The Student Room Group

Friend just opted out for year and two bed apartment rent need some advice,

Hi there

I just am wondering if anyone knows if a person opts out of a contract from an apartment is the other person liable for the full cost of the room I am reading through the contract and not sure exactly the resultant for me. I am set to only pay for my room however it a couple of stipulations which I am not sure about which are as follows.

" You understand that room allocation is the Tenants responsibility. If you wish to alter the distribution of rent between yourselves you will notify the housing office in writing the weekly rent is shared equally unless otherwise specified"

Does this mean if my friend is opting out of renting the property due to personal reasons I am liable for the rest of the rent considering it is a group contract?

With Thanks to whoever can help me assess this it is rather confusing me and I am concerned I will not be able to afford to go to university due to a doubling of the cost of accommodation and most probable lack of spaces in housing and the likes.

With thanks
Original post by omegad
Hi there

I just am wondering if anyone knows if a person opts out of a contract from an apartment is the other person liable for the full cost of the room I am reading through the contract and not sure exactly the resultant for me. I am set to only pay for my room however it a couple of stipulations which I am not sure about which are as follows.

" You understand that room allocation is the Tenants responsibility. If you wish to alter the distribution of rent between yourselves you will notify the housing office in writing the weekly rent is shared equally unless otherwise specified"

Does this mean if my friend is opting out of renting the property due to personal reasons I am liable for the rest of the rent considering it is a group contract?

With Thanks to whoever can help me assess this it is rather confusing me and I am concerned I will not be able to afford to go to university due to a doubling of the cost of accommodation and most probable lack of spaces in housing and the likes.

With thanks



Does it say anywhere on your contract that you are jointly and severally liable? If so then they will likely initially try to get the lost rent from your flatmate, but if that avenue fails they can choose to pursue you for the money.

This is true of almost all joint contracts. If you had completely separate contracts this likely is not the case. You may want to start looking for a replacement flatmate if you had a joint tenancy. Because that money as far as they are concerned has to come from somewhere,.
Did she provide a guarantor?
Original post by infairverona
Did she provide a guarantor?


Even with guarantors in a joint tenancy the other tenants can never be 100% safe from liability. If the tenant fails to pay, and then the guarantor fails to pay the other tenants will be next in line for liability.

It really sucks and it is a pain in the arse for students. And a massive reason you should be very careful when signing with others, make sure you trust them fully and there is a very high chance they won't drop out.

But it's just the way it is, I've spoken to many landlords and letting agencies about this as we were in a pickle ourselves over this issue a while ago.
Original post by SophieSmall
Even with guarantors in a joint tenancy the other tenants can never be 100% safe from liability. If the tenant fails to pay, and then the guarantor fails to pay the other tenants will be next in line for liability.

It really sucks and it is a pain in the arse for students. And a massive reason you should be very careful when signing with others, make sure you trust them fully and there is a very high chance they won't drop out.

But it's just the way it is, I've spoken to many landlords and letting agencies about this as we were in a pickle ourselves over this issue a while ago.


Thanks for recapping land law 101 to a law graduate. I was asking as in your post you didn't mention guarantors and if the tenancy has already started and the other tenant is defaulting, they would go to the guarantor before going to the other tenant.
Original post by infairverona
Thanks for recapping land law 101 to a law graduate. I was asking as in your post you didn't mention guarantors and if the tenancy has already started and the other tenant is defaulting, they would go to the guarantor before going to the other tenant.


I was mainly responding to your post to give the OP the information.

No need to get snippy.
Original post by SophieSmall
I was mainly responding to your post to give the OP the information.

No need to get snippy.


"If so then they will likely initially try to get the lost rent from your flatmate, but if that avenue fails they can choose to pursue you for the money."

You didn't mention the guarantor here yet, as with all of your posts I have ever seen on here, you write as if you are stating definitive fact and this was slightly misleading. If the other tenant has a guarantor they would try to resolve it through the tenant, then the guarantor, THEN the existing tenant. It's not as simple as 'your flatmate didn't pay so you must' which is how you made it sound to me.

OP - have you started the contract yet? I can't tell from your post if you've actually moved in yet. Generally if you sign a contract and you default for any reason you must pay. If it's a joint contract that can mean you will be liable for the flatmate's side of the rent if the tenant and their guarantor won't pay. But you should try quickly before the term has started to replace the tenant in the flat if you can as then you won't have to pay their share.
Original post by infairverona
"If so then they will likely initially try to get the lost rent from your flatmate, but if that avenue fails they can choose to pursue you for the money."

You didn't mention the guarantor here yet, as with all of your posts I have ever seen on here, you write as if you are stating definitive fact and this was slightly misleading. If the other tenant has a guarantor they would try to resolve it through the tenant, then the guarantor, THEN the existing tenant. It's not as simple as 'your flatmate didn't pay so you must' which is how you made it sound to me.

OP - have you started the contract yet? I can't tell from your post if you've actually moved in yet. Generally if you sign a contract and you default for any reason you must pay. If it's a joint contract that can mean you will be liable for the flatmate's side of the rent if the tenant and their guarantor won't pay. But you should try quickly before the term has started to replace the tenant in the flat if you can as then you won't have to pay their share.


Yes, I said that as the OP didn't mention guarantors. And since if her flatmate signed a guarantor she would have had to as well, I assumed (wrong or not) that she would know what a guarantor is and that they are supposed to be the next to pay if a tenant does not. So since she didn't mention one I assumed (wrong or not) that they probably didn't have a guarantor, which isn't all that uncommon.

I really don't understand why you're being so rude "as with all of your posts I have ever seen on here". I only give advice on things I am fairly certain I have a good grip on. I don't start chatting nonsense because I feel like it or think I know everything, I know I don't. If you have a problem with that then fine, but frankly it's non of my concern and I'd appreciate it if you either cooled your tone or don't quote me again.
Original post by SophieSmall
Yes, I said that as the OP didn't mention guarantors. And since if her flatmate signed a guarantor she would have had to as well, I assumed (wrong or not) that she would know what a guarantor is and that they are supposed to be the next to pay if a tenant does not. So since she didn't mention one I assumed (wrong or not) that they probably didn't have a guarantor, which isn't all that uncommon.

I really don't understand why you're being so rude "as with all of your posts I have ever seen on here". I only give advice on things I am fairly certain I have a good grip on. I don't start chatting nonsense because I feel like it or think I know everything, I know I don't. If you have a problem with that then fine, but frankly it's non of my concern and I'd appreciate it if you either cooled your tone or don't quote me again.


If you're fairly certain you have a good grip on this why wouldn't a guarantor be one of the first things you mention? OP asked someone to explain as they weren't sure how this pans out for them...doesn't mean they know fully what a guarantor is. Extremely odd. I can quote who I like - do you know how a forum works? :s-smilie: Considering I asked OP a question and you chose to quote me with your unsolicited basic land law, pretty laughable
(edited 8 years ago)

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