Tenancy Agreement

[Amia]

I moved into a privately rented house sharing with someone I knew vaguely. All in all the experience was pretty dire but that is not really relevant. We signed a joint tenancy agreement and pay our rent separately on a monthly basis. She has been bought a house and will be moving out in a month (6 months into our tenancy agreement). What I want to know is if she is liable for half the rent if the room isn't filled immediately or am I?

[FTVS]

Fist thing you must do is check teh agreemnet. Most will say teh tenants are jointly AND severally liable - if it does then yes you would be responsible for her proportion of the rent. Has she given notice under the tenancy?

[FTVS]

whoops terrible typos - apologies

[FTVS]

http://www.shelternet.org.uk/privrent/joint-385-Ee
n-f0.cfm this link seems quite informative!

[Amia]

Thanks FTVS. It appears the tenancy agreement is intended for just one tenant, but he has put both our names on it, along with her old address. The agreement is from a 'Law Pack' which is just the standard agreement from WHSmiths or wherever. Does this make a difference does anyone think?

[geofbob]

The real question is - even if your flatmate is liable for half the rent, and she doesn't pay, what can you do about it? Taking her to court would take a long time (during which you would still have to pay the rent), would probably cost you (even if you represented yourself without a solicitor) and even if you won she might not pay up. The best thing is not to provoke her but try to part on a reasonable basis. If you don't think a month is long enough to find a new flatmate, then perhaps you can persuade her to pay a couple of weeks more rent. (Won't you have paid a deposit to the landlord; and won't she expect half of that back? This might provide you with a bit of gentle leaverage, as you can't be expected to repay her until you find a new tenant.)

[FTVS]

I don't think it would make any difference. Unless it is expressed as two tenacies (like inthat link i posted) you will be jpintly liable for the rent (if you wnatto stay in the house). You certainly need to contact your landlord to discuss. I agree with Geofbob though - it would certainly be best to try and work it amicably ... or hang on to her deposit... I assume you are advertising for a new tenant now? As regards suing her, well civil claims under 5k are fast track through the courts generally carry no cost penalties although you would have to pay the issue fee etc. You should always consider v carefully before entering into any litigation.

[Amia]

I don't want to take her to court or anything like that. I am just worried that if I don't manage to fill the room by the time she leaves I won't be able to cover the rent for the whole house. I spoke to the landlord who told me she is liable for the rent, but she assures me that he told her she wasn't. This is obviously worrying me a bit too, as to why he is telling us different things. I know that the landlord is not very pleased about her moving out as she made varous requests to have work done on the house etc which he carried out. So I can understand him being annoyed really. The shelter link was really useful thanks, i think I will contact one of the housing places they recommend you contact for help.

[incitatus]

the phrase to look for is wether the liability for the rent is "joint" or wether you are "jointly and severally" responsible. the latter is the most used phrase, and means that if she ducks out you cannot easily reclaim it from her unless you have a separate contract, but you will have to find the money somehow.

[FTVS]

Good luck Amia - hope it works out.

[Amia]

Thanks FTVS. Spoke to landlord last night , he says he is going to make sure she knows she is liable for the rent for the duration of the contract ( we signed a 12 month contract) and see what happens.So although it will probably be awkward for next month or so at least that appears to be sorted. Now for finding someone to fill the room!!

[superloopie]

If you are joint tenants then you are definitely jointly liable for the rent. If you were 'tenants in common' it'd be a different story. I'd just like to add that although going to court is a lengthy and sometimes costly process, it can be the best thing to do - I took action against an old flatmate because I ended up in the same situation that you are worried about and I won. If this happens you can claim back all expenses incurred - from solicitor's fees to lost-earnings for the time you had to take off to attend court. Your flatmate must pay until her part of the tenancy has been taken over by someone else. Good luck finding a flatmate - I'm sure it'll work out fine : )

[stoory]

A great site for renting out rooms etc is http://www.easyroommate.com/... I actually found my room on there and there was loads of options. Your best bet is advertising everywhere(paper, shops locally etc) and conducting inteviews. Good Luck!!