Joint Tenancy and Corona

Jamesmonaghan

Hi,
I have been living under a joint tenancy for over 18 months and we have never missed a payment. As lock down was about to be enforced I decided to leave London and isolate with my mum up north. I left the flat in Mid-March but have continued to pay all my bills and rent to date. On April 14th my sole flatmate gave her four weeks notice (Rolling monthly) and then vacated the property on May 14th. Up until this date in May no viewings could take place due to Corona and there was no interest online on my listing. I returned back to the flat on May 13th having already asked the landlord for extra time to find a replacement. I informed the landlord I would continue to pay my side of the rent and if I couldn't find a person by the 1st of July I would take on the full rent or leave. Worrying about the lack of responses and financial burden I decided to hand my notice in on the 31st of May.   

I paid my half of the June rent as set out in my correspondence, throughout all of this process I stated I didn't accept liability for my flatmates side of the rent as it was virtually impossible to get a new tenant in. The landlord has accepted my notice but has stated that the rental arrears will be deducted equally from both of our deposits. 

I just want any advice on this, I know it's quite complex and I may not have explained it properly but I can give any more detail or clarification needed. 

Thanks!
James

[Deleted User]

One of the key things is that were you joint tenants on a joint contract and both equally liable, or were you both individual tenants living in the same property but with separate contracts?

mattyprice4004

The usual agreement in a joint tenancy is that you are both responsible for the rent - not just half of it, but all of it. 
If one person doesn't pay, the other person is just as liable as them for the whole amount. 

You'll be liable for the rent until a replacement is found or until you leave - while the situation is tricky, the landlord shouldn't be expected to just have half rent while the property is still under a lease for the full amount. 

Check your tenancy documents to see if the agreement I've mentioned above is applicable to your situation, though. 

Jamesmonaghan

MadMattUK said:

One of the key things is that were you joint tenants on a joint contract and both equally liable, or were you both individual tenants living in the same property but with separate contracts?

Hi Matt, 
It's a joint tenancy and we are both equally liable.

mattyprice4004 said:

The usual agreement in a joint tenancy is that you are both responsible for the rent - not just half of it, but all of it. 
If one person doesn't pay, the other person is just as liable as them for the whole amount. 

You'll be liable for the rent until a replacement is found or until you leave - while the situation is tricky, the landlord shouldn't be expected to just have half rent while the property is still under a lease for the full amount. 

Check your tenancy documents to see if the agreement I've mentioned above is applicable to your situation, though. 

I think you're correct unfortunately, I do think it's a little unfair for me to be liable for rent when it wasn't possible for me to move people in under the government's guidelines. At the landlords mercy I guess and mine wasn't that merciful! 

sharpe106

Who selected the person that you had the joint tenancy with you or the landlord? As surely for a joint tenancy you select who you share with not the landlord. So why is that the landlord fault?

hb2

This is a business for your landlord, they might not be able to afford 'mercy'.

unholyangel

Jamesmonaghan said:

MadMattUK said:

One of the key things is that were you joint tenants on a joint contract and both equally liable, or were you both individual tenants living in the same property but with separate contracts?

Hi Matt, 
It's a joint tenancy and we are both equally liable.

mattyprice4004 said:

The usual agreement in a joint tenancy is that you are both responsible for the rent - not just half of it, but all of it. 
If one person doesn't pay, the other person is just as liable as them for the whole amount. 

You'll be liable for the rent until a replacement is found or until you leave - while the situation is tricky, the landlord shouldn't be expected to just have half rent while the property is still under a lease for the full amount. 

Check your tenancy documents to see if the agreement I've mentioned above is applicable to your situation, though. 

I think you're correct unfortunately, I do think it's a little unfair for me to be liable for rent when it wasn't possible for me to move people in under the government's guidelines. At the landlords mercy I guess and mine wasn't that merciful! 

I think you're looking at this the wrong way. 

You agreed to rent the property. You are liable because of that. You not being able to move someone in means you can't mitigate that liability, but it did not create the liability. 

If you are being held liable for more than your share, it would be for you to recover those funds from the other tenant. 

What does your tenancy state about terminating the tenancy? 

diggingdude

You could potentially take the other tenant to court to recover your losses. If you are paying your half and half the other person's you are paying 75% so really they owe you 25% but the landlord doesn't 

Jeremy535897

diggingdude said:

You could potentially take the other tenant to court to recover your losses. If you are paying your half and half the other person's you are paying 75% so really they owe you 25% but the landlord doesn't 

It depends on what was agreed. The other tenant gave one month's notice which was accepted.