Rental arrears in someone else’s name

oatsinthewater21

Hi guys, I’m still trying to navigate this forum so I hope this is in the right place. Sorry this will be a bit of a long post!

On 1st April 2024, I moved into my first privately rented property. This is a house split over 2x levels, I live on the top floor and share the house with another person who lives on the ground floor. We are completely unrelated and didn’t know eachother previous to the rental agreement starting.

After the rental agreement started, I found out the other tenant is in £3,725 of rental arrears for this property which has been going on for a few years. I was assured by the other tenant that this wouldn’t affect me as the arrears aren’t in my name and were there before I moved in. 

On 12th June 2024, we received a letter from the estate agents addressed to both myself and the other tenant. The letter states that they will now be instituting legal proceedings for recovery of arrears and repossession. We also received documents titled “notice of intention to begin proceedings for possession of a property in England let on an assured tenancy or an assured agricultural occupancy. Form no 3, Housing Act 1988 section 8 (as amended)”

Both my name and the other tenants name are on these documents for the rental arrears and the grounds the landlord intends to seek possession is on: Grounds 8, Grounds 10 and Grounds 11 in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 (as amended).

The back of the document says as of 11th June 2024 the tenant is more than 2 months in arrears and the tenant has consistently paid late rent over the last 6 months.

As I was away on holiday when we received this letter, I only found out about it yesterday when I returned to the house. The other tenant in the property said she said called the estate agent and told them that my name shouldn’t be on the documents as the rental arrears have nothing to do with me. She has said that the estate agents told her because I’m also on the tenancy, the arrears are now also in my name. 

As you can imagine I was absolutely appalled by this, as I have paid my half of the rent on time every month since my tenancy started 1st April 2024 and any previous arrears caused by the other tenant failing to pay while I wasn’t even living in the property surely shouldn’t fall me to pay aswell… 

In my tenancy agreement, it states “as the new tenant joining the tenancy, you acknowledge and agree to assume all rights and responsibilities associated with the tenancy agreement effective 1st April 2024. You agree to abide by the terms and conditions outlined in the existing tenancy agreement, including any amendments made in the addendum.” 

I was unaware of any rental arrears prior to the start of my tenancy, nothing was mentioned to me by the estate agent or the other tenant. I have paid my rent on time every single month and I don’t believe I should legally be responsible for rental arrears that were outstanding before I joined the tenancy.

I’m going to visit the estate agent’s tomorrow and re-iterate what has already been said by the other tenant regarding my name on the documents etc.

Please can someone shine some light on where I stand with this? Thank you 

loubel

So are you renting the upper flat but you have signed a joint tenancy for the whole building with the tenant already in the lower flat?

oatsinthewater21

loubel said:

So are you renting the upper flat but you have signed a joint tenancy for the whole building with the tenant already in the lower flat?

Essentially yes. The property as a whole is a house, but we live separately over 2x floors. So I occupy 2x rooms upstairs and the other tenant occupies a large room downstairs, we both have shared use of the kitchen and bathroom and have signed a AST for the whole building 

itsthelittlethings

Did you sign the contract with the estate agents? They should have been aware the tenant was in arrears and should not have added you to the tenancy.

oatsinthewater21

itsthelittlethings said:

Did you sign the contract with the estate agents? They should have been aware the tenant was in arrears and should not have added you to the tenancy.

Yes, the addendum was emailed over to me via docusign to complete and was pre-signed by an estate agent on behalf of the landlord. Apparently they have been aware the other tenant has been struggling with rental arrears for a long time, why this was never discussed with me beforehand I’ll never know, as I never would’ve signed the joint tenancy had I known!! 

I’m wondering when I see the estate agents tomorrow if I could ask for another addendum to separate the joint tenancy into 2x individual tenancies between myself and the other tenant who has already agreed she would be happy to do this. Would this be something that may be considered by the landlord/estate agents?

Bookworm105

oatsinthewater21 said:

have signed a AST for the whole building 

then you need to very carefully read your AST

have you come across the concept of "joint and several liability"?
Yes you each occupy specific rooms, but you state your contract is for the "whole house"
the only way that can happen is to be "joint tenants" ie what one does applies to the other 

As "you" (the royal you as in you and the other tenant) have been served notice for rent arrears you need to urgently make sure if you (the personal single you) are in fact jointly and severally liable for any debt on the property as a whole. That is the norm for a joint tenancy contract, but would be impossible if your AST is for specific room(s) with right of access/use of the common areas.

Joint and several means if one cannot pay up then they go after the other, even if the other was not the non payer.
if you (singular) are not a joint tenancy then you can tell them to go whistle

I suggest you seek proper legal advice, you could try Shelter or the CAB for free advice to start with?

oatsinthewater21

Bookworm105 said:

oatsinthewater21 said:

have signed a AST for the whole building 

have you come across the concept of "joint and several liability"?

I suggest you seek proper legal advice, you could try Shelter or the CAB for free advice to start with?

Unfortunately, yes that term is something that is included in the addendum for the AST.

I wonder if I would be able to argue the fact that the rental arrears were never made known to me by the estate agent, landlord or current tenant, hence why I signed those terms under the pretence that the rent was up to date and fully paid (which is true!). No one in their sane mind would agree to take on liability for a complete strangers rental arrears 🤷🏼‍♀️

Absolutely, I will be calling CAB tomorrow morning. Thank you! 

Keep_pedalling

It seems you have been conned by the LL and their agent. I can’t see how this can be legal as they failed to disclose the debt to you. As above speak to shelter first but I think you will need to take legal advice on how to deal with this

theoretica

Because the tenancy is joint, I don't think the landlord can evict just the other tenant and not you.  But I wonder if you could agree a new tenancy for you, to start on the day of the eviction?

oatsinthewater21

Keep_pedalling said:

It seems you have been conned by the LL and their agent. I can’t see how this can be legal as they failed to disclose the debt to you. As above speak to shelter first but I think you will need to take legal advice on how to deal with this

I was thinking the same!! Information has been withheld and I’ve had no formal written or verbal acknowledgment from them prior to signing the tenancy about the arrears. So surely the contract is void and a breach/entering a false agreement. 

Will definitely call Shelter first tomorrow and then CAB, thank you so much! 

AskAsk

I think the notice is to evict you as you are a joint tenant but you won't be liable for the rent arrears as you were not advised of that before you were added to the tenancy.  I didn't even think you could add someone to a AST but would need to start a new one. 

I stopped adding tenants and removing them when I found out you couldn't do this but need a new AST every time someone leaves and a replacement was found.  It affects the deposit protected as well as that has the names of the tenants with interest in the deposit.