help landlord trying to rip off Student Renter!

|ZeN|

here is my dilemma,

this year i moved into a student house with 5 other people living there already. One person was moving out and i replaced him halfway thru the month of october. Although i basically took over his contract and lived there till the end of it, i didn't sign anything nor did i put any deposit down (as far as i know the guy who lived there b4 me, still has the deposit down on the house). the former tenant, whose rook i was taking over, and i made an agreement, i would pay him directly for that months' rent as i was moving in halfway thru the month of october and in return he would leave the furniture he had bought and therefafter i would start paying the landlord money via direct bank transfer.

Now here is the crunch, the term for the contract has ended and the landlord wants me to pay for the months rent (october) which i gave to the former tenant. (im assuming either the tenant didnt actually pay that months rent like he said he did or the landlord is trying to scam me of an extra months rent. Either way im being shafted as i acted honestly and sincerely throughout the process, although perhaps a bit naively. However, does the landlord have a legal leg to stand on since i have signed neither a contract nor put down a deposit?


My second question:

This year my friend and i started looking for a new house. We found a 5 bedroom house and along with 3 acquintances decided to sign a contract for it. It is important to note that at this point only my friend and I had put down a deposit, although all 5 of us signed a contract. Unfortunately each the 3 acquintances decided to shaft us and leave the house, leaving us with 3 empty rooms. Now who is legally liable for the rooms? is it the estate agents, is it me and my friend or are the 3 acquintances liable for each of their rooms seeing as how we signed seperate contracts. The estate agents have told me that they could take my friend and myself to court unless we find 3 people to replace the people who left and if we dont that we will have to pay for their contracts until we do. My understanding was that if you signed a contract, regardles if one put down a deposit or not one would be liable for one's own contract and room and one would have to find a person to replace yourself.

Any help is gratefully appreciated

Regards

lipidicman

On the first, it could be quite hard to persue you for octobers rent without any contract.

On the second, if you signed separate contracts then you should be OK. refer to the terms of the contract

Lemoncurd

Can't see how you could be forced to pay rent for last October - why is he only chasing you for it now as well?

The second problem also sounds a bit strange. If you are still not clear after reading your contract, at my university we could take our rental contracts to our student union/accomodation office to get them checked over by an advisor, perhaps there is a similar service where you are studying?
Presumably you only paid a deposit for your own room/share of the house? With the contracts I had in shared student houses I was never liable for the other peoples share of the rent, if one of them decided to leave the onus would have been on them to pay or find a replacement.

dibbs26

1st Question : No Contract : No Proof
2nd Question : If you all signed a single contract then you are all jointly severally liable. If its seperate contracts then those people who have defaulted should only be persued.

Hope this helps.

|ZeN|

sorry my mistake - one amendment, for number 2, the contract was not taken out in one persons name, we all signed it i.e. a joint tenancy. However, they were not seperate contracts as such. I guess that we are jointly severally liable in that case. how does this affect my status and does the estate agents have greater legal power over my friend and I because we were the only ones who paid a deposit

BWZN93

|ZeN| wrote:

sorry my mistake - one amendment, for number 2, the contract was not taken out in one persons name, we all signed it i.e. a joint tenancy. However, they were not seperate contracts as such. I guess that we are jointly severally liable in that case. how does this affect my status and does the estate agents have greater legal power over my friend and I because we were the only ones who paid a deposit

As far as I am aware, all tenants who sign a single joint contract are liable, and as you can prove you have paid up, then the others should be chased, however, for future reference, lat your friends pay thier deposits first, or at least all pay at the same time!

In relation to October rent, if there is no contract, he cant legitimately claim the money from you, he must chase the former tenant.

HTH

Jo xx

cpu

jw1096 wrote:

As far as I am aware, all tenants who sign a single joint contract are liable, and as you can prove you have paid up, then the others should be chased....

Is it not the case that if the monies cannot be recovered from the original parties then it can be sought from the other names on the contract? (Bit like husband/wife loan or overdraft type thing.....husband leaves, company seeks payment from remaining party, i.e wife.) If this is the case then I doubt too much time or energy will be spent on finding a way round this....much easier for estate agents to seek payment from those that are left, imo.

Much depends on the terms of the contract, if it's not clear then I agree with the poster who suggested getting it checked over perhaps by student advisor or even CAB.