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Shared Tenancy - moved girlfriend in

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  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    ceborame wrote: »
    Regarding Comms69, wouldn't that mean that my son is subsidising 50% of the third persons housing costs ? There are 3 incomes but only 2 of them are paying the rent.
    There are two bedrooms - he has one of them to himself. They share one. Anybody who's lived on their own and with somebody else knows damn well that two people definitely live cheaper than one.

    Yes, she needs to start paying.
    No, I don't think going from a straight 1:1 to straight 1:1:1 is fair.

    They're all grown adults. if they can't sit down, discuss this, and come to a mutually acceptable agreement then it's going to save a lot of time and shouting if he moves out now.
  • Hi,


    maybe they are just being awkward, hoping your son will move out, then have place to themselves.


    Edit: has he got a partner he could move in to balance things?
  • Just because your kids grow up and move out, doesn't mean they should stop coming you for advice.
    The OP hasn't suggested he's getting involved other than trying to get the correct advice for this son.


    Now, if he was to rock up at the house, start threatening this other lad and his GF, I'd be in total agreement.

    Oh I agree, of course - no problem with them coming to ask for help. That wasn't what I meant.

    In the context of the current issue Vs son being an independent adult who lives away from parents - IMO this could be something the son can easily sort himself
    With love, POSR <3
  • trex227
    trex227 Posts: 290 Forumite
    100 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    When I lived with a couple (granted we moved in as a 3, we didn’t start as a 2 then someone joined) we split the rent and bills 3 ways. Though in our situation in both properties in the 2+ years we lived together I had the much smaller bedroom so I guess that made it more fair.
    Are the bedrooms evenly sized in this circumstance?
  • DaftyDuck
    DaftyDuck Posts: 4,609 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Simplest answer is for your son to get a (girl)friend too. Balances out nicely.

    It's always an impossible task, splitting a complex bill like this. It can work, if the friendships are deep enough to cover the odd imbalance.

    Son can either fight them spreadsheet-style ... " you use 62.7% of the facilities, and 83.2% of the hot water...", or accept a general amicable split, such as she buys the takeaways and booze each Wednesday night, or just lump it and cough up until friend and girlfriend split up...

    ... then date his ex - and really spice the tenancy up.

    But, he will grow up faster if you edge him to making his own decisions.
  • This is the same situation with us. My partner and I rent a 2 bedroom flat with a friend. Rent is divided 60-40 whilst utility bills including council tax are divided by 3.

    I think communication is the key. They should all sit down and talk about the numbers and how it’s going to be divided. In our case, my partner and I approached our flatmate and discussed the figures with her. We even have an excel file to show her our proposal how the bills will be divided.
  • There's no reason why the girlfriend should pay 1/3 of the rent because they're not suddenly getting more space in the house. For all you know, she's already paying half of the half that her boyfriend is paying.

    They should however be splitting the bills, because those will increase and it's not right that your son should pay half when he's only using more or less one third.
  • Newish
    Newish Posts: 12 Forumite
    What can he do if they won't play fair

    First off, inform the Council Tax dept. Its unlikely to make any material difference unless either your son or his joint tenant friend are students, but it nevertheless registers her part of the legal occupancy of the dwelling. They may/may not deem her jointly liable for council tax in and of itself.

    Second, he just needs to be up-front with the lettings agency. Its likely to wreck his friendship, but given the friend won;t negotiate with him over the girlfriends presence, its likely already wrecked. He just need to be clear with the agency that he won't pay his rent, as the agency is then knowingly in breach of the tenancy agreement, and he can walk away from it if they won't rectify it.... Then let them deal with the situation...
  • Slithery
    Slithery Posts: 6,046 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Newish wrote: »
    He just need to be clear with the agency that he won't pay his rent, as the agency is then knowingly in breach of the tenancy agreement, and he can walk away from it if they won't rectify it.... Then let them deal with the situation...
    You obviously have no idea what you're talking about - in any of your recent posts.

    Everyone - please ignore Newish, it's still holiday for schoolchildren.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,297 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 3 January 2020 at 11:33PM
    Newish wrote: »
    First off, inform the Council Tax dept. Its unlikely to make any material difference unless either your son or his joint tenant friend are students, but it nevertheless registers her part of the legal occupancy of the dwelling. They may/may not deem her jointly liable for council tax in and of itself.

    Second, he just needs to be up-front with the lettings agency. Its likely to wreck his friendship, but given the friend won;t negotiate with him over the girlfriends presence, its likely already wrecked. He just need to be clear with the agency that he won't pay his rent, as the agency is then knowingly in breach of the tenancy agreement, and he can walk away from it if they won't rectify it.... Then let them deal with the situation...

    This is absolute garbage. Firstly the contract is between the joint tenants and the landlord, not the letting agency. The letting agency, or more correctly, the landlord is not in breach of anything even if they are told about the girlfriend.

    As a joint tenant the son has joint and several liability for the whole rent so he can't just walk away scot free.

    ETA:

    Informing the council tax department won't really achieve anything because the girlfriend sits below the joint tenants in the hierarchy of liability for council tax. I'm not saying she shouldn't contribute towards it, far from it because I think she should, but informing the council tax department won't bump her up the hierarchy in the eyes of the council.
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