HELP please with student rent agreement

G_M

garethc has not yet confirmed if this is a holding deposit against failure to take up the tenancy (which is what I suspect) or the security deposit against damage etc during the tenancy.

A holding deposit does NOT have to be protected.


ps bobbymotors:

No the landlord doesn't have to do this. Not until she / they become tenants. Which will be in September you stated? So she / they are not tenants until the agreement says they are.

Housing Act 2004

Where a landlord receives a tenancy deposit in connection with a shorthold tenancy, the initial requirements of an authorised scheme must be complied with by the landlord in relation to the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which it is received.

I've not checked the later leglislation but doubt this element was amended.

AnotherJoe

Garethc wrote: »

hi, thanks for your help. I appreciate your response and my daughter suffers with mental illness so "don't sign things if you don't want to agree to what you're signing" doesn't really help! Its not something you can switch on and off. I

I believe that reference was most likely in regards to you being a guarantor, not her signing the agreement.

If you aren't a guarantor, then there doesn't really seem to be an issue, its only two weeks to go and she's out of there and she can just forget the £150. And perhaps you can contact the other students and let them know that due to illness she wont be renting this flat come next September. They will have an incentive to get a fourth person.

dancingfairy

It sounds like a difficult situation all round. I hope your daughter finds somewhere better where she can feel safe and start to recover.
Df

dannim12345

Usually a deposit is at least the value of 1 months (often more) rent so maybe this £150 is just a holding deposit as others have suggested. If no contract has been signed maybe she can just walk away losing the £150.

If she has signed a contract I would tell the other girls ASAP and let them find a new housemate or get your daughter so start advertising the room. The closer to September it gets the hard it will be to fill.

Guest101

Apologies I read that as the security deposit.

Garethc

thank you all again, been on nights therefore only looked at replies. It doesn't state what kind of deposit it is, it simply states at side of letter the part I wrote above. I think the reply about illness is the best idea as its the truth. I doubt they landlord will come after someone for that and obviously telling the girls she lives with now. thank you all again, yet again fantastic advice on here.

ViolaLass

Garethc wrote: »

I doubt they landlord will come after someone for that

Not sure I'd count on the landlord dropping it. They will want their money (not unreasonably).

dancingfairy

The problem is the landlord will still want the full rent. The others will.not want to pay more because your daughter's dropped out.
Hopefully they are amenable to finding someone else to share with.
Df

[Deleted User]

For the future, can your daughter get more support?

I don't mean to be nasty. I have a son with ASD which includes social anxiety.., quite often situations aren't quite as he is describing (I have to be careful to not go into motherly protective mode), it can take some time to unravel what he is describing, find out what really happened and find a solution. Sometimes his anxiety can cause him to imagine something has happened that hasn't.., and to him its real. I am presently trying to build up his coping strategies.

I am not saying that your daughter hasn't had real problems with the other people she is living with.., but I can also understand that sometimes a lack of coping skills can make situations develop that wouldn't otherwise. My son lives very much in the moment, if something happens, he thinks he will feel that way forever, things will always be that way, rather than accept that things can change. I am not blaming him or your daughter, just saying that skills can be built up.

Miss_Samantha

She needs to put it in writing to the landlady ASAP, with copy to the other prospective tenants that she repudiates the contract.

Then, whilst she will be liable for the landlady's loss the landlady will have a duty to mitigate her loss, which means to find a new tenant.
She has no obligation to look for a replacement herself, however of course it is in her interest that the landlady finds one at minimal cost.

If the other prospective tenants move in as planning she will not be part of the tenancy as she walked away from the contract.