Old housemate and rent refund

marykitty47

Hi all so old housemate handed in his notice on the 24th June and moved out the 24th July. We pay on a per house basis not per room so he has paid his rent on the 1st July for the whole month which is direct debited from an account. Now as he moved out on the 24th and gave his 1 months notice he is insisting we pay him the €90 for the last week as the new tenant didn't move in until the 1st August. Do have to pay him the €90 surely he should love live at the loss considering it was his choice to move.

Cuddlesworth

Who did he pay his rent to?

I love Sean nos

Is there a lease in place or a part IV?

padd b1975

Did he have the option of staying for the last week if he wanted to?

If he had, tell him to take a running jump.

myshirt

He is due the money back

FishOnABike

Is the lease / rent paid weekly or per calendar month ? If rent is per calendar month then I would expect to have to pay July's rent when due and due in full for any month or part thereof. I wouldn't expect a refund.

To me it's the same principle as taxing a car. If I buy an untaxed car on 31st July I have to tax it for the entire month of July. If I wait until 1st August I only have to tax it from August on.

There's usually a need for some overlap when moving. I'd expect to have to budget for double rent during the move. If it was a concern, your housemate should have timed the move to coincide with the rental period to avoid any overlap.

awec

I wouldn't give it back.

If he was leaving it was up to him to get a replacement tenant. If he wanted a rent refund he should have got a new tenant in for the date he moved out. He pays per month, he has use of the room for that month, if he moves out a week early that's his problem.

The remaining housemates should not be out of pocket during the transition.

Fol20

He gave his months notice to leave. He left a month later. Give him the pro rata amount backof the 7 or days left in the month. It's not like taxing cars. He gave a months notice which is the norm and he didn't leave early so just give it back to him. It's up to the existing tenants or the ll to get new tenant in. Not him. He's just renting.

irelandrover

Fol20 wrote: »

He gave his months notice to leave. He left a month later. Give him the pro rata amount backof the 7 or days left in the month. It's not like taxing cars. He gave a months notice which is the norm and he didn't leave early so just give it back to him. It's up to the existing tenants or the ll to get new tenant in. Not him. He's just renting.

if the whole apartment was rented and not just his room i see no reason why he should get his rent back. Why should the others be out of pocket because he broke the lease.

awec

Fol20 wrote: »

He gave his months notice to leave. He left a month later. Give him the pro rata amount backof the 7 or days left in the month. It's not like taxing cars. He gave a months notice which is the norm and he didn't leave early so just give it back to him. It's up to the existing tenants or the ll to get new tenant in. Not him. He's just renting.

Nothing to do with the landlord, he rents out the property at x price per month, it's not his concern if there is 1 less tenant, he gets paid the same regardless.

It is the remaining tenants problem to find a new tenant (as well as the guy leaving), but if the tenant who is leaving wants part of his rent back then it's up to him to find someone to take over from him who will give him the weeks worth of rent.

You pay rent for the month in advance, there's none of this pro-rata refund nonsense.

Zillah

On the 24th of June he was giving you notice that July would be his last month. It's at least one month's notice, not precisely a month's notice. Did he expect someone to move in a week before the new month started? Tell him he's an idiot. He committed to renting it until the end of July, makes no difference to you that he left a week early (assuming it was voluntary).

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awec

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Because the tenancy would be in arrears if the monthly rent was short?

The landlord takes the rent once per month, you can't decide you're just going to pay half a month of your share. You pay the landlord for the month and if you want to move out mid-month you find someone who'll pay to take over from you.

Zillah

Fol20 wrote: »

He gave his months notice to leave. He left a month later. Give him the pro rata amount backof the 7 or days left in the month. It's not like taxing cars. He gave a months notice which is the norm and he didn't leave early so just give it back to him. It's up to the existing tenants or the ll to get new tenant in. Not him. He's just renting.

His tenancy goes on a monthly basis. You are essentially saying that he should be allowed to rent his room for 24 days, which is ridiculous unless he's going to find a replacement to take over. He either rents it for July or he doesn't.

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awec

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If the new tenant moved in the last week then he'd have given a weeks worth of rent to the tenant moving out. The landlord and other housemates aren't involved in the money side of things, as far as they are concerned July is paid for.

The fact remains that the guy moving out has paid for July, he had use of the property until the end of July if he wanted and if he wanted to move out early he should have got the new tenant to move in early. If that wasn't possible then it's tough really, he's the one who decided to move out in the middle of a month. It's not the remaining tenants job to get someone in for that last week, as far as they are concerned all they need is someone in to pay the August rent. It's solely the responsibility of the guy moving out to get someone in mid-month if he is wanting some money back.

Pelvis

Seeing as he gave a month's notice there is absolutely no reason you couldn't have had someone ready to move in the day he moved out.

IMO you should give him the money back. This notion about it being his responsibility to get a new tenant in is nonsense, no matter where I live I don't want the guy leaving to pick the next guy to move in ffs! I'm the one that's gonna have to live with them, it's on me to pick someone suitable.

This could have all be sorted with a 2 min conversation as soon as he said he was leaving. You all made a complete balls of a very simple situation.

awec

Pelvis wrote: »

Seeing as he gave a month's notice there is absolutely no reason you couldn't have had someone ready to move in the day he moved out.

IMO you should give him the money back. This notion about it being his responsibility to get a new tenant in is nonsense, no matter where I live I don't want the guy leaving to pick the next guy to move in ffs! I'm the one that's gonna have to live with them, it's on me to pick someone suitable.

This could have all be sorted with a 2 min conversation as soon as he said he was leaving. You all made a complete balls of a very simple situation.

Getting someone to move in the day he moved out is not their problem. It's their responsibility to get someone for the next month. You pay for a month in advance, there is no "oh i'll take the first 3 weeks of the next month". It doesn't work like that.

Can you imagine booking a hotel room for a night, and staying there for the night, but checking out at 6am and demanding a pro-rata refund from the hotel's checkout time to the time you actually checked out?

Pelvis

awec wrote: »

Getting someone to move in the day he moved out is not their problem.

Says who? I've never rented anywhere that expected me to find a replacement housemate should I move on.

awec

Pelvis wrote: »

Says who? I've never rented anywhere that expected me to find a replacement housemate should I move on.

You are entirely missing the point.

Says the fact that the rent has been paid for July and that's that. The remaining housemates need someone for August, July is sorted.

If the guy wants to move out a week early that's up to him, he's not getting his rent back. Who does he expect to reimburse him?

Pelvis

awec wrote: »

You are entirely missing the point.

Says the fact that the rent has been paid for July and that's that. The remaining housemates need someone for August, July is sorted.

If the guy wants to move out a week early that's up to him, he's not getting his rent back. Who does he expect to reimburse him?

By saying he moved out a week early you imply he was obligated to stay. Maybe he was only obligated to provide a month's notice?

As I said previously, this shit show was cause by lack of communication. People are generally understanding and accommodating, and in the real world people don't only move house on the 1st of the month.

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awec

Pelvis wrote: »

By saying he moved out a week early you imply he was obligated to stay. Maybe he was only obligated to provide a month's notice?

As I said previously, this shit show was cause by lack of communication. People are generally understanding and accommodating, and in the real world people don't only move house on the 1st of the month.

He is not obligated to stay. He can leave at any time, he's just not getting his rent back.

You pay for a month in advance. There is no "I'm only paying for 3 weeks". He has paid (as he should have) for the entirety of July.

He can leave at any time he wants, but if he wants to get some money back he (with the other housemates) needs to find a new tenant who will pay him back his rent. But at the end of the day, it's not the other housemates problem to find someone to move in mid-month, their main concern is getting someone for next month.

The shit show is caused by the guy who is moving out not understanding how renting works and who thinks the remaining housemates should be left out of pocket because he wants to move out mid-month.

awec

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So? He is not renting the room, they rent the whole property.

The entirety of July's rent was due at the start of July. You cannot just make up the length of time you are going to pay for.

He can give 1 months notice mid-month all he wants, but when the start of the month comes round he still owes rent for the entirety of the next month. It's his problem to find reimbursement (which won't come from the landlord or from the other housemates) if he wants some of July's rent back.

pawrick

Who got the new tenant? Usually the person moving out has to find the replacement in a house share. This sorts out the messing about trying to sort out the overlap. If he found the tenant it's up to him to ensure there is no gap otherwise he deals with the loss for the week. If someone else found the tenant but didn't insist on no gap i think that person is responsible and it's bad form not to pay back the guy moving out. This assumes there is no formal agreement regarding finding replacement tenants which he signed up to.

Zillah

Some people here don't seem to understand that the property is rented on a monthly basis. He can choose to rent it for July or not. He can choose to rent it for August on not. He chose to rent a room for July. It's that simple. If he doesn't want to rent it for August he has to give a least a month's notice that he won't be renting it for August. He gave notice on June 24, so he gave notice of one month and six days that he wouldn't be renting the room in August. He chose to rent for July. He paid for July. The room was his, and his alone, until August 1st. He can't demand payment back because he chose to sleep somewhere else for the last week of July. That's no one's business but his own.

If you want to end your tenancy before the end of the month and not be out of pocket you need to find someone willing to move in mid-month. This is exactly what my last housemate did. She needed to move out on the 20th or something like that, so we found someone willing to move in on that date and they settled the difference between them. The former housemate is the one who paid for that month to the landlord and the new incoming tenant, who moved in mid-month, reimbursed her.

I don't know how to make it clearer than that.

Pelvis

Pelvis wrote: »

Says who? I've never rented anywhere that expected me to find a replacement housemate should I move on.

It's fairly standard in houseshares. In all the houseshares I've lived in it was the expectation, however sometimes those living there would offer to find the replacement instead which would absolve the person moving out of responsibility for rent until the new person moves in. The default position however that a person moving out sources a replacement.

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Fol20

Sorry I should have also said that if all of the tenants are still under a fixed term lease, he would be liable for it and I would put the onus on him to find a new tenant.

If your outside of a fixed term lease if he was renting the entire place, he can just give a months notice and be done with it. So for example. If he signed the contract on the 1st of the Jan 2017. Then on the 15 of July 2019. He provided notice to vacate. He could then leave on the 15th and the balance owed or due would be pro rata'd

bludcrazetiger

so he gave you 1 months notice on the 24th and left on the 24th of the following month, its pretty obvious you owe him the weeks rent back in my opinion.

bludcrazetiger

awec wrote: »

You are entirely missing the point.

Says the fact that the rent has been paid for July and that's that. The remaining housemates need someone for August, July is sorted.

If the guy wants to move out a week early that's up to him, he's not getting his rent back. Who does he expect to reimburse him?

who said he wanted to move out a week early ?
Infact he left on time!
He gave a 30 days notice on the 24th, and then left the 24th of the following month, the 1 week rent is due back.

its all very easy!