Trouble leaving a joint tenancy, any advice appreciated

greatsquarenetwork

greensalad said:

Offer to help find someone between the two of you, but make it clear that you are leaving on X date and you aren't personally responsible for finding someone to take on the tenancy, just being courteous. 

Bit silly of your housemate to assume you were just going to stay, and completely not unreasonable for you to leave as long as you're doing so on the agreed date your fixed term ends. 

Post on Spareroom etc advertising, and ask your housemate to start thinking if they know anyone who would like a room.

That seems like a good suggestion. Do you know any other good places to find a replacement? I've never done this before. Appreciate the advice

HampshireH

You could try local noticeboards, job forums if your occupation and the others is quite specific. Work intranet if you have one. Even social media often has people looking for accommodation.

MaryNB

greatsquarenetwork said:

greensalad said:

Offer to help find someone between the two of you, but make it clear that you are leaving on X date and you aren't personally responsible for finding someone to take on the tenancy, just being courteous. 

Bit silly of your housemate to assume you were just going to stay, and completely not unreasonable for you to leave as long as you're doing so on the agreed date your fixed term ends. 

Post on Spareroom etc advertising, and ask your housemate to start thinking if they know anyone who would like a room.

That seems like a good suggestion. Do you know any other good places to find a replacement? I've never done this before. Appreciate the advice

I second spare room. I used it during the 7 years I was renting and was definitely the best website for finding rooms in a house share. 

Gumtree is another place. There are a few facebook groups for my city with people looking for rooms or advertising rooms for rent. I only looked at alternatives to spareroom after I exhausted it first. 

ETA:
Make sure to included all relevant info on the add (12 month joint tenancy etc). If applicable make sure they know there will be referencing. Make sure you list all the applicable bills and rules (e.g. no pets). A brief overview of the current housemates helps - people often like to rent with likeminded people. You'll find a lot of people will apply without reading any of the description so you'll have do do some high level vetting to avoid wasting time having unsuitable people look at the room.  Clean the place before taking photos and before viewings.

When you schedule viewings leave at least 15 min for each with a break in between (people often arrive early or late). 

greatsquarenetwork

MaryNB said:

greatsquarenetwork said:

greensalad said:

Offer to help find someone between the two of you, but make it clear that you are leaving on X date and you aren't personally responsible for finding someone to take on the tenancy, just being courteous. 

Bit silly of your housemate to assume you were just going to stay, and completely not unreasonable for you to leave as long as you're doing so on the agreed date your fixed term ends. 

Post on Spareroom etc advertising, and ask your housemate to start thinking if they know anyone who would like a room.

That seems like a good suggestion. Do you know any other good places to find a replacement? I've never done this before. Appreciate the advice

I second spare room. I used it during the 7 years I was renting and was definitely the best website for finding rooms in a house share. 

Gumtree is another place. There are a few facebook groups for my city with people looking for rooms or advertising rooms for rent. I only looked at alternatives to spareroom after I exhausted it first. 

ETA:
Make sure to included all relevant info on the add (12 month joint tenancy etc). If applicable make sure they know there will be referencing. Make sure you list all the applicable bills and rules (e.g. no pets). A brief overview of the current housemates helps - people often like to rent with likeminded people. You'll find a lot of people will apply without reading any of the description so you'll have do do some high level vetting to avoid wasting time having unsuitable people look at the room.  Clean the place before taking photos and before viewings.

When you schedule viewings leave at least 15 min for each with a break in between (people often arrive early or late). 

HampshireH said:

You could try local noticeboards, job forums if your occupation and the others is quite specific. Work intranet if you have one. Even social media often has people looking for accommodation.

Thanks for these bits of advice guys, much appreciated. I think Spareroom will be the first port of call, don't suppose you know anythinn about getting the premium version and if that's worth it? Might make the process a bit quicker.

MaryNB

greatsquarenetwork said:

MaryNB said:

greatsquarenetwork said:

greensalad said:

Offer to help find someone between the two of you, but make it clear that you are leaving on X date and you aren't personally responsible for finding someone to take on the tenancy, just being courteous. 

Bit silly of your housemate to assume you were just going to stay, and completely not unreasonable for you to leave as long as you're doing so on the agreed date your fixed term ends. 

Post on Spareroom etc advertising, and ask your housemate to start thinking if they know anyone who would like a room.

That seems like a good suggestion. Do you know any other good places to find a replacement? I've never done this before. Appreciate the advice

I second spare room. I used it during the 7 years I was renting and was definitely the best website for finding rooms in a house share. 

Gumtree is another place. There are a few facebook groups for my city with people looking for rooms or advertising rooms for rent. I only looked at alternatives to spareroom after I exhausted it first. 

ETA:
Make sure to included all relevant info on the add (12 month joint tenancy etc). If applicable make sure they know there will be referencing. Make sure you list all the applicable bills and rules (e.g. no pets). A brief overview of the current housemates helps - people often like to rent with likeminded people. You'll find a lot of people will apply without reading any of the description so you'll have do do some high level vetting to avoid wasting time having unsuitable people look at the room.  Clean the place before taking photos and before viewings.

When you schedule viewings leave at least 15 min for each with a break in between (people often arrive early or late). 

HampshireH said:

You could try local noticeboards, job forums if your occupation and the others is quite specific. Work intranet if you have one. Even social media often has people looking for accommodation.

Thanks for these bits of advice guys, much appreciated. I think Spareroom will be the first port of call, don't suppose you know anythinn about getting the premium version and if that's worth it? Might make the process a bit quicker.

I wouldn't worry about it if you have two months to find someone, that's plenty of time. 

I used the premium version when I was looking for somewhere to rent because the market is crazy where I live and you need make contact the day an ad goes up if you want a response. 
I used it once when advertising a room (to replace a housemate), but that's only because it was during the first lockdown and very few people were moving. 

Slithery

Just to make you aware for a deed of variation to happen both the LL and your flatmates have to agree to it, which they are under no obligation to.
Have you spoken to your LL about the situation yet?

canaldumidi

Slithery said:

Just to make you aware for a deed of variation to happen both the LL and your flatmates have to agree to it, which they are under no obligation to.
Have you spoken to your LL about the situation yet?

Yes, but equally true if the tenancy is ended and a new one created. Whatever happens, if there's a change to the tenancy the LL must agree. And so must all tenants.

What sometimes happens is that joint tenants 'informally' swop tenants (one leaves, new one moves in and pays the outgoing one 'their' share of the deposit).

This can work, but is based on trust, and zero issues arising. Legally though the outgoing tenant remains liable (as they are still a joint tenant), and legally the deposit is owed by the LL to the departed tenant not the new one (who never paid a deposit to the landlord).

We see threads here arising from these informal arrangements.......

greatsquarenetwork

Slithery said:

Just to make you aware for a deed of variation to happen both the LL and your flatmates have to agree to it, which they are under no obligation to.
Have you spoken to your LL about the situation yet?

I haven’t, I’m honestly really overwhelmed and i don’t even know where to start. What do I need to tell him? That I intend to serve notice when I can? 

MaryNB

greatsquarenetwork said:

Slithery said:

Just to make you aware for a deed of variation to happen both the LL and your flatmates have to agree to it, which they are under no obligation to.
Have you spoken to your LL about the situation yet?

I haven’t, I’m honestly really overwhelmed and i don’t even know where to start. What do I need to tell him? That I intend to serve notice when I can? 

Ask the landlord if they will allow a change of sharer (fee is up to £50). It may help if you offer to find the replacement tenant. Advise the other tenants of this request to the landlord. This is the easiest option for all involved.

If he does not accept the request you then advise the other tenants that you intend to notice to end the tenancy for all once the contract becomes rolling. 

TripleH

greatsquarenetwork said:

Yes, I can't imagine they'd be happy with paying double rent either! I think what I'll do is offer to help find another housemate, but again I feel like I'd be trapped if they're not happy with any of the housemates I suggest, or if I'm not able to find one. I guess it is what it is. Thanks for the advice, appreciate it

You are leaving at the end of a fixed term period not in the middle, you are not leaving them in the lurch.

Sometimes it is better to not live with friends, living habits eventually grate and can ruin friendships. This is life not a scripted American sitcom.

In London I worked with plenty of people who lived for a year then moved on for lots of reasons, this is a new and potentially painless situation. You could all have fallen out 1 month in.

Don't let them pressure you into remaining because they don't want to change their setup. It will end badly as you will start resenting them and cracks appear in your relationship.