Unfair rent distribution

[Guest]

Hello,

We are 4 tenants in a house share in london on a joint contract for a house costing 3900£ a month for rent. The four of us moved in at the same time together in October and we were informed of the rent by the 5th occupying/original tenant who has the attic in the house share. We recently discovered that rent is being distributed disproportionately as follows:

• Ground floor bedroom 20m2: 1080£ per month
• First Floor room10m2: 750£ per month
• First Floor room 7.5m2 with en-suite 2m2: 640£ per month
• First Floor room 14m2: 770£ per month
• Attic with ≈24m2 an en-suite ≈2m2: 660£ (note that measurements were taken based on ceiling length as room was not accessed for measurement)

The Attic tenant currently claims that her lower rent is due to the services she provides the landlord of corresponding with them, having all bills (except for council tax) in her name, and for having had to negotiate a lower total monthly rent for this annual contract. I have attached a link to a copy of our contract.

(https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7...U4U3ZPYkEtSGxj)

We have attempted to negotiate with her for a more fair distribution but she states that she is unwilling to pay a more fair amount and if we begin to pay what is a more fair distribution and she does not, it is my understanding that we are all liable to pay the entire rent regardless of what other tenants pay or not.

We all feel that the following is a more proportionate rental distribution based on room size, however we are not sure of what legal standing we hold over this, or what kind of legal action can be taken to have rent more fairly distributed amongst us 5.

• Ground floor bedroom 20m2: 900£ per month
• First Floor room10m2: 660£ per month
• First Floor room 7.5m2 with en-suite 2m2: 640£ per month
• First Floor room 14m2: 700£ per month
• Attic with ≈24m2 an en-suite ≈2m2: 1000£ (note that measurements were taken based on ceiling length as room was not accessed for measurement)

What would be a suggestion as a next action for this?

[Amethyst]

I'm afraid your link isn't working xx

[vancitta]

Apologies, Here is an updated link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P2F...ew?usp=sharing

[R0b]

Who decided the apportionment of the rent rates? The contract only gives a monthly sum so I'm just wondering who agreed the apportionment of the rates.

[vancitta]

Who decided the apportionment of the rent rates? The contract only gives a monthly sum so I'm just wondering who agreed the apportionment of the rates.

The attic tenant dictated the devision of rent, but did not inform us that it was a joint tenancy or how it was divided amongst us. and she is unwilling to re negotiate or swap to a smaller room.

[R0b]

But surely you must have signed the tenancy agreement and you would have seen that there was no division of rent?! Or did you all sign away without actually reading it?

Aside from taking her to court though I'm not sure for what cause, you cant force her to do anything. The courts will not re-write a bad bargain.

[Amethyst]

65AC8FBC-B61C-47C0-BF80-A54A7F61C77B.png
Have you discussed the rent distribution issue with the landlord ? ( as opposed to just discussing with another tenant )

Is the fifth tenant party to the tenancy agreement ?

Does the landlord have an HMO licence? It depends how much you like living there vs the rent issue how far you push it regards the HMO.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal...nsing/offences

image_37538.jpg

[vancitta]

But surely you must have signed the tenancy agreement and you would have seen that there was no division of rent?! Or did you all sign away without actually reading it?

We did read the agreement.

The 5th tenant who is also named in the agreement posted the adverts for the 4 rooms at the same time as all previous tenants moved out as soon as their 6 month contract ended. 2 rooms were posted on one website and the other 2 separately on another platform.

We have contacted the landlord, he was not aware of how much she had posted each room for and also agrees with us that the distribution is unfair. She kept this from him by collecting rent from us and sending him the collective cost of the rent. She has tried to justify her cheaper rent to us 4 by stating that it was in agreement with the landlord as she provides him a service by handling communications with him and posts the rooms online, and she has tried to justify her low rent to him by stating that it was in agreement with us because she handles everything and provides us a service. Neither of which is the case.

However, it is not the landlords issue nor is he to blame apart from simply having allowed her to take the reigns, all 5 of us are in accord and agree with the total cost of the house to which he is charging. He has offered to help mediate re-negotiations among us to attempt to resolve the dissatisfaction we have with the 5th tenant. However, she refuses to partake in any group discussions.

We do not want her to manage everything but she is unwilling to allow us to take part in other matters. We are also in the process of having her verify the cost of bills (she charges us each a flat 50£ a month + council tax) and says she is exempt from council tax, (yet the council says she has not provided proof to them to that effect).

Aside from taking her to court though I'm not sure for what cause, you cant force her to do anything. The courts will not re-write a bad bargain.

I understand this as well, I have the fortune of having the smallest room so I do not feel that my room has been overly charged in anyway. But with this argument if she were to be paying 50£ a month, would that just be signed away as a bad bargain as well?

I simply would like to know if we should have a right to be able to re-negotiate the cost of rooms among us tenants as our separate room fees are not stated on the agreement and there are many factors were not transparent when agreeing to the tenancy.

65AC8FBC-B61C-47C0-BF80-A54A7F61C77B.png
Have you discussed the rent distribution issue with the landlord ? ( as opposed to just discussing with another tenant )

Is the fifth tenant party to the tenancy agreement ?

Does the landlord have an HMO licence? It depends how much you like living there vs the rent issue how far you push it regards the HMO.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal...nsing/offences

image_37538.jpg

It is my personal wish to move out, I do not enjoy living in the house, however It is a 12 month contract and there is no break clause so I'll probably have to live with it.

Thank you both for having taken the time to reply, I'm well aware that there is likely not much that can be done in this situation apart from what we have all already tried, but your input is appreciated.