AIBU by not thinking she shouldn't pay all her bills?

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

My friend has a 6 month contract on a house share with 5 other women.
She is moving into a different house share due to very understandable circumstances (nothing that is anyone in the houses fault) but they won't be able to get anyone to take over her room because of it. She will have to pay two rents but the sticking point is the bills. They have internet/tv, gas, water and electric. The tv/internet and the water rates are fixed charges and the gas and electric is the usual pay for what you use.
What is reasonable for her to pay on the old house share?

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

Ignore the not in the title

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

What are the circumstances?

Is t something involving the room being unusable

[holidaysarenice]

Its reasonable to pay the standing charges and not the useable ones.

Eg pay the tv license and pay the standing charge of gas but not the usage of gas. I know it goes up slightly eg for heating a whole house if divided by one less, but I think its a good compromise.

[sleepyhead]

Rent and maybe other fixed charges, although there would be an argument for not paying for TV/internet that she won't use. Not gas and electric.

Why can't they rent out her room? Is she wanting to come back to it or use it sometimes, or store her stuff there?

[NoodleOodle]

I guess she should pay her share of the fixed bills like the landline and internet, but not the usage, so not for any calls. If there's no standing or daily charge of the gas or electric then I can't see why she should have to pay any of that as she won't be using anything.

What have the other housemates suggested?

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

The house is infested with mice (trying not to out her) but the landlord won't let them out of their contract.
I think paying for the fixed charges is a reasonable offer her house mates want her to continue to pay for everything.

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

They'd all like to move but can't afford it I wonder if they are more annoyed about that.

[DraggingDownDownDown]

Have they contacted Environmental Health?

[BlackeyedSusan]

have they been onto envirom,mental health? they can sometimes help.

[WooWooOwl]

Is the landlord dealing with the mouse problem?

If yes, and she's still choosing to move, then I think she owes all of the bills that she would have paid had she still been living there.

Either way she owes the standing bills, but I'd expect the rest of the women to be pissed off with her indefinitely if she doesn't pay all of them. It's not fair of her to make her housemates pay for the problem that has occurred when she gets to be free of it.

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

The don't pay council tax because they are students. The tv is for some sort of cable type package I'm not sure what goes on with the licence fee she didn't mention it.
They are in the UK.
The landlord is trying to deal with the mice but not successfully.
Environmental health is already involved.
There is also an issue with the safety of the area due to a couple of men who have moved in down the end of the street and harass them. Police are involved for that too.

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

Council are involved too. They are trying to evict the neighbours.

[WooWooOwl]

The neighbours are irrelevant.

That may be a contributing factor as to why your friend wants to move, but it's not a reason for her to have to move.

If the landlord and EH are dealing with the mice problem, then your friend is really out of order and incredibly selfish to let her housemates down with the bills. It's not their fault, and if your friend has entered a contract then she has made a commitment and has a moral obligation to see it through.

She should either pay what she owes, or find someone else willing to move in to cover her share.

[Guitargirl]

What does her tenancy agreement say?

[itsmeitscathy]

She should pay her share of all contracts and standing charges- but if she isn't using anything of course she shouldn't pay usage charges. All other tenants can do what she's doing if they want to, so what's the problem?

[ConfusedPixie]

I think she's going to have to share the fixed bills as they would have budgeted based on all of them being there for the 6 months. I can understand why she's moving though.

[Hissy]

She should pay them all the fixed costs, in a lump sum ideally, then it's out of the way. Gas/telephone/electric/water no, as usage will all decrease with one person less.

If the other tenants feel that this is too much to suffer, then they should inform the LL that they'll be deducting the loss they make from the rent, as he'll still have her rental money for nothing, and the reason they're placed in this situation is due to the conditions of his property.

[GreenLandsOfHome]

If the house is not in a habitable state then she shouldn't be paying anything.

I would be apologising to the other tenants but saying that I'd not be continuing to pay anything. It is then up to the ones choosing to stay to contact the landlord and tell them the rent is reduced by x amount because she's moved out and obviously due to the state of the house they cannot replace her.

The landlord should take the hit for it.

[GreenLandsOfHome]

In regards to the bills, I don't feel she should have to pay for services she's no longer using either.

Again, the remaining tenants should contact the landlord and say they are withholding a further x amount from the rent, to cover the portion of bills that, again, cannot be covered due to the inability to rent out the room.

[Bloodyteenagers]

Even with a mouse infestation you can still inhabit a house.
The problem might be a pain to deal with if the occupants are not also doing their bit.
She could stay. But she has chosen to leave, and so should pay up to the end of her contract.

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

So most people think he share of the fixed bills but not usage. That's what both she and I think but her house mates say she should pay the same as if she were living there. I think if they suggested a reduced amount she might be willing but obviously money is tight.
The bills should be reduced with her not being there especially as she is often there when no one else is. Her house mates go back home for weekends/half terms etc often but she works so stays all the time.
For those of you that think she should pay usage what's your reasoning for that?

• the mice problem is not because of them it's to do with some issues with the street. Environmental health are on the case but it's not helping at the moment.

[TheKnightsThatSayNee]

Withholding rent is not possible without risking court they have already spoken to legal people (I don't know details)