Housemate won't pay rent!

caitlin99

I live in a student house with two other students. One of my housemates has decided to move out for various reasons and no longer wants to pay rent. Myself and the third housemate signed a contract for the house but was told only two people could be on the contract as it was previously a "family property". Therefore the housemate moving out didn't sign the contract however has been paying rent and bills for the last few months, residing in the property, as well as communicating back and forth with the landlord which I assume suggests a verbal contract is in place. My remaining housemate and myself simply cannot afford to pay her share of the rent and are beginning to panic about how we will manage. Please would anyone be able to offer some advice or signpost me to where I can find some legal advice. Thank you in advance

andy444

Why could only two people be on the contract? Presumably there are three bedrooms in the property. This doesn't make sense. Have you seen anything in writing to confirm this?

Did the leaving housemate pay rent directly to the landlord or to yourself and the other housemate?

saajan_12

I'll call A = OP, B = moved out tenant, C = remaining tenant, on the contract
Would be tricky to argue a verbal contract (A+B+C) exists with the LL overriding the written one (A+C only), and besides the LL may deny it to avoid any issues with their licencing (becomes a small HMO for 3+ households). 

However you do arguably have a tenancy between LL and (A+C) and then a lodger agreement where B rents from A+C in return for some £ which happens to be 1/3 of A+C's rent due to the LL. 

Advice is to gather any written / email / text evidence you have of this verbal contract and B agreeing to pay rent for the whole year, and then send B a 'letter before action' demanding rent based on it. 

Alternative is, you can get in writing that B surrenders their licence and get a new housemate to take their place. The new housemate would also rent from you (A+C). 

caitlin99

andy444 said:

Why could only two people be on the contract? Presumably there are three bedrooms in the property. This doesn't make sense. Have you seen anything in writing to confirm this?

Did the leaving housemate pay rent directly to the landlord or to yourself and the other housemate?

The leaving housemate paid rent each month to the third housemate who paid directly to the landlord and the property has 3 bedrooms and we each pay our bills separately to an outside company so the landlord is aware of the fact there are 3 people residing in the property as they have been communicating with the leaving housemate. The letting agency said the property was a "family property" therefore only 2 people could be on the contract

caitlin99

saajan_12 said:

I'll call A = OP, B = moved out tenant, C = remaining tenant, on the contract
Would be tricky to argue a verbal contract (A+B+C) exists with the LL overriding the written one (A+C only), and besides the LL may deny it to avoid any issues with their licencing (becomes a small HMO for 3+ households). 

However you do arguably have a tenancy between LL and (A+C) and then a lodger agreement where B rents from A+C in return for some £ which happens to be 1/3 of A+C's rent due to the LL. 

Advice is to gather any written / email / text evidence you have of this verbal contract and B agreeing to pay rent for the whole year, and then send B a 'letter before action' demanding rent based on it. 

Alternative is, you can get in writing that B surrenders their licence and get a new housemate to take their place. The new housemate would also rent from you (A+C). 

If we could find another person to take over B share of the rent that would solve our problem but most students are already written into a 12 month contract which won't end until next September. Is B under any obligation to pay their share of the rent from a legal perspective? 

Snookie12cat

andy444 said:

Why could only two people be on the contract? Presumably there are three bedrooms in the property. This doesn't make sense. Have you seen anything in writing to confirm this?

Did the leaving housemate pay rent directly to the landlord or to yourself and the other housemate?

To avoid HMO licencing? That's exactly what it sounds like and so the landlord is breaking the law if it is in a licensing area. 

[Deleted User]

Doubt it. As much as you can have a verbal agreement enforceable against your fellow housemate and by a course of conduct, they were up to date with rent and in my view very unlikely to be deemed to be in breach of contract regarding the notice theyve given. 

Even if the landlord had formed a contract with the third person, its their prerogative to enforce that. They wont do that. They could  chase you or you fellow tenant or both of you for arrrears.

Get a new lodger.

elsien

Snookie12cat said:

andy444 said:

Why could only two people be on the contract? Presumably there are three bedrooms in the property. This doesn't make sense. Have you seen anything in writing to confirm this?

Did the leaving housemate pay rent directly to the landlord or to yourself and the other housemate?

To avoid HMO licencing? That's exactly what it sounds like and so the landlord is breaking the law if it is in a licensing area. 

Now that would seem to be worth checking out and could be a lever with the landlord if this is the case.

SpiderLegs

caitlin99 said:

saajan_12 said:

I'll call A = OP, B = moved out tenant, C = remaining tenant, on the contract
Would be tricky to argue a verbal contract (A+B+C) exists with the LL overriding the written one (A+C only), and besides the LL may deny it to avoid any issues with their licencing (becomes a small HMO for 3+ households). 

However you do arguably have a tenancy between LL and (A+C) and then a lodger agreement where B rents from A+C in return for some £ which happens to be 1/3 of A+C's rent due to the LL. 

Advice is to gather any written / email / text evidence you have of this verbal contract and B agreeing to pay rent for the whole year, and then send B a 'letter before action' demanding rent based on it. 

Alternative is, you can get in writing that B surrenders their licence and get a new housemate to take their place. The new housemate would also rent from you (A+C). 

If we could find another person to take over B share of the rent that would solve our problem but most students are already written into a 12 month contract which won't end until next September. Is B under any obligation to pay their share of the rent from a legal perspective? 

Sounds like you’ve been screwed over tbh.

The chance of any subsequent verbal arrangement overriding a specific written contract is somewhere close to zero. 

On that basis, 

B does not have a share of the rent.
B is not party to your tenancy agreement with the LL.


I agree with @saajan_12, this will come down to what A+C have agreed with B. I don’t think it’s a given that because A+C have a fixed term tenancy, that B would be assumed to be bound by the same term.

saajan_12

caitlin99 said:

saajan_12 said:

I'll call A = OP, B = moved out tenant, C = remaining tenant, on the contract
Would be tricky to argue a verbal contract (A+B+C) exists with the LL overriding the written one (A+C only), and besides the LL may deny it to avoid any issues with their licencing (becomes a small HMO for 3+ households). 

However you do arguably have a tenancy between LL and (A+C) and then a lodger agreement where B rents from A+C in return for some £ which happens to be 1/3 of A+C's rent due to the LL. 

Advice is to gather any written / email / text evidence you have of this verbal contract and B agreeing to pay rent for the whole year, and then send B a 'letter before action' demanding rent based on it. 

Alternative is, you can get in writing that B surrenders their licence and get a new housemate to take their place. The new housemate would also rent from you (A+C). 

If we could find another person to take over B share of the rent that would solve our problem but most students are already written into a 12 month contract which won't end until next September. Is B under any obligation to pay their share of the rent from a legal perspective? 

Re another housemate, you'd need to advertise hard.. There might be people who's housing has fallen through, or who unexpectedly joined the course late.. 

You're probably under a joint and several contract, so the LL could claim 100% of the rent from you alone (regardless of whether B/C are also on it). You'd then have to recover whatever shares / underlease you agreed with B and C.. B is under whatever obligation you can prove they agreed to. The fact they were paying rent and living there suggests there was some licence, but they could argue that was just a rolling agreement, with no 12 month fixed term. Even if you can prove it and get a CCJ, the second step is to actually recover it, which may be tricky from a student until they start earning. 

Bluebell1000

An idea re. finding a replacement -if you have an international office they may be able to offer the room to an exchange student coming for term 2.