Lease in houseshare

tiny_penguin

Moved into a houseshare in June where 2 people were already there. The lease I signed was a year long lease - no opt out clauses that I could see and all 3 of us signed. Then 2 months later one of the house mates moved out. We got someone else to move in at the end of August and once again all 3 signed a year long lease. The lease is for the total amount of the apartment but the landlady collects our rent for our rooms individually by Standing Order from our accounts.

The person in the largest room has handed in her notice to the landlady and is leaving. She has said she would rather myself and my other house mate find someone we are comfortable with so left it up to us to replace her. We cant find anyone. The room is very big ensuite in a nice area but still quite pricey. In comparison to the other 2 rooms and the area the price is fair, but it is still a little moer than most would pay for a houseshare. We can't find someone to replace it.

My question is, since one of our housemates will be gone on wednesday - does that make the current lease void as it has all our signatures on it? Can we be made liable for the missing rent or if asked can we just not sign the new lease and give notice to leave?

Giblet

Nope, it means you are all joint and severally responsible for the lease. However, her giving notice is effectively giving notice for all of you. The problem is that you are breaking the lease unless you find someone, and will be responsible for the remaining rent.

tiny_penguin

So how does that work if the landlady returns the deposit of the person leaving but holds us responsible for the rent? Last time the room was empty for 1 month before we filled it and our rent was not affected but I am worried that they will not be able to rent this room out at all.

If one person is entitled to their deposit back and leave on a set date then are we all entitiled to the same?

odds_on

The lease does not become void. You are breaking the terms of the lease if you do not cover the full rent (although the landlady collects the rent individually).

Because you all signed the lease for the property as a single unit then you are "jointly and severally" liable for the rent. That is, if one person moves out/does not pay, the remaining tenants are liable for the full rent and the landlord can claim it from you individually or from all remaining tenants, collectively.

It would be you (and the other tenant) who would have to look for the rent from the tenant who moved out, either amicably or through the courts.

tiny_penguin

So is the landlady entitled to allow one person out of the lease on their own, paying them back deposit in full and then automatically leaving the entirity of the rent payable by other tenents? How can we chase up the person who has left for rent when the landlady has authorised them to leave and paid back their deposit?

odds_on

tiny_penguin wrote: »

So how does that work if the landlady returns the deposit of the person leaving but holds us responsible for the rent? Last time the room was empty for 1 month before we filled it and our rent was not affected but I am worried that they will not be able to rent this room out at all.

If one person is entitled to their deposit back and leave on a set date then are we all entitled to the same?

Both parties are at fault.
On the tenant side, it was the out-going tenant's responsibility to find someone to replace her by assigning her part of the lease. As the remaining tenants, you should have insisted that she did this.

The landlady should not have returned the deposit to the leaving tenant as she had not found an assignee to take her place. IMHO, you could use this against the landlord.

Anyone with a fixed term lease is allowed in law to assign their part of the lease (with the landlord's permission) thus allowing a tenant to get out of the lease (landlords do not have this get-out option of as lease). If the tenant does not find an assignee, the landlord is entitled to keep the deposit. Thus, as I see it, the landlord was wrong to return the deposit and should be held liable for that amount (possibly equal to that tenants rent for a month?).

ProudDUB

Agree with the others. It is the responsibility of the lady who moved out to find a tenant to replace her, or she forfeits her share of the deposit. Telling you to do it yourself so that you would get someone who suits you best was a cute move on her part. But it still doesn't absolve her of her responsibility to find someone to replace her. If she (or you on her behalf) fails to do, the land lady is entitled to hang onto her deposit to compensate her for her lost rent. Your lease is still a legally binding contract that all 3 of you are bound by, regardless whether one of you or all three of you move out. Your landlady can come after you all for lost rent, and hang onto 100% of the deposit if you do that. The only way for you to come of it relatively unscathed is to make sure that you find someone to take over your share of the rent. If you do that you may get your share of the deposit back, provided that your landlady does not choose to keep some of it back to pay for cleaning/redecorating/painting of the place which going by this high turn over of people coming in and out of the house, she may have to do.

tiny_penguin

ProudDUB wrote: »

Agree with the others. It is the responsibility of the lady who moved out to find a tenant to replace her, or she forfeits her share of the deposit. Telling you to do it yourself so that you would get someone who suits you best was a cute move on her part. But it still doesn't absolve her of her responsibility to find someone to replace her. If she (or you on her behalf) fails to do, the land lady is entitled to hang onto her deposit to compensate her for her lost rent. Your lease is still a legally binding contract that all 3 of you are bound by, regardless whether one of you or all three of you move out. Your landlady can come after you all for lost rent, and hang onto 100% of the deposit if you do that. The only way for you to come of it relatively unscathed is to make sure that you find someone to take over your share of the rent. If you do that you may get your share of the deposit back, provided that your landlady does not choose to keep some of it back to pay for cleaning/redecorating/painting of the place which going by this high turn over of people coming in and out of the house, she may have to do.

She didnt tell us to find someone ourselves - the landlady did. The landlady will not hold onto her deposit but has said in the past that if someone is not found in a reasonable time then our rent will be raised to cover the shortfall. The landlady is effectively allowing one person to break the lease but have no consequences - and having the consequences fall on the remaining tenents.

the_syco

If/when you get a new tenant, you should leave, as it seems you'll be forever signing new "one year leases" as people come and go...

Oh, and I'm not sure why you'd need to sign a new lease when a new tenant arrives - how long have you been in the house for?

tiny_penguin

the_syco wrote: »

If/when you get a new tenant, you should leave, as it seems you'll be forever signing new "one year leases" as people come and go...

Oh, and I'm not sure why you'd need to sign a new lease when a new tenant arrives - how long have you been in the house for?

I've been there since June - going to bring up the signing of a new lease with no opt out clause before signing the new one. I've never had to sign a least in any of the places I have shared before so wasn't sure what the story is. The landlady leaves all that up to the letting agency and it seems she wants all current occupants on the lease.

I really like the apartment, and i don't really want to move. But I can't afford to pay any more than I am paying at the moment.

odds_on

the_syco wrote: »

If/when you get a new tenant, you should leave, as it seems you'll be forever signing new "one year leases" as people come and go...

Oh, and I'm not sure why you'd need to sign a new lease when a new tenant arrives - how long have you been in the house for?

If the landlady is creating a new lease each time then she is required to register each new tenancy with the PRTB and pay the registration fee each time. If she allows an assignment, she avoids having to pay a new registration fee as it is the same lease but with a change of tenant/s.

OP, ask the landlady if she has registered the tenancy with the PRTB.

tiny_penguin

odds_on wrote: »

If the landlady is creating a new lease each time then she is required to register each new tenancy with the PRTB and pay the registration fee each time. If she allows an assignment, she avoids having to pay a new registration fee as it is the same lease but with a change of tenant/s.

OP, ask the landlady if she has registered the tenancy with the PRTB.

She has mentioned that she pays a fee everytime i new lease is drawn up. We never asked for a new lease - I would rather have just signed one year long lease when I moved in but i knew she allowed people to just give one months notice and leave when I moved in.

the_syco

tiny_penguin wrote: »

i knew she allowed people to just give one months notice and leave when I moved in.

You see, if you all signed separate leases it'd be on a per-room basis, and if one person let she'd have to fill that room herself. But as you all signed it, you're all responsible.

And thus if one of ye damaged something in the common area, it'd come out of all of your deposits, I'd say.