DD’s nightmare flatmate.

[Timble]

Hi all,
do you know if landlords or agents have a responsibility to protect tenants?
do tenants have any rights at all?

my DD is in her third year. Living with three lovely girls and one who they are all terrified of.
she has locked them all out, refusing to let them in (I wasn’t told until the next day and told DD she should have rang the police at the time). She’s rude, threatening. Makes a lot of noise in the middle of the night. She keeps calling the girls racist (there has been no racist comments towards this girl aside from this girl constantly calling them ‘stupid white girls’ or similar. She messages the girls regularly to tell them to stay out of her way or they’ll regret it. To shut up and be quiet or she’ll make them. (No loud noises, they’re all in their third year and studying hard/on placements). All the other girls now want to move out as they can’t face living with her anymore. I just can’t believe we have to pay and even though they’ve reported this girl to the estate agents and they’ve had meetings nothing has changed. They believe this girl has been kicked out of uni and hasn’t paid rent but they don’t have proof.

my DD is 20 and she manages most issues herself/with the other flatmates but currently she’s had enough and needs help.
I guess it’s not really an AIBU but can we refuse to pay last terms rent or we pay and chalk this up to a horrendous experience? No idea where dd will live if she moves out!!

thank you xx

They could always email/fill in the online form for the council, say she's no longer a student, and that as they are all currently students the full bill for council tax for the house should be sent to her.

• they sadly can't apply for the 25% single occupancy discount in her name, she would have to do that bit

If this lady has been kicked out of university why is she allowed to stay in university accomodation? She is no longer a student there she should be told to find somewhere else to live! And at least work so she can pay rent.

Is it a “joint tenancy agreement” or do they each have individual tenancy agreements? If joint the rest are liable for her rent if she or her guarantor won’t pay up

But she isn’t at uni, is she? I am confused.

She sounds like she might have MH issues. They could report her to police for threatening behaviour

OP I know this is extreme but can you afford to pay double rent for the remainder of the year. I lived with a flatmate in my final year who I think was suffering from mental health issues and who became quite fixated on me. The stress was awful. In the end, my lovely parents sold some things and gave me money to find somewhere new. We had to pay double rent and we really had to stretch to do that but we all believed I wasn't safe there. I am - to this day - so hugely grateful to my parents.

I know this isn't manageable for everyone but just putting it out there in case it is.

If they’d had a row I’d understand but they couldn’t have been nicer. Dd sent me screenshots of all messages it went like ‘Hi x my name is x looking forward to meeting you, would you like to get together to get to know each other a bit before you move in?’
reply: why?
dd: just thought it might be nice as we’ll be living together.
her reply: are you all white?
dd: Yes
then no replies. She has threatened them so many times. When they had a meeting with the landlord she sent them a message saying ‘big mistake telling on me. You better watch your backs’ they complained only after she locked them out (by locking from the inside).

I think you need to look at the tenancy agreement and work out what clauses she is breaking IE everybody has access to a safe home. I’d write a letter to the landlord listing the clauses she has broken and attaching all the evidence, saying that your daughter and the others will withhold rent unless the situation is dealt with. As a landlord myself, I can tell you they won’t want to have to go to caught to deal with this. When people don’t pay rent it’s a nightmare to get it back, tenants have so many rights, court can take a year. It’ll be easier to go with the cheaper solution which is to get rid of the girl

I think we might have to and we are lucky to be ale to afire to but god I hate the idea that the other 4 move out with expense to them all and this girl lives in a 5 bed property on her own not paying anything at all!!!

Congrats on not reading the thread

Yup
you missed my post that very shortly followed that one

If the girls don’t pay I’d assume they come to guarantor which us be and my husband. I’m thinking they haven’t even told the landlord. Maybe if they knew we could talk about it.

You suggested your daughter go to student services for advice
did she?

This is domestic abuse. Phone the olive and have her arrested. If a woman posted saying a man she lived with was doing this, that’s what they’d be told to do. She’ll likely be arrested and have bail conditions preventing her going back there

How does this girl give them death stares around uni if she no longer attends uni and never leaves the house?

and when she locked them out… how did they eventually get back in?

We only spoke about it tonight. They’re all at different placements at the moment so they won’t be able to go together but hopefully some might be able to.

No. They don’t have a duty of care. It’s a landlord not a parent.

What I don't understand is how the LL chose this person to live there.
If one girl dropped out after she signed the contract then she would still be liable for the rent etc and it should have been her to find a replacement to take over ther tenancy (with the LL's permission).

Maybe it is worth approaching the LL just to say that the three of them are looking at moving out and asking if there’s anything that they may be able to suggest. Easier for them to replace one than 3 tenants. Maybe dress it up as do they have any other similar properties in the area.

The four of them should take a copy of their agreements to the SU Housing Officer for advice. The agreement should give details of ll so they could contact them direct if the agent does not.

This was months ago when she was still there. They think she stopped going in last few months.

she eventually let them back in. Maybe an hour later. I honestly don’t know why they didn’t call the police!

I think it was the estate agents. Landlord prob doesn’t know? So as they only deal with student housing I think the girl asked for somewhere to live and all they had was a room in that house?

I said this to DH this evening. It’s abuse plain as day but somehow they have no rights? Would it just be seen as a civil matter?

Thanks so much for your input.

But the young woman who signed the contract would have all rights and responsibilities, and Agent can't just find someone else like that usually.
The set up is very odd