as long as the rent is paid and the house is looked after (hence the reference/credit checks).

The departing housemate is at least looking for someone to fill the void. What are the three remaining tenants doing? If you can find someone the three of you like and who wants to take the room before she does then you can say a polite "thanks but no thanks". I would suggest you start the search sooner rather than later so it doesn't become an issue.

MkPaul

sandsni wrote: »

If it's a "student house", as opposed to a privately let house that happens to be in a university area, did you rent it through the college/university? Do they have any guidelines about changes of tenants mid-term? They must come across this scenario on a regular basis.

You will each be liable for the whole rent for the whole tenancy, and that also means your respective guarantors if you have them (pretty common for student lets). If you can afford to pay the whole rent between the three of you there's nothing to say you HAVE to get a replacement at all.

The LL will probably want to reference/credit check any replacement tenant so they will have to know what is going on.

If you don't want a replacement foisted upon you by the departing housemate or LL, then your best bet is to find someone yourselves (from your classes, societies, clubs or whatever) that the three remaining housemates agree on and who is likely to pass the LL's checks. There's a good chance other students are in a similar position of wanting to move out of their current place at this stage and are looking for somewhere.

The thing is, we cannot afford to pay for the rent between the three of us so the only options available to us is:

The person moving out still pays the rent
Somebody comes in for the remainder of the contract and they pay their share.

We don't mind somebody coming in like I said, I just want to check if we have any rights as to who it will be, we are all 20 and we don't want some weirdo coming to live with us.

We signed the contract under the assumption we'd be living as a group of 4 friends who're all happy to share things, not require locks etc. Surely if that changes we have to agree to it as well?

MkPaul

redcard wrote: »

Offer to up your rent to cover the 4th person. Sounds a fair compromise.

We're students, we can barely afford our rent/bills as it is.

Pixie5740

If you have a joint tenancy then you are all jointly responsible for paying the rent. If one person moves out and stops paying rent then the rest of you will have to make up the shortfall. It might be possible to sublet the room of the person who wants to move out but that depends on whether or not your lease permits you to sublet. Might be worth speaking with Shelter about this.

Do you know why this person wants to move out? Could you try talking to them and explain that when they signed the tenancy they were entering into a legally binding contract. They won't be eligible to get their deposit back until the tenancy ends I don't think.

Pixie5740

If you do end up getting someone moving in that you're unsure of then you can get these temporary locks for the doors.

http://www.templock.co.uk

Blackpool_Saver

Hi, just wanted to say that as a student it will help to know the difference between affect and effect.

Good luck with your financial issues.

dimbo61

We are talking about students here living off a student loan and the bank of mum and Dad!
If you have all signed the tenancy agreement then you have a joint and several agreement.
Did your parents sign a deed of guarantee ? to say they would cover the rent if you did not pay ?
If the tenant moves out it is up to her or her guarantor to pay the rent until June 2014

nidO

MkPaul wrote: »

We signed the contract under the assumption we'd be living as a group of 4 friends who're all happy to share things, not require locks etc. Surely if that changes we have to agree to it as well?

Yes, you do have to agree to it and you have the right to refuse to sign a new agreement with a 4th unknown person while you're still in your existing tenancy period if you choose to do so.

However in that scenario you (and the person moving out) remain liable for the rent under the old tenancy agreement, which either means the person moving out continuing to pay rent (unlikely, and will open up a whole can of worms when they don't) or the remaining 3 of you paying the full rent.

dimbo61

In Manchester you have Manchester Student Homes where students are often looking for a place to live!
Foreign students want a place to stay from January 2014 until June 2014!!
You can also try easyroomate, spareroom, homesforstudents, gumtree, uni website, notice boards, asking friends in class!

BigAunty

See the Shelter website for expert advice to understand your rights and responsibilities when it comes to a joint tenancy agreement, which makes you jointly and severally liable for the rent. It gives advice on how to end them and to deal with internal disputes.

The tenancy doesn't recognise individual tenants in the way that you have outlined with proportional share of the rent - the rent of x is payable on x date and it doesn't matter who pays it, any or all of the tenants are held responsible for arrears.

A person moving out who hasn't formally ended the tenancy in the proper manner doesn't get out of their responsibility to pay it, despite not being present in the property. Sometimes landlords will chase the remaining tenants (quite legally) because it is so hard to trace and get rent arrears back from a tenant that leaves as they don't generally provide a forwarding address ...It's really difficult for landlords to get court orders for arrears and further enforcement action to deal with the non payment of them.