Flatshare issue...

G_M

Rent. Don't pay her - pay the LL for the period you were there.


Bills. Advice is as before: as and when she presents you with sensible breakdown of costs, assess them and pay her if they are reasonable.


Deposit. A grey area. You have agreed some kind of 'Early Surrender' of the tenancy with the LL, the terms of which are unclear. Plus to complicate matters, it's a joint tenancy and it seems only you are leaving, with the tenancy continuing in the name(s) of the remaining occupants - so goodness knows what the legal position is!

HampshireH

Can't see how the landlord can deduct bills from your rent. Especially considering no account is in their name for payment.

This is the wailing banshees problem. Email is probably best and not phone.

Landlord obviously completely aware of the unreasonable behaviour else you wouldn't have been released from your contract so easily.

HampshireH

Just seen GMs point about the joint tenancy. This is a great point and very interesting not sure how this works also without any notice served.

Seems very messy.

muhandis

I think you did the right thing by moving out.

From your original post, you said that the flatshare involves 3 tenants in all, which makes it an HMO (3 or more people in 2 or more households).

It doesn't meet the definition of a large HMO (which requires compulsory licensing from the council) but plenty of councils now require licenses for small HMOs (usually called 'additional license') as well. A quick look at the council website - housing section will give you that information.

If the local councils requires an additional license, and your landlord hasn't obtained it, he can be in big trouble.

If he's the law abiding sort and has an additional license (easy to check, councils usually have a public register online), it usually comes with a whole host of tick-box conditions which he might/might not be meeting and a complaint to the property licensing department could land him in a spot of bother.

That's a bit of leverage you might have to help the landlord do the right thing with your deposit.

Which council is the house in?

ryanm8655 wrote: »

Hello all,

A bit of an update...

We finally had a discussion re: bills. I got home at 11pm not realising she was back from her holiday. I was then awoken by a wailing banshee banging on my door. I got up to be presented with a slip of paper requesting a total of just shy of £500 for the three weeks I’d been there...her evidence was random scrawlings of invoice numbers.

She was asking for more than three months of council tax for a start...and was claiming I owed for the month before I moved in too.

This culminated in a blazing row...ultimately the next day I called the landlord and asked if I could move out. The upshot is he has agreed and I’ve now left.

Have a feeling she is going to try and get the bills deducted from my deposit (which the landlord has agreed to return with “agreed deductions”). I responded thanking him for his understanding and stating that me and the tenant that shall not be named still need to agree bills. I will pay the correct amount for the period I lived at the property only and only for things I had agreed to (not her shopping). He didn’t respond to this directly but did thank me for returning keys and said he’ll be in touch.

Can the landlord deduct bills from my deposit? It was due to be in the DPS but he hadn’t yet arranged it when I moved out...

Thanks,
Ryan

Wanderingpomm

No the landlord can’t make deductions for bills. Just damage.

Claim it all back from the deposit scheme. It sounds like you deserve it!

elsien

You'd think the landlord would prefer to have wailing banshee out given that he seems to have other tenants in and out like yo yos because of her. Tenancy permitting, obviously.

katieb343

I don't have anything to add from a legal standpoint, just wanted to say sorry you're going through this - the wailing banshee sounds like an unreasonable nutcase and no one should speak to you like that! Lucky you were savvy enough not to pay up when she demanded money from you. I hope you find a lovely new place with really nice housemates.

uphillstruggler

Phew! You definitely did the right thing there! Nice once. Hope it all works out for you.

ryanm8655

Hi all, bit of an update.

I’m now out. The landlord is looking to deduct bills but they are less than half what she was demanding. Few issues I’d dispute but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s not worth the hassle and all in all it’s a cheap way out of a 12 month tenancy.

JayRitchie

ryanm8655 wrote: »

Hi all, bit of an update.

I’m now out. The landlord is looking to deduct bills but they are less than half what she was demanding. Few issues I’d dispute but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s not worth the hassle and all in all it’s a cheap way out of a 12 month tenancy.

Glad you've got some resolution. Have you had any joy finding somewhere better and more stable?