LA Scum

Guy_Montag

Maybe scum isn't strong enough...

A County Armagh couple whose daughter died while at university in Liverpool have been told they must pay for her accommodation for the rest of the year.

The letting agent involved is claiming that because the girl's parents acted as guarantors on the lease, they are liable for the debt.

Sinn Féin's Mickey Brady said the agent's demand was "very unfair".
Mr Brady said the Bessbrook family had received demands for rent owed since her death and threats of legal action.


"The agent is quite clearly arguing that the young girl, because of her sudden death in January, has breached the lease agreement and is demanding that the rent be paid in full," he said.
"This is another example of ruthlessness of the worse kind, and a fixation on ensuring that the money owed will be obtained even if it has to override a family's grief.

"This family is still traumatised by the sudden death of their precious daughter and now they have to cope with the added pressure and fears of debt collectors and court cases.

"In all my years in dealing with agencies and officials, I have never come across such a totally unsympathetic attitude."

BBC News

If anyone knows which Letting agent this is name & shame them.

m00m00

Surely the letting agent is operating under instructions from the Landlord

the landlord could easily stop this.

Barcode

Even if it is legal (and I don't know if it's not), then common decency would dictate that this is a bad, bad move. They deserve to be named and shamed.

Jorgan_2

My first thoughts on reading this was that the letting agents are Guy put it, are scum. On reflection, I'm not so sure they are. The landlord will (probably) still have to pay a mortgage on the property, so requires the income from the rent to cover his outgoings.

It would be a lot fairer if the landlord released them from the agreement once a new tenant had been found.

Maz

Be interesting to find out whether the LA has let the property out since. If he/she has then, surely they wouldn't be that much out of pocket and out of sympathy for the family, drop the demands.

Ngah!!! No wonder LA's in general have such a crap reputation!!!

Gingernutmeg

The LL might have a mortgage, but he/she isn't really doing him/herself many favours by pursuing the parents of a dead girl ... I don't really know the average price of a room in a student house in Liverpool, but I'm guessing that it's less than £60 a week. It's far, far less than they're likely to loose through this bad publicity - we don't know who the LA/LL are, but I'd imagine that most of the students at Liverpool uni do, and I imagine that this really isn't going to be good for their business.

I also think that in this case, the LA/LL should show a bit of common sense - the last thing that this poor family will be thinking about is finding a replacement tenant. A sensible and compassionate solution in this case would be for the LA/LL to find someone new, rather than chase the family. I don't have sympathy for students that think they can sign contracts and not pay, but this isn't the case here. It's not as if this is something that's going to happen *that* often, thankfully.

Gorgeous_George

I understand that rent is normally only due until the property is emptied and available to rent again. Even that seems distasteful but that is society today.

I believe it's Maggies legacy.

GG

reformedEffortMaker_2

Nothing can justify this. LL/LA should just cut their losses and move on. I assume this kind of thing isnt covered by insurance??...

if that were my family, i'd come back and haunt the flat so that it never re-let!

Benefits_Blagger

i think sinn fein should send some of their "associates" over the water to sort this piece of scum out.

abaxas

Sorry but I'm with the LA on this one.

Financial transactions should NOT invlove any feeling and should be black and white. This way everyone gets equality and understands where they are.

They owe the money, they should pay.

liz545

But do the parents actually owe the landlord any money? The LL's contract was with the deceased girl, and while it may well have been a fixed term AST with the parents as guarantors, the LL has an obligation to mitigate his losses by re-letting the property as soon as possible, and not charging rent past the time necessary to get a new tenant in. If it was a periodic tenancy they can just give the LL 1 month's notice. However, with an attitude like that, I doubt they'd find too many new tenants lining up! Even financial contracts benefit from human sympathy, and the damage to a businesses' reputation by behaving in an unfeeling, bully-boy manner is likely to be far more harmful than the loss of a bit of rent. Furthermore, would this kind of void not be covered by their insurers?