Student rental issues.

cdbe11

My son, a dopey student, moved into a joint rental property last October. The circumstances are that he replied to an ad placed by Andrew on gumtree and the room was available as Andrew, one of the tenants was moving abroad. Andrew advised that he needed to pay the deposit to him (and showed him a document from the letting agents confirming this) and that he would replace him on the tenancy (and that Andrew's deposit would in effect become his) and that the letting agents would contact him to arrange all the paperwork. He gave Andrew £280, got the keys from Andrew, moved in, met his fellow tenants and began paying rent to the one who collected it and paid the agents. Unfortunately my son is quite vague about who said what to who and when but it is my understanding that very shortly after moving in he paid a company £90 to carry out referencing/credit checks. Six weeks later he rang and asked if I would be a guarantor for the rent as he had not passed the credit check. I refused and told him it was all a bit late now as legally he should be a tenant by virtue of living there and paying rent.
The agents disagreed when I spoke to them and said as far as they were concerned he was merely a guest in the house and that they had told him not to move in till the tenancy agreement was signed etc. Dopey son doesn't remember being told this - but he's not that dopey, and there is nothing in writing to confirm this.
They had another go at the credit check (as he had originally put down that he was a student with no income, despite having grant/loans - did I mention he was a bit dopey!). Despite this he has still not passed the credit check and the agents have now said: pay the rent in full till the end of the tenancy, or provide a guarantor, or move out. The first two are not going to happen and he is now fed up.

I'm really not sure who's fault this is, as I don't have all the facts or the chronology of what happened but I suspect my son, the agency and Andrew all bear some responsibility.

I have advised him to move out; his term finishes in May and we are only 10 miles from college so he can stay with us. My questions are:

Given that the agents state that he is a guest, not a tenant, are there any legal implications of him leaving before the end of the tenancy he doesn't have (July)?

And (assuming I am correct in believing that the agents are not going to refund the deposit he paid to Andrew) would it be ok for him to not pay this month's rent but stay there for the month as a way of recouping the deposit?

Any advice on this mess would really be appreciated.

PasturesNew

To cut the cr4p, could he just pay the whole lot, to the end of the tenancy date? There'd be no need for a credit check or guarantor if he's not getting credit.

Pixie5740

Messy.

It's very silly when letting agencies and landlords just ask incoming tenants to pay the outgoing tenant their deposit. Your son doesn't pay his rent directly to the landlord and nor is he named on a tenancy agreement so he sounds like a lodger to me.

If your son were to leave before July, given that he is not named on a tenancy agreement and the tenancy agreement probably still has the names of the original tenants like this Andrew, then there's nothing the letting agency/landlord could really do to your son as he has no contact with the landlord. Andrew, and the other tenants named on the tenancy agreement would be liable for the rent though.

I'm assuming there is a joint tenancy in place and people aren't just renting individual rooms each with their own tenancy agreement.

eddddy

Assuming he moves out...

- the LL's agent is saying he's a guest and not a tenant, so they have no basis for claiming anything from him.

- but the other tenants (including Andrew) are probably jointly and severally liable to the LL for the shortfall in rent (that Andrew would have been paying)

- and your son probably made some kind of vague verbal agreement (i.e. a contract) with the other tenants and/or Andrew to pay a share of the rent

So in theory, the other tenants and/or Andrew could sue your son, if he fails to pay that share. But they don't sound like the type of people to initiate a claim against your son in the small claims court.


So realistically, your son could probably walk away unscathed. But he might be leaving others with an extra financial burden.

csgohan4

Avoid Gumtree like the plague, alot of dodgy stuff on there. Had a few rentals on there that went south with dodgy agents too.

HouseBuyer77

How well does he get on with his housemates?

One option could be to just ignore the agent. If he's able to move in with you at short notice if they successfully kick him out it's not a huge problem.

Though I don't know how they'd kick him out, if he's a guest then that's none of the agent's business. If he's a lodger than he has a contract with the actual tenants. If there's a clause in the rental agreement about no lodgers/subletting then maybe the LL can take the tenants to court and either evict (Either via S21 which has a minimum notice period of 2 months, could be longer if they're still in the fixed term or possibly via S8 as they've breached the agreement, so would be out quicker but don't know if they can actually do this) or sue for damages (though they can only get that if they suffer monetary losses, which I don't think they have).

So if he has a good relationship with the others calling the agent's bluff may work fine. If not then moving out may be the best option as they'll have an angry agent and potentiall LL breathing down their necks and the other might not be happy with him.

If he does go ensure he gets his deposit in full back and you get a letter signed by both agent and LL that states that your son was never a tenant in the house, merely a guest of the occupants. Which gives him protection should the LL later on decide he wants to deduct deposit money for damages or is chasing after them for non payment of rent.

Pixie5740

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

If he does go ensure he gets his deposit in full back and you get a letter signed by both agent and LL that states that your son was never a tenant in the house, merely a guest of the occupants. Which gives him protection should the LL later on decide he wants to deduct deposit money for damages or is chasing after them for non payment of rent.

The LL/LA doesn't have his deposit though. Andrew has his deposit. Whatever deposit has been protected by the LL/LA will be under the name of the lead tenant on the joint tenancy. The OP's son is a lodger of the tenants so potentially he would be suing them to get his deposit back.

HouseBuyer77

The LL/LA doesn't have his deposit though. Andrew has his deposit. Whatever deposit has been protected by the LL/LA will be under the name of the lead tenant on the joint tenancy.

Oh indeed, I guess I could have worded that better but what I meant was if he's going to leave voluntarily like that make sure he walks away with his full deposit. Whether this comes from the housemates or the agent/LL. It would be foolish of the agent/LL to pay him a share of the protected deposit but that's not his problem

dancingfairy

The agents can't throw him out. They could get heavy on the other tenants and possibly start eviction proceedings ( although even this would be a mess). I can't see what the problem is if he gives his friend the rent and the rent is getting paid, alternatively the other 2 could be letting him live there as a guest and subsidising him. What difference does it make if the rent is being paid?
I think moving out could possibly make things worse as either the 3 on the tenancy agreement will need to pay ( including andrew who's left) or the other 2 will end up paying it between them ( I can't see the agents and landlords accepting 2/3 of the rent).
It might be worth your son writing to the landlord ( the actual landlord at the address on someones tenancy agreement) and just pointing out there has been confusion and a mix up. Why not just make out its a mix up, he's clean, tidy, gets on with the other tenants and will continue to pay rent as he has been doing?
To be fair, assuming the agents knew about the arrangement with him giving his deposit to the old person it doesn't sound like they have exactly followed things through properly paperwork wise. They probably agreed for an easy life and now it's a mess.
Df

dancingfairy

To be fair I think this kind of gentleman's agreement t is pretty common in student let's so its probably not your sons fault. It's part and parcel of being a student, trying to navigate student rentals.
Df

cdbe11

Hi and thanks for all the quick and helpful replies. All seem to have hit the nail on the head. Morally I agree that it's unfair to leave the other 2 tenants in the lurch - I believe Andrew is in South America so doubt he's going to start sending the rent over!
The reason I got more involved with this is because my son was feeling a bit threatened by the agent; who informed him that he was "occupying the property illegally" etc, obviously a bit of a worry to a young man. When I "spoke" to her and invited her to evict him on the grounds of his "illegal activity" she told me that they couldn't evict him, only the actual tenants and that he would have to "go with them".
I am starting to think now that the agents need to take a more pragmatic approach to this and, given that my son is there and paying the rent on time etc, accept the risk, however they don't seem to want to. I will let my son know what his options are and see what he wants to do. If he decides to stay I can't see what he has to gain from changing from "guest/lodger" to tenant (other than security of tenure he doesn't really need) but if he does we will negotiate directly with the landlord, if not I will advise him to withhold his final months rent in lieu of the deposit.

Thanks all.