To ask if anyone can advise on tenants obligations? Crisis situation

[Yellownotblue]

I’m posting for a friend. She shares a flat with another woman, let’s call her A. They are both named as tenants on the tenancy agreement.

A is having some sort of nervous breakdown. She was arrested a few days ago for causing public disturbance. She was then taken to hospital yesterday with mental health issues. She seems to suffer with paranoia and delusion, and has become very aggressive to my friend.

A was released from hospital today and went home. My friend is scared of staying in her own flat with A around, as A thinks my friend is plotting against her. As a result, my friend is finding herself homeless.

A failed to pay her part of the rent for January. My friend wants to break the lease and move out immediately, but the landlord said she needs to give two months notice. I suspect the landlord may also try and get my friend to pay A’s share if A defaults. My friend can’t afford the extra rent.

Is there anything that can be done to protect my friend in this situation? This is desperately sad and I worry for her safety.

Are they joint tenants of the whole property or is it a HMO?

I’m pretty sure they are joint tenants but will check.

@Yellownotblue

It's only a month's notice for the tenant on a private let. (I am assuming it is.) So the LL is lying.

I suggest your friend gives her one month notice ASAP, and distances herself from this woman ASAP.

Whether your friend needs to pay her flatmate's rent (should the flatmate default,) depends on the tenancy agreement and what she agreed to.

@littlepattilou Thank you, I will suggest she give notice ASAP.

I'm sorry for your friend's situation. The only part of it I am qualified to answer is the rent aspect. If they are both on the lease named separately as tenants, then your friend is not liable for any rent other than her own portion

@Justcallmebebes thank you, that’s really helpful. I will help my friend check her lease.

In Scotland you only need to hand in one months notice. I was a joint tenant years ago, the flatmate disappeared, didn’t pay his last months rent and his rent was deducted from our deposit when we ended the tenancy. Not great but meant the loss was shared between us.

@Chocolate1984 thanks, this is in England. I should have specified.

@Yellownotblue Good luck to your friend! And yeah it's one month's notice for a tenant ... Although I am assuming she isn't in the middle of a 6 month or 12 month contract!!! Hopefully not.

The landlord has to give 2 month's notice for her to leave. (Even if she is on a month-by-month contract.) But she only has to give one month to the landlord.

if she is within a six month contract she will have to give longer notice

Depending on what support the poorly tenant has it might be worth your friend asking their social worker, care coordinator etc to help rehouse her not your friend. Your friend can also contact police if she feels in danger or the local crisis team for advice.

It depends on the tenancy agreement as to how much notice she needs to give.

Sorry your friend is in this situation. You need to treat the previous posts with some caution as she may need to give two months notice and she may be liable for her flatmates portion of the rent. It will all depend what her tenancy agree says. She needs to read this carefully to check how much notice she has to give and whether she is liable for the whole rent - it may use wording such as 'joint and several basis'. If she takes her tenancy agreement to the CAB they should be able to help her understand it.

I don’t think A has any support, care team etc at the moment. She has been advised to seek help from her GP, but her surgery is not taking appointments because of COVID pressure.

To top it off, A lost her phone so there is no way for anyone to contact her (except by email) which makes things even more complicated.

The Crisis Team are a Godsend in situations like this. From the little you have said it sounds worryingly like paranoid schizophrenia which if undiagnosed and untreated can be awful for everyone involved.

@NaturalStudy, thank you for this. My friend is trying to get a copy of the TA from the landlord. He’s in no hurry to provide it (unsurprisingly).

@Yellownotblue what a surprise! If the landlord is likely to be tricky she needs to make sure she follows the tenancy agreement to the letter, so that he can't try to wriggle out of anything.

Your friend should definitely contact the Shelter helpline england.shelter.org.uk/get_help (though I imagine it won't be open until Monday now), and could also try Crisis as I think someone else suggested.
Shelter also has a lot of good advice on its website, as does the CAB.

@girasol, thank you, I had already told her to contact Shelter. I will also look at the Crisis team.

It will depend on the terms of the rental agreement (which she should have on email), but usually landlords will let you out early in a situation like this, otherwise she will have to think of options like swapping one of the names on the agreement.

It might be outside of the scope of domestic violence but could womens aid help out here maybe?

Your friend can get advice from the housing team at her local council. They have a statutory duty to help prevent homelessness.

www.shelter.org.uk/ should be able to help with this.

I've been in this situation before. There's no quick and easy way to resolve. If your friend has somewhere else to go then I'd advise her to just give notice and move out ASAP.

LL has no obligation or responsibility to help or make allowances sadly so she just needs to do what's necessary to protect herself.

If she does sleep there with A still in residence and unstable she needs to barricade herself in at night, making sure she has her phone charged and to hand.

You must get her to call Shelter on Monday; maybe you could do this together?