Housemates moving out

gaybeer

3 friends sharing an apartment, two have decided to move out (no falling out) and the third friend has decided to stay on and sublet the rooms. We are a little unsure what is fair re the deposit. All three paid one months rent as a deposit. The is no damage done to the apartment other than normal wear and tear apart from one broken door handle.

If all three were moving out, would typically all the deposit be returned or can the landlord keep some for carpet cleaning and painting etc? And re with one staying on should the two people who sublet just pay the deposit and give the other two the full deposit back or should something be paid by the two moving out.

Any more details let me know...

Moonbeam

Have you spoken to the landlord?

ted1

if your sub letting, then no deposit should be returned.

is sub letting permitted? are you looking to reassign the lease?

gaybeer

No, the tenant the landlord deals with is staying on so nothing should change from his end

P_1

Usually what happens when reassigning a lease is that the new tenants pay the deposit. This money is then used to refund the person who is moving out's deposit.

gaybeer

ted1 wrote: »

if your sub letting, then no deposit should be returned.

is sub letting permitted? are you looking to reassign the lease?

Should the two moving out not receive at least some of their deposits from the two people moving in? The tenant who signed the lease (which is complete) is staying on

athtrasna

P_1 wrote: »

Usually what happens when reassigning a lease is that the new tenants pay the deposit. This money is then used to refund the person who is moving out's deposit.

What often happens there is that the landlord deducts from the deposit for damage done by the original tenant but it comes out of the sub-tenant's money as they've paid their deposit to the departing tenant.

Mint Sauce

Were/are you renting the house as a group and sign a lease, or are you renting the rooms indivually?

If as a group, it should really be up to the people moving out to find a replacment, approved then by the person staying on and the landlord, person moving in, pays a deposit to the ones moving out. Person who moves in or takes over, gets their deposit back from who ever takes over from them, or from the landlord if everyone moves out together.

If you are renting rooms individually, then just get the deposit back from the landlord, and he re advertises.

gaybeer

athtrasna wrote: »

What often happens there is that the landlord deducts from the deposit for damage done by the original tenant but it comes out of the sub-tenant's money as they've paid their deposit to the departing tenant.

As mentioned there is no damage done to the apartment apart from one broken door handle. We agreed last night to pay for a professional cleaner to come in and clean the apartment, which will be paid for by the existing tenants.

Pawwed Rig

If they gave adequate notice and are not breaking the terms of the lease then the full deposit should be returned to them other than where there is damage to the property in excess of normal wear and tear.

Mrs OBumble

gaybeer wrote: »

The tenant who signed the lease (which is complete) is staying on

This is the important bit: The cash may have come from all three people, but one tenant is legally responsible for paying the whole rent, and legally paid(*) the whole deposit. Let's call them the head-tenant, for clarity. The other housemates are not tenants, they are licencees and so very few tenancy protection laws apply to them. OTOH, they don't have to give notice either.


What should happen now:

Tenants who are moving in should pay their deposit to this head-tenant.

Head tenant should inspect the property when the others move out, make an estimate of cost of repairs and withhold this, in anticipation of having to pay the cost when they eventually terminate the lease. The non-withheld amount should be paid to the moving-out housemates, using the cash provided by the moving-in housemates.

Clearly the head tenant is takng the risk that the amount of deposit that the LL eventually deducts is fairly covered by the amount of depost the they have witheld from departing tenants over the years. Yes, this is a risk. And if it's a long tenancy, the cost of repairs may have risen between the time of the estimate and the time the work is done. OTOH, they have time to make good any damage themselves wthout involving the LL, and they have some extra cash in the meantime.


(*) If the landlord actually received deposit payments separately from all three housemates, then the landlord should be involved in this. IMHO the liability for deposit and rent needs to match, or things get too horribly complicated for everyone.