Tenancy Agreement Anomalies

[bluezulu]

Hi,

I have 2 questions which I'd appreciate answers to or just opinions would be welcomed.

We are 6 student tenants who rent a house in England. On our AST agreement, only one of us is listed as the 'Tenant'. The other 5 tenants signed the agreement but only in the witness section and we had to write our 5 names and addresses on a separate blank sheet of paper which was then attached to the AST agreement.

Q1. Does this mean that only one of us has a written agreement with the other 5 being only verbal assured shorthold tenants?

Our AST agreement should cover the whole address, but it defines the Premises as "One room at (address redacted)'. It doesn't state which the 'one room' is, but we assume it is a bedroom. We only have a single agreement for all of us, not one per tenant.

Q2. As the agreement permits deductions in respect of cleaning or damage beyond fair wear and tear only for the Premises, does this mean that the landlord would not have a legal basis under which to make the deductions for anything other than this 'one room'?

Thank you for any advice.

[Crazy council]

Re: Tenancy Agreement Anomalies

hi

would need to see the agreement to be sure

Q1 no, sounds like a student HMO tenancy,

Q2 no, in student shares your responsible for your own room, and all jointly responsible for shared areas. If there are pre agreed cleaning fees inb the TC, then there are fully enforceable.

[bluezulu]

Re: Tenancy Agreement Anomalies

Thank you. I think the landlord has used a student HMO template, but made the mistake of trying to use it as a joint tenancy agreement. In the case of a student HMO, shouldn't each tenant have their own agreement with their own name on? This is only one agreement with the lead tenant named as 'Tenant'.

There are no pre-agreed cleaning fees. Cleaning applies only to the Premises which is defined as 'one room'.

Also the deposit in the agreement is for the total for the whole house, not per tenant.