Guarantored rent

Jet

She WAS a full time student, but obviously is in no position to be studying at the moment. Of course, she hoped to get better, but we are now nearly in December and it doesn't look like she's getting any better in the immediate future. Does that make her unemployed / disabled?

aneary

She would probably be entitled to PIP but this will need to be assessed and your friend would probably be entitled to a carer's allowance.

Note my use of 'Would probably'.

If the student house and the mental health team are under the same council she may be entitled to housing benefit.

Mojisola

Jet wrote: »

She WAS a full time student, but obviously is in no position to be studying at the moment.

Does that mean that she should be paying Council Tax on the flat in addition to the other bills?

It's worth spreading the word around the uni - students' forums, etc - there may be someone looking for a place to stay for the rest of the academic year.

Jet

Mojisola wrote: »

Does that mean that she should be paying Council Tax on the flat in addition to the other bills?

It's worth spreading the word around the uni - students' forums, etc - there may be someone looking for a place to stay for the rest of the academic year.

That's a good point, if she's not a student, she'll be liable for council tax.

DaftyDuck

She may no longer be a student, but her Student Welfare Office(r) may well be best placed to help and advise the best course of action for her, and for her student housemate(s). They may well be able to help find a replacement flatmate.

I know our welfare team does not feel responsibility end when students leave under such circumstances.

FBaby

I will ask to see a copy of the guarantor details to see if they are enforceable.

Assuming they are not, how will your friend deal with the issue? Her DD will likely be taken to court by the LL or her housemate. I expect this is not something she will be much able to cope with and will only add much stress to all.

Has anyone at all been in contact with the housemate/LL to explain the situation yet?

dimbo61

easyroomamte or spareroom or contact the university housing office.
Put an advert on the university website to find a replacement student.

Manchester Student Homes have this

https://www.manchesterstudenthomes.com/MessageBoard

Now I am sure other universities will have a housing office or housing officer at the least.
Speak NOW to the landlord and he/she maybe able to use a Letting agents to find a replacement

Cakeguts

The mental health team should be able to provide a support worker who will go through the finances and help her to apply for benefits.

Depending on the diagnosis it is quite possible that she won't be well enough to continue the degree for several months or even years or ever. (Not enough research has been done on medicines to control mental illness so some of the medication has very bad side effects which can affect concentration. How often do you see adverts on the television asking for donations to Cancer Research? How often do you see them asking for donations for Mental Illness Research?)

If is also possible that she has been suffering from this mental illness for several years and it has now just got to the point where she can't any longer control the symptoms.

It sometimes takes a few months to find a medication that will control the symptoms which is why I say that she is unlikely to be able to continue the degree for this year.

The mental health team should find her a someone who will help with sorting out the finances. It is common for people with severe mental illnesses to not be able to sort out their finances so there should be someone who can do this for her.

Depending on the diagnosis she may be classed as disabled but this is something else the mental health team can help with.

saajan_12

Jet wrote: »

I assume she is fully liable for the rent until the end of the contract unless she can find someone else to take on the room (unlikely).

The tenants are liable for the full rent until the end of the contract even if she finds someone to take on the room. The ex student may be able to sublet the room or the other resident tenants take on a lodger to contribute to the rent, but ultimate responsibilty for the rent still falls to the tenants (and friend if the guarantee is valid) if eg the subtenant fails to pay. The only way of releasing the liability is if the landlord agree to assign the tenancy to someone else.

Jet wrote: »

I do understand that it's not fair to burden others with my friends problem, and that is not the landlord or other tenants problem. I am just looking at the options for her - she is really struggling to pay her own bills, let alone these as well.
..
I will ask to see a copy of the guarantor details to see if they are enforceable.

Even if the guarantee is unenforceable, the daughter is still liable for the rent, bills etc. If the LL/utility companies chase the other resident tenants, they can claim daughter's share from her based on their agreement to split rent/bills. Daughter could end up with a CCJ and mounting debt collection costs, which would ruin her credit going forward.

Jet wrote: »

Can she get her daughter taken off the household bills at least?

Jet wrote: »

With regards to the household bills, my thinking was that maybe she shouldn't be expected to pay half of everything, including metered services as she isn't there and perhaps could come to an agreement with the remaining tenant.

Re bills, legally the agreement between the tenants would likely have been to split the bills, whatever they are, without accounting for who is away for the property eg over holidays. So the other tenants could pay the full bill and claim for the daughter's share.

Morally, the other tenants bargained for an x% share of the total bill. The daughter not being present would have a negligible impact on bills, as there are standing charges, and the energy used to fire up the boiler for showers, or heat the property or heat and light common areas are unchanged. The only difference is perhaps electricity not used by daughter's personal equipment and a bit of cooking. This would not halve the bills, so the other tenants paying 100% of the bill would be more than they agreed to due no fault of their own.

Jet

Thanks for all the replies. I think we need to look at the following;

1. Assigning the lease to someone new or at least sub letting the room - will find out what has been done about this.

2. Look at what benefits the daughter can claim.

3. Look at what benefits the Mother and family can claim.