Urgent: Flatmate owes me A LOT of rent - what to do?

ZappaMan

Long story short. Myself and my flatmate have lived together for years. We have had an arrangement whereby I paid the rent to the landlord and he paid me his share.

From the beginning of this year, I paid the rent as usual but was receiving nothing from my flatmate. I let it go on far too long (had mentioned it a few times but not actually forced him to tell me what was going on) and finally tackled him about it in May - he told me his story & I had a certain sympathy for his "situation" so I agreed he could postpone the repayment of his rent to me (short-term). I insisted that our rent be paid separately to the landlord in future.

Today I received a phone call from an understandably cross landlord who told me that the rent has only been partially paid for the last couple of months (that'd be my share). My flatmate told him a week ago that he had transferred the money to him but no money has landed in his account. He has said that he wants the rent paid by Friday or he will give us a 14 day notice order. I don't blame him one bit really, I'd be annoyed too.

Now I'm at the end of my tether. Not only is my flatmate going to get me thrown out of this apartment, he also owes me a substantial amount of rent.

So, what are my options?

1. Talk to him - have done this but it does not seem to have sunk in.
2. Small Claims Court? I really don't want to but am beginning to feel I have no option.
3. Help???? I really don't know


Apologies, that ended up being quite long

rawn

I'm sorry OP, I don't have much in the way of advice but I would talk to the LL and let it be clear that you are the one that has been consistently paying rent and that the problem is the other guy. That way at least he will get thrown out and you can stay with a new tenant who hopefully pays his share. Good luck

davo10

ZappaMan wrote: »

Long story short. Myself and my flatmate have lived together for years. We have had an arrangement whereby I paid the rent to the landlord and he paid me his share.

From the beginning of this year, I paid the rent as usual but was receiving nothing from my flatmate. I let it go on far too long (had mentioned it a few times but not actually forced him to tell me what was going on) and finally tackled him about it in May - he told me his story & I had a certain sympathy for his "situation" so I agreed he could postpone the repayment of his rent to me (short-term). I insisted that our rent be paid separately to the landlord in future.

Today I received a phone call from an understandably cross landlord who told me that the rent has only been partially paid for the last couple of months (that'd be my share). My flatmate told him a week ago that he had transferred the money to him but no money has landed in his account. He has said that he wants the rent paid by Friday or he will give us a 14 day notice order. I don't blame him one bit really, I'd be annoyed too.

Now I'm at the end of my tether. Not only is my flatmate going to get me thrown out of this apartment, he also owes me a substantial amount of rent.

So, what are my options?

1. Talk to him - have done this but it does not seem to have sunk in.
2. Small Claims Court? I really don't want to but am beginning to feel I have no option.
3. Help???? I really don't know


Apologies, that ended up being quite long

SCC is out, your flat mate is not a business. Who's name is on the lease?

Ken.

Well for one small claims is a non starter. That's for a consumer suing a business.

ZappaMan

rawn wrote: »

I'm sorry OP, I don't have much in the way of advice but I would talk to the LL and let it be clear that you are the one that has been consistently paying rent and that the problem is the other guy. That way at least he will get thrown out and you can stay with a new tenant who hopefully pays his share. Good luck

Thankfully he is aware of that at least.

I know I shouldn't have left it go so long before tackling it, but I thought he would be good for it as he was a mate

ZappaMan

ken wrote: »

Well for one small claims is a non starter. That's for a consumer suing a business.

Ah....well that shows just how little I know!

ZappaMan

davo10 wrote: »

SCC is out, your flat mate is not a business. Who's name is on the lease?

I believe both our names are on the lease, but the lease has ended some time ago. I can prove that I have been paying my share all along as it has been done electronically.

davo10

ZappaMan wrote: »

I believe both our names are on the lease, but the lease has ended some time ago. I can prove that I have been paying my share all along as it has been done electronically.

The fact that the term of the lease has ended doesn't matter, you have Part 4 tenancy rights. Both names being on the lease helps, if it was just yours, you would be liable for all rent owed.

It's time to kick your mate out, if he refuses then you may be better served leaving yourself and starting anew somewhere else. I suspect that you will never see the money you are owed.

4ensic15

davo10 wrote: »

The fact that the term of the lease has ended doesn't matter, you have Part 4 tenancy rights. Both names being on the lease helps, if it was just yours, you would be liable for all rent owed.

It's time to kick your mate out, if he refuses then you may be better served leaving yourself and starting anew somewhere else. I suspect that you will never see the money you are owed.

Even if both names on the lease the tenants are jointly and severally liable. The o/p can be made pay all of the rent and take his chances trying to get it back from his "mate".

davo10

4ensic15 wrote: »

Even if both names on the lease the tenants are jointly and severally liable. The o/p can be made pay all of the rent and take his chances trying to get it back from his "mate".

Easier said than done. The deposits are gone but chasing a tenent for unpaid rent is nigh on impossible. From a LL's point of view, the best result is usually to get the tenets out asap, take the hit and look for new tenets.

Snazzy_Chazzy

You got stung buddy, take it on the chin, you wont let it happen again!

GerardKeating

ZappaMan wrote: »

I believe both our names are on the lease, but the lease has ended some time ago. I can prove that I have been paying my share all along as it has been done electronically.

You have two options

Forgive the debt
Get a new friend

Mrs OBumble

GerardKeating wrote: »

You have two options

Forgive the debt
Get a new friend

Indeed.

Either way, you also need to pay the rest of the rent for the last few months, because you are as liable as your friend is. Or get kicked out with no reference, meaning it will be very hard to find anyplace else.

the_syco

ZappaMan wrote: »

he told me his story & I had a certain sympathy for his "situation" so I agreed he could postpone the repayment of his rent to me (short-term). I insisted that our rent be paid separately to the landlord in future.

Tell your mate to get a loan from the credit union, pay the landlord the rent, and move out. Your mate ain't really much of a mate if he's not paying his share of the rent, tbh.

Gmaximum

Landlord well within his rights to issue notice to you both and probably knows well he won't get the missed rent back.

It's a tough market for tenants at the moment. Why not approach him and offer to find a replacement for your mate that your both happy with. At least he knows there's one honest tenant in place and can save on the reletting costs