Sons student rental - disaster pending

tooldle

ariarnia said:

tooldle said:

We’ve done this for our daughter although it was only for her room. Each housemate had their own agreement. Now as a working adult she has signed a document to say she has somewhere else  to go and to seek support, in the event that she cannot pay her rent, vacating the room immediately hence no guarantor needed. 

thats good for your dd but a bit weird. suggests the problem is tenants not paying rent. in my experience (a few decades back now!) our student landlords were more worried about someone leaving after term started and having to find someone to fill the room. so our contracts said if we dropped out or whatever we were liable for the rent and any council tax (when the house lost exempt status) until a new tenant took over. 

that meant at the end of the year if we didn't want to pay for the last summer or when someone did drop out they proactively found a replacement to hand the room over to. 

Daughter is no longer a student and in a professional house share. There is a legal name for this agreement, but she is not here to ask at the moment. The landlord is good, best she has had so far and, has owned this property for over 20 years.

dimbo61

Hi your Son needs to inform the letting agents/ Landlord and the rest of the group that he won't be renting the Student HMO from July ASAP.
They can then find a replacement tenant and the LA/LL can sort out new contracts 

_Penny_Dreadful

[Deleted User] said:

Jeez it gets worse. After 2 years together (and going to college together) it looks like they've split up (and shes gone off with someone else).

Quite why the pair of them thought it was a good idea to sign a lease to live in the same house next years only 2 weeks ago, who knows. 

Of course, son doesn't want to live in the same house as her now. I can see why. Hes going to have an awkward few months as it is - they're in the same flat in hall of residence.

He tells me hes paid a "holding fee" for the house and signed the lease to start 1st July. Legally, is there any way to get out of it now? Its just a complete mess.

Shes already threatened to leave college, I'm hoping she follows through with this. It'll make life a lot easier.

Anyone got any suggestions?

What are the other three housemates saying to all this?  I wouldn't fancy sharing with two people who have recently had what I am assuming is an acrimonious split.  If they are amenable to it perhaps your son could find someone to take his place in the houseshare that the others, and the landlord, are happy with.  Then your son can focus on finding somewhere else to live away from Ms Flake.

lika_86

Personally I'm not sure why the OP's son should be the one to leave (if anyone has to). Much better to try and stay with friends you are happy to live with if possible, rather than finding somewhere else to live. Living in a student house was a big part of my university experience, going into halls as a second year isn't the same and nor is living with randoms whilst still trying to see your other friends. 

OP, I'd leave this to your son and friends to sort out. It's hard to try and let go but all of this is the sort of thing that as adults (although admittedly young ones) they have to learn to navigate. 

_Penny_Dreadful

lika_86 said:

Personally I'm not sure why the OP's son should be the one to leave (if anyone has to). Much better to try and stay with friends you are happy to live with if possible, rather than finding somewhere else to live. Living in a student house was a big part of my university experience, going into halls as a second year isn't the same and nor is living with randoms whilst still trying to see your other friends. 

OP, I'd leave this to your son and friends to sort out. It's hard to try and let go but all of this is the sort of thing that as adults (although admittedly young ones) they have to learn to navigate. 

Because the ex-gf doesn't sound like the type to consider why living with an ex will be hellish plus she appears to have moved on, does the OP's son really want to be under the same roof where his ex is shagging someone new?  I wouldn't want that.

I had a great time living with randoms who became really good friends whereas I'm sure some of my friends would no longer be friends if I'd had to live with them.  In fact a whole friendship group of mine disintegrated really badly after they lived together.

JReacher1

I wonder what the chances are of them getting back together before July 😃

lika_86

_Penny_Dreadful said:

lika_86 said:

Personally I'm not sure why the OP's son should be the one to leave (if anyone has to). Much better to try and stay with friends you are happy to live with if possible, rather than finding somewhere else to live. Living in a student house was a big part of my university experience, going into halls as a second year isn't the same and nor is living with randoms whilst still trying to see your other friends. 

OP, I'd leave this to your son and friends to sort out. It's hard to try and let go but all of this is the sort of thing that as adults (although admittedly young ones) they have to learn to navigate. 

Because the ex-gf doesn't sound like the type to consider why living with an ex will be hellish plus she appears to have moved on, does the OP's son really want to be under the same roof where his ex is shagging someone new?  I wouldn't want that.

I had a great time living with randoms who became really good friends whereas I'm sure some of my friends would no longer be friends if I'd had to live with them.  In fact a whole friendship group of mine disintegrated really badly after they lived together.

My point is rather that if someone has to leave then it should be the ex-gf. In this situation as the friends I'd be encouraging her to consider the awkward situation she put everyone in and asking her to do the decent thing and find a replacement tenant (if the others don't already have someone who they think might be interested in moving in with them).

macman

If he's already signed the lease, your son is liable for the full rental until the end of the tenancy agreement, should the LL choose to enforce the contract, rather than just retain the holding fee.
Given the demand, it's likely the LL will be able to replace him, but if he doesn't, he's entitled to recover any costs incurred over and above the holding fee.

silvercar

Normally the group agree that the one leaving is honour bound to pay rent until a replacement is found, but the remaining students band together to find a friend or friend of a friend to fill the place.

letom

I think it depends if all parts of the contract have been satisfied e.g. if the lease requires a guarantor, I can see this being a clause to get people to hurry up with their guarantors...

.macman said:

If he's already signed the lease, your son is liable for the full rental until the end of the tenancy agreement, should the LL choose to enforce the contract, rather than just retain the holding fee.
Given the demand, it's likely the LL will be able to replace him, but if he doesn't, he's entitled to recover any costs incurred over and above the holding fee.