[Fuzzpig]

I will be booking at appointment at the citizens advice bureau asap but I would be extremely grateful if someone knowledgeable could offer some advice. I'm sorry this is a bit long.


The situation is this:

We live in a 10-bed house, one person has now left without paying any rent since February. He signed no contract, and made all payments anonymously through cash with no paper or electronic trail so there is no proof of him ever having been here.

The contract is a joint contract.

With some argument we've managed to make him 'agree' to pay the rent up until June, though he says he simply cannot pay June at all. He say's he will try to pay for June during the summer (our contract ends 30th June). Apparently there has been an 'agreement' with the landlord, but we are aware this might not be the case (my emails have not been answered as of yet).

Ok so if that all goes to plan, we're all fine. But we're not sure that's the case, and the land lord can very easily turn around and demand the near £1600 from the rest of us.

But

Two people in the house never signed the landlord's copy of the contract. There are still the names of two other people on their who were since replaced by those two people in September. These two later joiners both signed nothing.

Our house copy is not a photocopy of that contract, but just another copy we were meant to sign separately. Six people have signed it. Our signatures are not individually dated, but the date on the front of the contract says "10th March 2011", way before any of us even saw it. I believe this is the case for the Landlord's copy too.

We paid the deposit straight into his Business partner's account, is this legal?

As there are only 8 of us on his contract (ignoring the 2 who don't live here), it's possible that he will charge only the 8 of us for any damage to the house.



Thanks in advance, as I said I am trying to get to see the CAB but as I'm trying to write my dissertation at the moment and no one else in the house can be arsed to do anything it's all falling on me and I have very little time.

[Fuzzpig]

Oops I should have added, the guy is in a LOT of debt, he's not a student. He could really just think "Well I owe a lot of money else where, I really cba to pay something I don't legally owe!"

[hunter0510]

I am sorry to hear about your difficulties. It's a very messed up situation.

Legally everyone who has signed the AST is 'individually and jointly responsible' for paying the rent. Any changes to the tenancy agreement should have been made in writing with the signiture of all parties envolved (people moving in and out) or a new AST should have been signed by all.

The deposit should have been paid into a tenancy deposit scheme and you should have received a copy of it. Sounds like the landlord has no idea what he/she is doing and it leaves you in a difficult situation. You are doing the right thing to seek advice.

For more information check out the Shelter website here

Good luck!

[Fuzzpig]

(Original post by hunter0510)
I am sorry to hear about your difficulties. It's a very messed up situation.

Legally everyone who has signed the AST is 'individually and jointly responsible' for paying the rent. Any changes to the tenancy agreement should have been made in writing with the signiture of all parties envolved (people moving in and out) or a new AST should have been signed by all.

The deposit should have been paid into a tenancy deposit scheme and you should have received a copy of it. Sounds like the landlord has no idea what he/she is doing and it leaves you in a difficult situation. You are doing the right thing to seek advice.

For more information check out the Shelter website here

Good luck!

Thank you for you reply, I've had a look at the site and he did not give us any a copy of the deposit protection certificate signed by the landlord, so I know at least he's done something wrong there.

I've had an email back from him to the tune of "Let's see how it goes" and "I assumed you would all be in charge of seeing to the contract". Hmm. Not promising.

[Origami Bullets]

(Original post by aliluvschoc)
"I assumed you would all be in charge of seeing to the contract". Hmm. Not promising.

Jesus Christ. Your landlord is an incompetent imbecile.

I agree, CAB will be the best place to go to (the university accommodation office should also be able to help) as this is an almighty mess.