Joint Tenancy Nightmare!

silvercar

The other tenants are very lucky that you are prepared to pay all the rent by yourselves. Many tenants share because they cannot afford to do this.

That they can think they can walk away from their legal responsibilities without paying a penny, shows their character.

We are required by the tenancy agreement to pay for the rent and bills in their entirety if other tenants leave.

What would have happened if you had left the day before they did, would that have left them responsible for the total rent to the end of the tenancy?

saajan_12

Not really sure why you want to pay all the rent and absolve them, but if you do, you don't really have anything to worry about.
Either:
a) sign the deed and pay the full remaining rent. Specify in the deed that the deposit goes back to you.
or
b) do nothing. If they don't pay rent, you'll have to but can sue them for their share as well as any deposit deductions minus their share of the deposit later.

Guest101

Bohbadonde wrote: »

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I have been renting with another couple since Nov '16 and we have had nothing but grief. The four of us are equal joint tenants.

Basically, last month they tried to end our joint tenancy agreement behind our back - That's their right. , and the lettings agent took a fee from them to draw up a new contract, without either party knowing that we would be able or willing to sign it. - You dont have to, simply leave We confirmed with the lettings agent that we could pay their share of the rent and bills until the end of the current term - what's the current term? . However our joint tenants insist that their names must now be taken off the tenancy agreement - that's their problem, if you don't agree , since they no longer live here. This has in turn led to our lettings agent pursuing us to sign a new tenancy agreement, despite the fact we have made plans for when we are supposed to vacate in November. - so don't sign it?

We sought advice from the Shelter helpline, who told us that our joint tenants were in the wrong and cannot leave the tenancy agreement unless they had discussed with us and the landlord, and all parties were in agreement. - indeed, but they can ask to leave They also said we were secure in the current circumstances since we have not broken any of the terms of the tenancy agreement. Ultimately we were advised not to sign any new contract and if the lettings agent persisted, we could contact authorities. - what authorities?

We put this to the lettings agent who agreed that we had no legal obligation to sign a new tenancy agreement and ceased emailing us. - great

Today my girlfriend received a phone call from one of our joint tenants saying she was sending over a 'deed of assignment' and that basically if we didn't sign it they would 'go down the legal route'. - ok, let them. It's not your problem

Could anyone advise us where we stand on this? If we were to entertain the idea of signing this deed it would be prudent to have it looked at by a solicitor - don't sign it , which would be more expense on our part. I understand they don't want to be responsible for the property anymore but ultimately they should have looked into all this before giving notice to vacate and committing to another property. I don't appreciate being made to jump through hoops and being threatened with legal action when we haven't actually don't anything wrong. Ultimately what could they do if we refused to sign the deed? - F All

Any advice would be greatly received!

Just ignore them. (block them if they persist in calling you)

Bohbadonde

What would have happened if you had left the day before they did, would that have left them responsible for the total rent to the end of the tenancy?

I guess so. I presume that's why they did all this behind our backs, so we couldn't have a discussion where we could refuse- they basically told us they were leaving after they had given their months notice and set it all in motion and we had no choice but to go along with it. If they wanted to leave or end the tenancy agreement early, they should have discussed their intentions with us and the landlord prior to doing anything and they didn't.

Guest101

Bohbadonde wrote: »

We are required by the tenancy agreement to pay for the rent and bills in their entirety if other tenants leave. - the bills are totally separate to the tenancy. a tenancy cannot require you to pay bills. (well it cant eb enforced anyway) We could also have taken in other tenants, but after the difficulties we've had with the last two, we didn't want to go down this route. The way we see it is we can manage for 4 months and then the tenancy agreement is up and we can leave.

The real dispute now is that the other tenants want to cut all ties from the contract, which is unfair because if we are charged for anything in November, they should be jointly responsible as they have lived here for 8 months.

You can actually pursue them for their share of the rent. In court. Very easy to do.

Guest101

Bohbadonde wrote: »

I guess so. I presume that's why they did all this behind our backs, so we couldn't have a discussion where we could refuse- they basically told us they were leaving after they had given their months notice and set it all in motion and we had no choice but to go along with it. If they wanted to leave or end the tenancy agreement early, they should have discussed their intentions with us and the landlord prior to doing anything and they didn't.

No, that's not how it works.


Assuming you are fixed term, which you indicated earlier, they are responsible.


If you are now on a rolling tenancy, then you and they will be liable for double rent.

aneary

Why did you fall out?

DumbMuscle

Bohbadonde wrote: »

I guess so. I presume that's why they did all this behind our backs, so we couldn't have a discussion where we could refuse- they basically told us they were leaving after they had given their months notice and set it all in motion and we had no choice but to go along with it. If they wanted to leave or end the tenancy agreement early, they should have discussed their intentions with us and the landlord prior to doing anything and they didn't.

Are you basing their ability to leave with a month's notice (without our agreement) on any term in the contract? If so, please quote it here in its entirety! If there's nothing in the contract which allows this, they cannot do it (and it may well not be an enforceable term even if it is in there...)

silvercar

Bohbadonde wrote: »

I guess so. I presume that's why they did all this behind our backs, so we couldn't have a discussion where we could refuse- they basically told us they were leaving after they had given their months notice and set it all in motion and we had no choice but to go along with it. If they wanted to leave or end the tenancy agreement early, they should have discussed their intentions with us and the landlord prior to doing anything and they didn't.

"Their month's notice" makes no sense, why do they have different contract terms to you on the same tenancy agreement?

Guest101

silvercar wrote: »

"Their month's notice" makes no sense, why do they have different contract terms to you on the same tenancy agreement?

Really there's 2 scenarios:


1: there's a break clause - in which case everything we're saying above is moot
or 2: no-one knows a thing about tenancy laws and has simply heard from bob down the pub 'just give'em a months notice'