Housemate not paying rent

Okay, this is gonna be quite a long post, so thank you for showing interest.

I’m in second year of University, living in a House with 5 other Students. We all signed a tenancy agreement, and pay our rents to the landlord. However, I think our Tenancy is a Joint Tenancy, meaning if one person doesn’t pay the rent, the other tenants are responsible for paying it on their behalf.

This is exactly the issue we’re having. In January, we received an email from our Estate Agent, saying that one student (calling him Jack for now) hasn’t paid any of the rent since we moved in. Jack has been telling lies from then until now, and our Estate Agent has been constantly calling and emailing him in order to find a resolution, but he won’t reply. He says the reason as to why he can’t pay the rent is because he’s having issues with his Student Loan, which I don’t know what to believe any more. Surely it doesn’t take 4 months to sort this out. Jack has been an arse to all of us since January. We told him he can’t have friends over and ‘sesh’ as he’s not even paying the rent. What does he do? Invites friends over. He’s been an absolute arse in the way he’s speaking to us, and the way he’s portraying us as the bad guys to our Collective House Friends.

Recently, everyone went home because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jack stayed at the House, as he says he doesn’t want to or can’t go home because of Family issues. I’m not going to speak about these Issues as it’s not my place. So recently, because we don’t want to keep paying for the Wifi, I disconnected the Wifi without Jack knowing so Jack couldn’t use it at the house, a cheap jab back.

I’m so afraid man. The guy is simply not complying with the estate agent, and I assume isn’t going to pay the rent. It’s a Joint Tenancy, so we’re going to have to cover his costs. Around £4000 split between the 5 of us. I assume we’re also not going to get our deposit back.

Is there anything we can do or any Legal Ground we can stand on? Will he owe us the money we pay on behalf of him?

We’re all so nervous and especially at this time, this is unneeded.

If it seems like there’s parts of my story missing, please comment below, and I’ll gladly reply in order to get to a resolution or an answer.

Thank you all and stay safe.

This sounds super tough.

I think you need to speak to the estate agents and explain, if they don't want to negotiate that is only fair since it is a joint tenancy.

I think the best bet is to speak to your family and get a lawyer involved if you are forced into paying these fees, as you'll need to get the fees back from Jack which will be challenging seeming as he seems like he's ignoring you and doesn't care very much. x

Surely if we pay on Jack’s behalf, we can take him to a Small Claims Court in order to get our money back from him? Surely it’s not fair for someone to not pay the rent, have someone else pay for them, and then for Jack not to pay anything at all? Thanks.

Okay, this is gonna be quite a long post, so thank you for showing interest.

I’m in second year of University, living in a House with 5 other Students. We all signed a tenancy agreement, and pay our rents to the landlord. However, I think our Tenancy is a Joint Tenancy, meaning if one person doesn’t pay the rent, the other tenants are responsible for paying it on their behalf.

This is exactly the issue we’re having. In January, we received an email from our Estate Agent, saying that one student (calling him Jack for now) hasn’t paid any of the rent since we moved in. Jack has been telling lies from then until now, and our Estate Agent has been constantly calling and emailing him in order to find a resolution, but he won’t reply. He says the reason as to why he can’t pay the rent is because he’s having issues with his Student Loan, which I don’t know what to believe any more. Surely it doesn’t take 4 months to sort this out. Jack has been an arse to all of us since January. We told him he can’t have friends over and ‘sesh’ as he’s not even paying the rent. What does he do? Invites friends over. He’s been an absolute arse in the way he’s speaking to us, and the way he’s portraying us as the bad guys to our Collective House Friends.

Recently, everyone went home because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jack stayed at the House, as he says he doesn’t want to or can’t go home because of Family issues. I’m not going to speak about these Issues as it’s not my place. So recently, because we don’t want to keep paying for the Wifi, I disconnected the Wifi without Jack knowing so Jack couldn’t use it at the house, a cheap jab back.

I’m so afraid man. The guy is simply not complying with the estate agent, and I assume isn’t going to pay the rent. It’s a Joint Tenancy, so we’re going to have to cover his costs. Around £4000 split between the 5 of us. I assume we’re also not going to get our deposit back.

Is there anything we can do or any Legal Ground we can stand on? Will he owe us the money we pay on behalf of him?

We’re all so nervous and especially at this time, this is unneeded.

If it seems like there’s parts of my story missing, please comment below, and I’ll gladly reply in order to get to a resolution or an answer.

Thank you all and stay safe.

Okay, this is gonna be quite a long post, so thank you for showing interest.

I’m in second year of University, living in a House with 5 other Students. We all signed a tenancy agreement, and pay our rents to the landlord. However, I think our Tenancy is a Joint Tenancy, meaning if one person doesn’t pay the rent, the other tenants are responsible for paying it on their behalf.

This is exactly the issue we’re having. In January, we received an email from our Estate Agent, saying that one student (calling him Jack for now) hasn’t paid any of the rent since we moved in. Jack has been telling lies from then until now, and our Estate Agent has been constantly calling and emailing him in order to find a resolution, but he won’t reply. He says the reason as to why he can’t pay the rent is because he’s having issues with his Student Loan, which I don’t know what to believe any more. Surely it doesn’t take 4 months to sort this out. Jack has been an arse to all of us since January. We told him he can’t have friends over and ‘sesh’ as he’s not even paying the rent. What does he do? Invites friends over. He’s been an absolute arse in the way he’s speaking to us, and the way he’s portraying us as the bad guys to our Collective House Friends.

Recently, everyone went home because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jack stayed at the House, as he says he doesn’t want to or can’t go home because of Family issues. I’m not going to speak about these Issues as it’s not my place. So recently, because we don’t want to keep paying for the Wifi, I disconnected the Wifi without Jack knowing so Jack couldn’t use it at the house, a cheap jab back.

I’m so afraid man. The guy is simply not complying with the estate agent, and I assume isn’t going to pay the rent. It’s a Joint Tenancy, so we’re going to have to cover his costs. Around £4000 split between the 5 of us. I assume we’re also not going to get our deposit back.

Is there anything we can do or any Legal Ground we can stand on? Will he owe us the money we pay on behalf of him?

We’re all so nervous and especially at this time, this is unneeded.

If it seems like there’s parts of my story missing, please comment below, and I’ll gladly reply in order to get to a resolution or an answer.

Thank you all and stay safe.