Student co-renter rips off the house

Comms69

Peter_Brown wrote: »

New occupier is not paying rent to a landlord who is resident and shares her facilities. If she was paying one of the tenants who is still in residence, I believe she would be a lodger / excluded occupier.

Not the same thing.

A lodger is an excluded occupier; but excluded occupier covers lots of other types of people too.

Remember in this case there is only 1 ‘tenant’; it just happens to be 9 people.

westernpromise

Comms69 wrote: »

The problem is the new tenant would be out of pocket twice

Not if from henceforth she paid "rent" to the other tenants.

westernpromise

pimento wrote: »

If you have a surname she should be easy enough to find.

I once tracked down a bloke who sold some non-existant festival tickets to me son on Facebook. I found him and sent a LBA to his dad. I received a cheque by return.

I think you were right to do that. In the same way that it's a civic duty to report potholes, it's a civic duty to get debt welshers tagged with CCJs. In both cases you are acting to limit their ability to do similar harm in the future.

Peter_Brown_2

need_an_answer wrote: »

Have you had a look at any of the guarantor forms yet?
They can be a minefield in themselves, and some are so woolley that you can re knit anything you want with them!!!

I doubt the OP obtained legal advice but then again I never have and wonder if you will ?

The guarantor form sometimes wont even hold up legally ...yes I've seen some real cobbled together ones and actually what they do prey on is the integrity of other parents paying up and doing the right thing.

The fact that half the students have no real connection with eachother rather than being a friend of a friend makes it even more difficult when you suggest as a parent a "parents meet up"

I'm not meaning to dumb down your suggestion but in the 2 years we've been in the student rental scene we have some of the housemates but never managed to bump into a parent yet !


This years guarantors form for us consisted of name and address of employer please and could you kindly confirm you are a home owner!
We are about to embark on year 3 within a single studio flat for offspring.
Alittle more expensive per week but just they and their 4 walls!

So would you advise against seeking legal advice prior to signing such a guarantor deed?
I don't know how much a solicitor would charge. My local solicitor charged £70 for my will (including storage) and £500 for my conveyancing. So I would expect about £100 to look over such a deed.
If I'm looking at a liability of over £10k, that seems like a reasonable precaution to me.

I take your point that most potential guarantors are unlikely to know other guarantors. But some basic due diligence (phone call, Skype call, photo ID check, land registry check etc) doesn't seem unreasonable.

One thing I've learned over the years is to "front load" your due diligence admin. ie check people out BEFORE you enter into any agreement, when you are in a much stronger position.

Now I appreciate in the real world, this whole university culture leads to groups of "friends" rushing into house shares. But that is can be foreseen and is not inevitable.

Peter_Brown_2

westernpromise wrote: »

I think you were right to do that. In the same way that it's a civic duty to report potholes, it's a civic duty to get debt welshers tagged with CCJs. In both cases you are acting to limit their ability to do similar harm in the future.

How long does a claimant with a successful CCJ in their favour, have to enforce payment on the debtor?

For example, is it worth getting CCJs on younger people with no assets and then keeping an eye on them to see if they inherit property etc?

Comms69

Peter_Brown wrote: »

How long does a claimant with a successful CCJ in their favour, have to enforce payment on the debtor?

For example, is it worth getting CCJs on younger people with no assets and then keeping an eye on them to see if they inherit property etc?

Until it is paid.

Peter_Brown_2

Comms69 wrote: »

Until it is paid.

Thanks.
I had 6 years in my mind for some reason.
So it could well be worth collecting a few CCJs on people and in the future, who knows? Your debtor could win the lottery!

Comms69

6 years is the pre CCJ stage.

Indeed, it’s also sensible to chase for even a payment plan. Whilst the CCJ doesn’t close; you may need to justify enforcement to a judge.

macman

Comms69 wrote: »

Yes, a tenancy can be created simply by occupation and acceptance ofcrent

Indeed it can. But only if the tenant is in a position to grant a sub-tenancy. Which Mandy was not, since doing so was expressly forbidden in her contract with the LL.
Her unfortunate replacement may well be unaware of it, and deserve our sympathy, but she does not have any right of occupation just because she was unaware that sub-letting was not permitted.

Comms69

macman wrote: »

Indeed it can. But only if the tenant is in a position to grant a sub-tenancy. Which Mandy was not, since doing so was expressly forbidden in her contract with the LL.
Her unfortunate replacement may well be unaware of it, and deserve our sympathy, but she does not have any right of occupation just because she was unaware that sub-letting was not permitted.

I wasn’t suggesting that the new occupant was currently a tenant.

She does have rights of occupation, just not tenants rights.