Advice re House-Share Agreement Please

justontime

My daughter is about to enter into a tenancy agreement (assured shorthold) with 3 friends for accommodation for her second year of university. We have had the agreement checked and it seems fine, the jointly and severally liable bit is a concern, but it is unavoidable if they are going to get somewhere decent. My daughter is quiet and not a 'party person' and she has chosen her potential flat mates carefully, she is confident that they are quiet, reliable and they have similar expectations to herself. They want to make a contract between the 4 of them re financial responsibilities, problem solving and other expectations. Does anyone have any experience or this sort of thing, or could you please point me to any examples of that sort of agreement on the internet? Any advice would be welcome, thanks.

lynzpower

The contract ( AST) IS the agreement.
If they all sign it they are all severably liable. the main issue there is if one cant pay the rent, then the other 3 will have to split it. If the LL can only find one of them then she will have to pay whatever the others cant pay.

justontime

Yes, I understand all that thank you, but that wasn't what I was asking. They are happy with their agreement with the landlord, but they want to make an agreement between themselves in addition, so that if one person defaults in some way and causes financial loss to the other three, they will have something in writing and can claim against the other person. They also see it as a way of anticipating potential areas of difficulty and setting out expectations and responsibilities.

CLAPTON

what speific things are you talking about .. electricity, gas, water, telephone, or what


if it these then is probably best to simply agree each person will take one out in their name and be responsible for paying it and have a monthly reconciliation... although not perfect it avoids jointly and several liability and also limits the maximum amount of lose for each person to the bill they are responsible for.