tennancy swap, please help

bearbear123

So I'm currently in a little bit of a tricky situation,
I moved into the property I'm in now in october last year for 12 months tenancy, it is shared between me and one other person legally and a third person who is my friend also lives here however not known to the agency.

the person i have a joint tenancy with is my friends boyfriend

Not great I'm aware, but heres where this has got messy... me and my boyfriend are going to live together in another property and are now moving in (now) 2 weeks time, I told the agency this was something i was considering before we put any deposits down and they were happy for me to do a tenancy swap and to let them know when i had someone to move in.. so no problems there

when i told my friend and her boyfriend this was a possibility long ago, they said okay give us 6 weeks notice when you find a place so we can find another friend to move in and save a deposit to return to me comfortably.

i agreed this was fair, however when me and my boyfriend searched for properties we tried to find one with a longer time to move in however the perfect property came up with 4 weeks notice,

I explained the situation to my friend and was very considerate towards her and her boyfriend wanting someone they liked to move in... however she said okay but it will still be 6 weeks till we can get someone, i said i would leave it to them if they wanted to bring someone in they knew but to let us know what was going on, and said i was happy to take over and get someone in but they have so far semi-insisted on getting a friend in.

I gave it 1 week and asked after that and it was a very 'ooooh well we've got a few people that could be interested, but yeah Its more likely it will still be 6 weeks' it is now just under 2 weeks till we move and we don't have a tenant coming in to replace me

at the same time after i spoke to her at 1 week i said if you don't get anyone interested who has the money shall we put it on gumtree? the response was yeah could do.

Me now getting a little fed up and worrying about this and also my money (having to pay for 2 weeks while I'm not here) put it on gumtree this morning .. we are very fortunate to live in a sought after area and also fairly cheap rent and i have received 5 replies already so i thought i would let her know i had done this and can forward all the info to her and partner to see and her response was 'that wouldn't work for us, we would want to meet someone from gumtree outside for a drink and get to know them.. and we still have some friends who may be interested.

I am at my wits end and feeling very frustrated .. at first i was being kind to my friend who i wanted to be comfortable so gave her and bf the option to get someone they trust in and now they have taken it too far and are being extremely unresponsive about if they can or can't get someone to move in and have consistently set the date for a new tenant in as 2 weeks later.

so finally after all the babble (feel its all relevant but sorry its a long read) my question is is it down to me or her/him to get a new tenant in legally and do i have to right to get people interested from gumtree to come around without their blessing????

as its my tenancy in question i should have the say over when and who moves in?

lastly i know this seems fairly emotional but she is my friend and i was trying to do her a favour but i really feel like I've been kicked in the teeth here, I'm aware she technically doesn't have any rights but he does. just don't know what to do here and why they are taking so long really don't need this stress on top of moving. thanks

specialboy

Why can't the other person who already lives there take over? At the end of the day it's your responsibility to find a replacement or continue being liable for the rent so unless your friend gets a move on you should be pulling out all the stops to find someone yourself.

Pixie5740

I'm not sure why you're feeling so hard done to. You signed a joint tenancy agreement which you are now try to renege on. You said you'd give your friends 6 weeks to find someone and now you're trying to renege on that too.

I can understand why your friend doesn't want to live with some stranger you've just plucked off Gumtree.

Rental overlaps do happen...get over it.

You realise that whilst your name remains on the tenancy agreement you will still have joint and several liability of the rent for this property.

zarf2007

bearbear123 wrote: »

So I'm currently in a little bit of a tricky situation,
I moved into the property I'm in now in october last year for 12 months tenancy, it is shared between me and one other person legally and a third person who is my friend also lives here however not known to the agency.

the person i have a joint tenancy with is my friends boyfriend

Not great I'm aware, but heres where this has got messy... me and my boyfriend are going to live together in another property and are now moving in (now) 2 weeks time, I told the agency this was something i was considering before we put any deposits down and they were happy for me to do a tenancy swap and to let them know when i had someone to move in.. so no problems there

when i told my friend and her boyfriend this was a possibility long ago, they said okay give us 6 weeks notice when you find a place so we can find another friend to move in and save a deposit to return to me comfortably.

i agreed this was fair, however when me and my boyfriend searched for properties we tried to find one with a longer time to move in however the perfect property came up with 4 weeks notice,

I explained the situation to my friend and was very considerate towards her and her boyfriend wanting someone they liked to move in... however she said okay but it will still be 6 weeks till we can get someone, i said i would leave it to them if they wanted to bring someone in they knew but to let us know what was going on, and said i was happy to take over and get someone in but they have so far semi-insisted on getting a friend in.

I gave it 1 week and asked after that and it was a very 'ooooh well we've got a few people that could be interested, but yeah Its more likely it will still be 6 weeks' it is now just under 2 weeks till we move and we don't have a tenant coming in to replace me

at the same time after i spoke to her at 1 week i said if you don't get anyone interested who has the money shall we put it on gumtree? the response was yeah could do.

Me now getting a little fed up and worrying about this and also my money (having to pay for 2 weeks while I'm not here) put it on gumtree this morning .. we are very fortunate to live in a sought after area and also fairly cheap rent and i have received 5 replies already so i thought i would let her know i had done this and can forward all the info to her and partner to see and her response was 'that wouldn't work for us, we would want to meet someone from gumtree outside for a drink and get to know them.. and we still have some friends who may be interested.

I am at my wits end and feeling very frustrated .. at first i was being kind to my friend who i wanted to be comfortable so gave her and bf the option to get someone they trust in and now they have taken it too far and are being extremely unresponsive about if they can or can't get someone to move in and have consistently set the date for a new tenant in as 2 weeks later.

so finally after all the babble (feel its all relevant but sorry its a long read) my question is is it down to me or her/him to get a new tenant in legally and do i have to right to get people interested from gumtree to come around without their blessing????

as its my tenancy in question i should have the say over when and who moves in?

lastly i know this seems fairly emotional but she is my friend and i was trying to do her a favour but i really feel like I've been kicked in the teeth here, I'm aware she technically doesn't have any rights but he does. just don't know what to do here and why they are taking so long really don't need this stress on top of moving. thanks

One quick way to deal with this would be to say to your friend that as she shouldnt legally be living there unless she agrees to someone from gumtree moving in (obviously she can talk to them first) then you will have no option but to tell the letting agent she is co-habiting.

at the end of the day her dithering will end up costing you money....it may be harsh and may end the friendship but it sounds like the way she is behaving she is not worth having as a friend anyway.

Pixie5740

What's all this about the friend living there illegally? Just because someone isn't on the tenancy agreement it doesn't mean they are living in the property illegally.

zarf2007

Pixie5740 wrote: »

What's all this about the friend living there illegally? Just because someone isn't on the tenancy agreement it doesn't mean they are living in the property illegally.

well without permission then. the fact is i doubt her friend was paying extra towards bills or other use of the house yet still expects the OP allow her to take her time and cost the OP money.....

Pixie5740

You're jumping to conclusions. We don't know if this 3rd person contributes anything towards the household. That information has not been provided. Besides that has nothing to do with the arrangement that the OP made with the other person named on the tenancy agreement.

The OP originally agreed to give the other tenant 6 weeks to find someone else and has now turned around and decided to change it to 4 weeks. That we do know.

bearbear123

Thank you for all of your responses, yes actually to a point they are all valid as after lots of thinking, researching, calls and talking it seems this is somewhat of a grey area between 'legally' 'morally' and 'fair'.

Im now feeling less apprehensive and this is as resolved as it can be... yeah the friend who i live with does pay her do's, we split everything evenly.

Had a discussion with the bf/tennant and he has bought it to my attention that as its a co signed agreement- if i was to bring in someone to fill a gap that he wasn't comfortable with he won't sign it and it won't happen.

so all in one- yeah I think !!!! happens, and I have to accept that and swallow this one up which i am capable of doing and have learnt some important lessons from this.

he has promised me he will get someone in by 6 weeks, and if no friends work out they will approach gumtree etc themselves to make sure someone comes in as we are friends he doesn't want to make me pay more money than is fair, and also will tell me whats going on just between me and him as it mainly seems to be his friends they are considering.

I understand it may have come across as if i was just trying to get out without being fair, but i can't explain a tone of voice and lack of interest in keeping me up to date, when we first agreed on 6 weeks that was all i wanted if it was on their terms to be kept up to date, and actively trying to replace me which when more time passed suggested to me they were trying to pull a fast one hence the post.

I could shop my mate in, but do still want to try and salvage some sort of friendship,

glad i posted though as there isn't really much information out there on tenancy swaps so hope this could come in handy for someone else.