Student co-renter rips off the house

Bohannun

Hi there, looking for advice on an issue my daughter is having with a shared student house.

I’ll keep it as brief as possible.

* My daughter is at uni in a house with 9 other people.
* Each renter needs to provide a guarantor in the event of the rent not being paid.
* They’ve been there for 2 years and want to stay for the last year
* in the first year, a young girl called Mandy who got on with no one, sub let her room to another girl and then moved out.
* According to the contract Sub-letting is not allowed.
* Plus Mandy sub-let the room for £750 a month when the rent was £600.
* Four months after Mandy moved out the estate agent contacted the remaining tenants to say her rent had not been paid, to the tune of £2400
* Apparently, for those 4 months Mandy had been giving the estate agent the run around by claiming that her mum (her rent guarantor) had died and that she would soon have the money in that very difficult time. She also requested that the EA didn’t contact the tenants as her mums death was very personal and she didn’t want them to know.
* When the estate agent asked for a death certificate, Mandy stopped all comms and changed her phone number.
* Estate agent loses patience and falls back on the multi signed contract that states the remaining tenants have to cover any missing rent. I’ve read it; it does.
* One of the tenants sees Mandy and her mother walking around the town. When they try and approach her she tells them to fukk off and walks off.
* Despite confirmation to EA that the mother isn’t dead they don’t care and are insisting the money is paid before the end of August or the house will be let out.
* Obviously, neither the Uni or the EA will give out any of the details they hold on Mango and her not dead mother for privacy reasons.


So now I’m having to fork out an additional £266 this month on top of her £600 rent.

This has been going on for nearly a year and despite telling me that her and her other lazy student housemates are clubbing together to do something about it, nothing has been done. None of them know where Mandy lives. Her name is all they have.

This seems nailed on for the small claims court. It’s very much fraudulent and the fact that it was done so deliberately, against other students really !!!!es me off. More so than having to pay the thieving girls rentrent. Apparently all the while she lived at the house she was ordering takeaways every single night and enjoying the high life.

So how do you launch a claim against someone when all you know is their name? And is it worth it when they might possibly give her 240 months to pay it back?


Any proper advice appreciated.

G_M

Provided reasonable efforts have been made to identify a defendant's address, notice can be served at the last known address (ie the property in question).

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part06

Nature of defendant to be served Place of service

1. Individual Usual or last known residence.
............

(3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant referred to in entries 1, 2 or 3 in the table in paragraph (2) is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant's current residence or place of business ('current address').
(4) Where, having taken the reasonable steps required by paragraph (3), the claimant -;

(a) ascertains the defendant's current address, the claim form must be served at that address; or

(b) is unable to ascertain the defendant's current address, the claimant must consider whether there is -;

(i) an alternative place where; or

(ii) an alternative method by which,

service may be effected.


(5) If, under paragraph (4)(b), there is such a place where or a method by which service may be effected, the claimant must make an application under rule 6.15.

(6) Where paragraph (3) applies, the claimant may serve on the defendant's usual or last known address in accordance with the table in paragraph (2) where the claimant -;

(a) cannot ascertain the defendant's current residence or place of business; and

(b) cannot ascertain an alternative place or an alternative method under paragraph (4)(b).

macman

I'm not sure that the other tenants have a claim against Mandy, since they have no contract with her?
The problem here is the contract between them and the LL: not only does it require a guarantor, but also makes them jointly and severally liable for any shortfall in the rent.
The LL has no incentive to pursue any shortfall from Mandy if they are more easily able to obtain it from the other tenants or their guarantors.

Pixie5740

The other tenants can make a claim against Mandy for her "share" of the rent. It's the landlord who need not waste his time trying to track her down because he has 8 other [STRIKE]suckers[/STRIKE] tenants he can go after and he knows where they live and if they can't pay up there's always the guarantors, assuming the guarantee was executed as a deed.

If Mandy and her mother live in the town or nearby it shouldn't be that difficult to track her down. Do some social media stalking.

00ec25

Bohannun wrote: »

So how do you launch a claim against someone when all you know is their name?

sadly for you, you don't.
take a reality check. Yes you can start legal action but...

Bohannun wrote: »

And is it worth it when they might possibly give her 240 months to pay it back?.

even if you win, do you expect to get paid ?

you will need to spend money employing a tracing agent. The court won't do it for you.

The LL has no incentive to chase her mother since the LL has 8 other guarantors he can chase and they are much easier to find. You have no legal right to the contact info the LL holds about her mother, although of course you could try asking and then take legal action against the mother yourself if the LL (accidentally) tells you where mother is

I am sorry for your position as it really is unfair that you have to guarantee a total stranger, but that was in the contract you signed as it is the way of the world for many student lets.

Comms69

I would sue her, just for the CCJ; but I wouldn!!!8217;t expect to be paid.

Hopefully others will learn from this post...

G_M

Comms69 wrote: »

Hopefully others will learn from this post...

The trouble is that arrangements like this are all too common in student lets.

Comms69

G_M wrote: »

The trouble is that arrangements like this are all too common in student lets.

Ye but 9 other people; no one needs to live in
A house of 10 people.

And no one needs to commit £72,000 a year in rent- guarantors are mad!!

Davesnave

Comms69 wrote: »

I would sue her, just for the CCJ; but I wouldn!!!8217;t expect to be paid.

Hopefully others will learn from this post...

I don't think the learning path is very clear here.


As GM says, this sort of arrangement is becoming the norm.


One can go into a share with fewer people, which lessens the risk to some extent, but for first year students, a lot has to be taken on trust. Contrary to some older persons' experience, accommodation in uni halls is not always available these days to those starting out.

lookstraightahead

The problem is Comms that there really isn't much choice. If your child wants to live with their friends, in popular and safe student areas of major cities, sometimes you have to act as guarantor. Thankfully as I said in another thread, my DD is with just two people but it could have been different. Also the landlord is in constant touch with all of us. But yes it's a nightmare.

Comms69

lookstraightahead wrote: »

The problem is Comms that there really isn't much choice. If your child wants to live with their friends, in popular and safe student areas of major cities, sometimes you have to act as guarantor. Thankfully as I said in another thread, my DD is with just two people but it could have been different. Also the landlord is in constant touch with all of us. But yes it's a nightmare.

There is a choice- ‘no’.

Sorry but I’m
Firm on this; no way I’m guaranteeing half actual house a year!