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Hi,
I live in a shared house. There are/were four of us. About last June one of our housemates started staying at his girlfriends place all the time, in fact we hardly saw him for months over the summer. apart from the odd text saying he was having a party at the house at the weekend, cheeky git! At the start of Sep he texted us all via the house WhatsApp chat to say he was not renewing the lease and was moving out. This is where things get interesting/messy...
We informed him that it was a joint and several lease and that he was still on the lease and he was responsible for finding someone to move into his room. He challenged this but it was easy to prove he was still on the lease and had to find a replacement. We explained that we preferred someone around the same or similar age as the rest of us, no pets, has references (work & landlord) and is sound, someone we can live with. We said we would consider someone younger if they were mature not a party animal as we have enough issues with the youngster in the flat below us! Since Sep we have met young students, people with pets, unemployed people, people who want to stay for a month only, people who had no deposit etc. Those that did view the house and room who we liked have opted to rent elsewhere for whatever reason. It must be said that the room for rent is a box room, very small and its a renters market currently. I checked and you can rent a room twice the size for an additional £50 per month within 500m of our house!
Recently he has stated that he is no longer going to pay the rent as he could not afford to. We explained that it was the new rent at his girlfriends place that he could not afford to pay as it was his decision to move out when he was still on the lease. All this time he has been paying the bills but has now stated that he is no longer paying bills either(elec/gas/council tax/broadband&TV, water etc), he has precedent for paying the bills while living outside the house and should continue as he is still on the lease.
This person was responsible for some of the bills in the household, we all take on some bills, I do the water and broadband. He was responsible for the TV licence and council tax. We found out a couple of weeks ago that he removed all our names from the council tax in Sep and didn't tell anyone until the landlord got a demand letter from the council last week! We found out today that he had cancelled the TV licence without telling anyone and we have been using TV illegally for a few months!
Now we have tried to be fair with him but we do have some red lines we won't cross with respect to who we live with, outlined above. He complained to the landlord that the house was untidy whenever he did any viewings. Tehrest of use work long hours and previously if someone was moving out it was up tp them to make the place look good for the Vikings, instead he dictates via text that we are to tidy the place for him. We also only get max 24 hours notice for any viewings, more often we get a text in the morning saying there is a viewing that evening and to have the place ready for it!
So what I would like to know is where do we stand as he is still on the lease but refusing to pay rent or bills. I appreciate that he is not using gas or electric etc but when I went away for two months I had to cover the bills so we expect him to do so too as it was his choice to move out without telling anyone and while still on the lease. He has also registered his Ltd company to our address too despite not physically living there, not sure if that matters much but worth mentioning!
thanks,
I live in a shared house. There are/were four of us. About last June one of our housemates started staying at his girlfriends place all the time, in fact we hardly saw him for months over the summer. apart from the odd text saying he was having a party at the house at the weekend, cheeky git! At the start of Sep he texted us all via the house WhatsApp chat to say he was not renewing the lease and was moving out. This is where things get interesting/messy...
We informed him that it was a joint and several lease and that he was still on the lease and he was responsible for finding someone to move into his room. He challenged this but it was easy to prove he was still on the lease and had to find a replacement. We explained that we preferred someone around the same or similar age as the rest of us, no pets, has references (work & landlord) and is sound, someone we can live with. We said we would consider someone younger if they were mature not a party animal as we have enough issues with the youngster in the flat below us! Since Sep we have met young students, people with pets, unemployed people, people who want to stay for a month only, people who had no deposit etc. Those that did view the house and room who we liked have opted to rent elsewhere for whatever reason. It must be said that the room for rent is a box room, very small and its a renters market currently. I checked and you can rent a room twice the size for an additional £50 per month within 500m of our house!
Recently he has stated that he is no longer going to pay the rent as he could not afford to. We explained that it was the new rent at his girlfriends place that he could not afford to pay as it was his decision to move out when he was still on the lease. All this time he has been paying the bills but has now stated that he is no longer paying bills either(elec/gas/council tax/broadband&TV, water etc), he has precedent for paying the bills while living outside the house and should continue as he is still on the lease.
This person was responsible for some of the bills in the household, we all take on some bills, I do the water and broadband. He was responsible for the TV licence and council tax. We found out a couple of weeks ago that he removed all our names from the council tax in Sep and didn't tell anyone until the landlord got a demand letter from the council last week! We found out today that he had cancelled the TV licence without telling anyone and we have been using TV illegally for a few months!
Now we have tried to be fair with him but we do have some red lines we won't cross with respect to who we live with, outlined above. He complained to the landlord that the house was untidy whenever he did any viewings. Tehrest of use work long hours and previously if someone was moving out it was up tp them to make the place look good for the Vikings, instead he dictates via text that we are to tidy the place for him. We also only get max 24 hours notice for any viewings, more often we get a text in the morning saying there is a viewing that evening and to have the place ready for it!
So what I would like to know is where do we stand as he is still on the lease but refusing to pay rent or bills. I appreciate that he is not using gas or electric etc but when I went away for two months I had to cover the bills so we expect him to do so too as it was his choice to move out without telling anyone and while still on the lease. He has also registered his Ltd company to our address too despite not physically living there, not sure if that matters much but worth mentioning!
thanks,
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