Hi all, we are in agreement to rent a four bed house, 4 of us signed the contract and one of the members told the property vendor that she cannot afford to pay for this term and is moving out, theyve said theyll take her to court if she doesnt pay. How liable are we the rest of the housemates to have to make up her share? For the record she can afford it, she wants to go to america on a summer trip and is saving her loan for that. Shes messed us over basically.
Shared Accom Problem.
- Thread starter Walkerie
- Start date
depends on the terms of the contract, there should be some for this instance, I'm not sure you're likely to be liable for her rent, but may have responsibility for finding a replacement, the responsibility might be hers though, you'll need to look at your contract to find out.
The fact that if its in your contract you will be in breach and they will then try and take you to court I'd imagine
If you have a joint contract then probably yes.
The four of you are bound together as "the tenant". If "the tenant" does not pay the full amount of rent, then "the tenant" can be pursued in court. If you have this type of contract it is not actually possible for the landlord to pursue your friend separately, as their agreement is with the four of you collectively as "the tenant", and not her.
Presuming the court orders you all to pay the rent it will be for you as a group to decide how you will split the cost, that is in the first instance the court wont make you pay 25% each or anything like that.
Disclaimer: A similar thing happened to me and this is the information I gathered at the time a couple of years ago.
As Tokenbit says if you signed as a group for the house then you are not individually responsable for your share of the rent, you must make the total monthly rent if you wish to occupy the house. However if you have rented a room spereatly in a house then you're fine (I did this last year using clubeasy) This year i am renting a house with 3 other students that has a total sum to be paid and we divided it up depending on room size, if they all left i would have to pay the full amount.
go have a good ol' read of your contract
go have a good ol' read of your contract
Check your contract, why did you dismiss that advice
infact it's common sense that's the first thing you should do
Definately check your contract, when i was at uni i shared a house with 3 others we all signed joint contract with the landlord, however in the terms it stipulated we where only responsible for our own rent, which meant if one of us didn't cough up then the others weren't stung for the rent, however we did have to provide another member of our family (parents) as a guarantor who would have to pay in the event we didn't.
but like many others have mentioned get your hands on your contract and check the small print
but like many others have mentioned get your hands on your contract and check the small print
This, and if you have a joint contract then you better start looking for a replacement asap. It's quite easy to find people for shared accommodation really, just advertise wherever you can.
EDIT: And don't forget not to give her her part of the deposit as she is obviously breaking the agreement you have made.
they cant do that