Flatmate / Refusing To Pay Rent / No Contract

mattyfez · 12 Jun 2013 at 15:44

Haggisman said:
Why? There's apparently no contract to give him any legal protection against this

The OP isn't D's landlord, and neither is D a tenant. He has no rights to be on the property, or to store his belongings there. Unless he has a contract to prove otherwise?

He has an implied contract, as in he's been living there and paying rent, emotions aside, all that's really going on here is that he's a month in arrears. The landlord cant legally just kick him out or remove his belongings.

If his house mates were to throw all his stuff out into the elements they could be looking at criminal damage, which would not put them in good stead to recover any of the rent..

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 15:54

EdGey said:
Kick him out instantly if you haven't already, regardless of whether he's ready to leave.

If he hasn't/doesn't intent to pay and is no longer on the contract, he has no right to be living there...

He was never on the contract. There never was a contract. It was all verbal at this point and verbal is just as legally binding.

Haggisman · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:06

bigjohnsonrichard said:
He was never on the contract. There never was a contract. It was all verbal at this point and verbal is just as legally binding.

When it suits D...

gary996 · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:11

AS above if there is no contract then he is not really there so put all his shiz out on the street. Easy

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:14

Haggisman said:
When it suits D...

There actually never was a written contract. The OP didnt get it to the agent, it wasnt signed by the landlord. There was never a written contract in place.

Only verbal agreements.

Haggisman · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:28

bigjohnsonrichard said:
There actually never was a written contract. The OP didnt get it to the agent, it wasnt signed by the landlord. There was never a written contract in place.

Only verbal agreements.

There was, regardless of the fact the agent didn't see it, there was a written and signed contract.

Which is irrelevant, my comment was more directed at "verbal is just as legally binding."

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:31

Haggisman said:
There was, regardless of the fact the agent didn't see it, there was a written and signed contract.

Which is irrelevant, my comment was more directed at "verbal is just as legally binding."

Surely if its not signed by the landlord and the agent never even saw it, its not a legit signed contract?

ah, i missed that..my bad

agreed..so easy to lie about verbal agreements

but it seems this guy can back up his lies should he choose to lie.

Squid · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:36

chiggz said:
I would love to, so love to!

I have three options:
1) Right this all off and just move on
2) Small Claims
3) Beat the **** out of him

Unfortunately 3) will probably do me more worse than good (I'd feel good though!).

4) Remove all items of his from house leave in rain, change lock

Showboat · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:38

If they have lost the tenancy agreement you submitted or never received it and didnt follow up i would be puttng the blame on the agency / landlord and asking them to foot the cost.
Also, why would the agent want any of the deposit? Have you not looked after the place?

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:49

Showboat said:
If they have lost the tenancy agreement you submitted or never received it and didnt follow up i would be puttng the blame on the agency / landlord and asking them to foot the cost.
Also, why would the agent want any of the deposit? Have you not looked after the place?

I think the OP needs to go into more detail about this new contract he submitted.

If the agency never received it, how could they even know to follow up?

Showboat · 12 Jun 2013 at 16:53

bigjohnsonrichard said:
I think the OP needs to go into more detail about this new contract he submitted.

If the agency never received it, how could they even know to follow up?

The OP must have informed the agency of the new tenant. If they didn't, how did they get a new tenancy agreement to sign and re-submit?

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 17:00

Showboat said:
The OP must have informed the agency of the new tenant. If they didn't, how did they get a new tenancy agreement to sign and re-submit?

Plenty of people print them off the internet and fill em out themselves

Which is why more of the story is needed. Also wonder why the OP didnt follow up when he hadnt received the updated agreement after 5 months.

Burned_Alive · 12 Jun 2013 at 17:17

Change the locks, keeping all of D's non personal possessions. When they inevitably call the police, show the police the contract and deny all knowledge of D ever living there.

EdGey · 12 Jun 2013 at 17:47

Burned_Alive said:
Change the locks, keeping all of D's non personal possessions. When they inevitably call the police, show the police the contract and deny all knowledge of D ever living there.

Please do this.

Just act like you've never seen the guy in your life.

Drollic · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:06

One tenant who is in the minority who isn't paying when the rest of you are with no written contract and you can't sort it out? Remove his belongings and change the locks. If they don't have a written contract they won't have a verbal recording (either party).

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:11

Burned_Alive said:
Change the locks, keeping all of D's non personal possessions. When they inevitably call the police, show the police the contract and deny all knowledge of D ever living there.

and when the police see the just changed locks on the doors? and when the tenant shows them letters addressed to him at the address? and when he shows them the regularly payments to tenant A? and when D goes to the agent and landlord and they tell the police the truth?

chiggz · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:22

Guys... to confirm, the agents knew about tenant D coming in and had prepared a new contract with us. We all signed it and thought we had returned it. I have an email copy of the new (unsigned) contract.

Lesson learnt; get written proof of receipts next time.

Hope this helps.

And thanks for the feedback so far. I'm leaning towards Small Claims at the mo.

theleg · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:34

chiggz said:
Guys... to confirm, the agents knew about tenant D coming in and had prepared a new contract with us. We all signed it and thought we had returned it. I have an email copy of the new (unsigned) contract.

Lesson learnt; get written proof of receipts next time.

Hope this helps.

And thanks for the feedback so far. I'm leaning towards Small Claims at the mo.

Ah right...Well i guess it comes down to how much hassle you can deal with in order to get justice.

chiggz · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:37

Also, a few comments about a second copy of the contract - yep, I thought we had one too. Maybe I was dreaming or tenant D has indeed kept it for himself.

banja · 12 Jun 2013 at 18:42

apeksdiver said:
Tell him to get out and change the locks, if they are standard yale types you can get the barrel cheaply in the diy stores and it only takes 5 minutes and a screwdriver to fit. You can change back to the original before you move out.

We did this. Had a housemate who didn't / wouldn't pay. Me and the other tenant had to cover his non payments up to this point in order to remain in the property.

We changed the locks and when he came home from work he was told he didn't live with us any more. I kept his PC too, told him he could have it when he paid me what I'd paid for his non payments to that date.

He went to his mum's and I had a PC.