student accommodation tenancy issue

[Lola49]

Hi thanks in advance if you have stopped and for reading. My daughter was at university, had a terrible time accessing the facilities and course (another matter!) and subsequently has left to go on another course in September. However before she had decided to leave, she signed a tenancy agreement as part of a shared house with 3 other students with a tenancy due to start late August 2022. She rang the agent in March who in no uncertain terms told her tough & she would be responsible for the rent if she didn't fill the room with someone else. So given that the other people who are part of the contract wanted someone they could live with, they went about trying to find someone else, and by all accounts they have, and this is now the issue...because the agent won't confirm that this is the case, my daughter has written to them on two occasions asking if they can clarify the position in writing but they have not. Is there anything that she could do to ensure & get confirmation from the agent that she is now free from the contract? NB it was only the one person dropping out of the accommodation, no one else has. Thanks again!

[dslippy]

The landlord has no obligation to agree to this, sorry.
Student tenancies are often a mess in this way. Somehow if sometimes works out.

[atticus]

is your daughter in contact with the other students? Will they tell her if someone has taken her place in the house?

[Lola49]

The landlord has no obligation to agree to this, sorry.
Student tenancies are often a mess in this way. Somehow if sometimes works out.

Hi thank you for replying I am probably not being clear, the landlord asked in writing for the other tenants to get someone else to take daughter's place, and then she would be free of the tenancy. The other girls did get someone else and they have signed the contract, leaving daughter with no room, there are only 4 bedrooms in the house and they are all now filled. Landlord isn't releasing daughter from tenancy (it was a joint tenancy with the other 3 students - and the landlord has now taken the other tenant. just wondering what she can do now to ensure landlord does what he has said he would do

[Lola49]

is your daughter in contact with the other students? Will they tell her if someone has taken her place in the house?

Yes someone has taken the tenancy and signed the contract in daughters place

[atticus]

Do you know whether this person is paying rent?

Did your daughtrt pay a deposit? Has this new person also paid a deposit, and if so, to whom?

[Lola49]

Do you know whether this person is paying rent?

Did your daughtrt pay a deposit? Has this new person also paid a deposit, and if so, to whom?

No daughter didn't pay any deposit and tenancy hasn't started yet (due to start in August 2022), but she did sign a contract which according to landlord does tie her in unless there is someone who is willing to take her space. The other person who has agreed to take tenancy has paid the deposit now and signed the contract, I am just hoping that landlord will acknowledge that she is released from the contract now, but he doesn't seem to be coming back to her

[dslippy]

If the new tenant has signed a tenancy then it is likely that that new tenancy replaces the old one. Bt sometimes landlords have a series of individual contracts with each tenant.
Your daughter should get a opy of each contract and put it with the correspondence.
If a deposit has been paid threaten to take him to the appropriate deposit protection scheme.

[atticus]

Tell the landlord to grow up.

[Huxie]

Tell the landlord to grow up.

Seriously?

[atticus]

How else would you tell him?

[Huxie]

How else would you tell him?

I don’t know, which is why I haven’t offered up any advice. I’m just surprised that you thought your advice was in any way helpful to the OP.

[atticus]

read the thread, Huxie. See the questions and answers. Dslippy gave the advice I would have given had he not got there first. This landlord is being unreasonable, and needs to be told that.

[Huxie]

read the thread, Huxie. See the questions and answers. Dslippy gave the advice I would have given had he not got there first. This landlord is being unreasonable, and needs to be told that.

But how is this a practical way for the OP to actually achieve the aim of getting the agent to acknowledge, in writing, that their daughter’s tenancy has been terminated?

[atticus]

How would you make someone do what he refuses to do? The answer is to tell the landlord or agent to grow up: of course the OP's daughter's obligations are at an end, every fact points to that unavoidable conclusion. I suspect that the desperation to get the landlord to acknowledge what he cannot realistically deny may cause the landlord to think he may have something to gain by not answering.