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Letting agent wont supply tenancy agreement.
Comments
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And legally the OP (and the former housemate) are liable for double rent.0
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Jamesingram1 wrote: »So am I to understand that even though she has moved out and has given written notice she has left, that she still has a rental liability?
Assuming you had a joint contract, then you are either both still bound by that joint contract and therefore she is liable, or the whole contract has ended and therefore you are occupying the property without a contract.Note: Unless otherwise stated, my property related posts refer to England & Wales. Please make sure you state if you are discussing Scotland or elsewhere as laws differ.0 -
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What is all this you are saying about double rent? Why would I have to pay double rent?0
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Another reply of mine failed to post. She emailed LA to give 1 month notice of her intention to move out. I did not.0
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The way joint tenancies work is that you don't have one tenancy each. A single tenancy exists, where the tenant is "both of you". That means:
- You don't owe half the rent each, you jointly owe all of it. You might, and probably will, agree between you to contribute half each, but the landlord is entitled to chase either one of you for all of it. Consequently, the referencing decision is a little bit different - the landlord basically needs to be confident that at least one of you can pay all the rent
- You can't sever the joint tenancy and convert it into a sole tenancy. So your friend couldn't just say to the the landlord that she was leaving but you were staying, it doesn't work that way. If one of you wants to leave, you have to end the joint tenancy, then set up a new sole tenancy. (Or a new joint tenancy, if you can find a new housemate.)
So, the fact that your friend tried to do exactly that is a problem. Technically speaking, either:
- she didn't serve valid notice, just informed the agent/landlord that she was moving out. If this is the case, she's actually still a tenant, still liable for rent, and also entitled to move back in if she likes.
- she did serve valid notice. If this is the case, she served it for both of you - oops. What the law says here is that you still have a tenancy - it only ends when you actually move out - but because you're supposed to have gone, you owe the landlord double rent for the period between the notice expiring and you actually leaving. Good news is that this is a pretty ancient law, not widely known and not commonly enforced. But you really want to sort this pronto by signing a new tenancy agreement.0 -
Jamesingram1 wrote: »Another reply of mine failed to post. She emailed LA to give 1 month notice of her intention to move out. I did not.
Right so all she did was email to say that she was moving out. She did not send notice to the address for the serving of notices given in the tenancy agreement to end the joint tenancy which means the joint tenancy is still in place. Read the Tenancies in England/Wales sticky at the top of the board to find out how an AST can be ended.0 -
Jamesingram1 wrote: »What is all this you are saying about double rent? Why would I have to pay double rent?
If your former flat mate had served notice to end the joint tenancy then you should have moved out too because the tenancy would have ended for both of you. If you remained in the property after the notice period the landlord could have charged you both double rent under the Distress for Rent Act, again read the sticky at the top of the board. However, your former flat mate had rather foolishly left the joint tenancy in place.0 -
We went with what the letting agent told us. We went to the office, told them she would leave, but I would stay, they just said "Oh ok, just send us an email to say you are leaving"0
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Jamesingram1 wrote: »What is all this you are saying about double rent? Why would I have to pay double rent?
If a tenant fails to leave after having served notice, they can be charged double rent - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo2/11/19/contents
I appreciate it's complex, but it's true.0
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