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

I’d be going there and giving her what for! She is thriving off bullying people she knows she is intimidating to. She needs someone to stand up to her.

They leave beginning of June so 3 months but they’re genuinely scared of her. They obviously don’t know if she’s just not a nice person or there are other factors but her behaviour is not what I’d call normal in any sense. More recently she’s started using the toilet without shutting the door? I don’t know what move this is, she didn’t do it ever before but just recently? It’s just concerning..

It sounds dreadful and very concerning OP, I dont know why some posters are giving you flak!

op, not really advisable to sign up to things like this without knowing how they work. explanation of liability etc would have taken 15 mins to be explained to you by LL or agent.or did you just let dd take the lead? indeed you said she deals with things herself usually.

being a guarantor is a legal obligation which no one should agree to, without asking Qs first.

when she locked them out there was about 6/7 of them. The four flatmates and some boyfriends. One of whom is 6 foot and a big lad. She could not have cared less!

Slightly different situation but when I was in uni (a while ago now!), one of our housemates dropped out and was allowed by the landlord to sublet her room. She found someone who was doing a term at our uni as part of an exchange programme. We had a bit of a nightmare with the new tenant, she didn’t clean up after herself, damaged the sofa and flooring, had parties regularly in the house that went on to ridiculous hours without prewarning us. We’d often get in from uni to 10+ people crammed in to our living room (two Ikea sofas with a walkway down the middle and it was attached to the small kitchen!), drinking, playing loud music and generally showing no concern for us. We were then unable to cook/ make ourselves dinner or focus on work/ get to sleep! We had rented the property directly with our landlord and contacting him with our concerns (we had kept a log of events and shared it with him). He made a visit to the house to see her and spoke to her, including showing her how to use the vacuum!! It didn’t help a huge amount but it was reassuring to know he was trying to help. She ended up staying longer at the end of the year and we had to go back to clean the house when she left as it was in a horrendous state and we didn’t want to lose our deposits but the landlord did inspect the room she was staying in seperately to our own.

I’m not sure if it’s possible but could you ask the estate agents for the landlords contact details? It may encourage them to try and assist the girls even if they won’t give it to you. Or do their contracts have a business name/ contact address for the landlord that you could reach out to after making the estate agency aware that that is what you are planning to do?

can they not find somewhere else? Won't their studies get affected by this? If I were a parent in this case, my only consideration is to pay for 2 places and put it down to experience.

Again, sorry for this awful experience.

She should have asked to be moved.

Sorry I meant I don’t know who decided who moved into the last room not that I don’t know how any of it works. I know how the guarantor works and we have a contract.

She did. Nowhere to be moved to, accommodation was full.

What a shame for your DD. It just ruins their exoerience doesn’t it!! My dd was so excited about moving in to this house, the other girls had two years there without issue so very sad for them too.

no one knowing what's going on wit her, is exactly what is complicating everyone wanting to deal with her.

uni is supposed to be a fun place with serious studies thrown in. no dealing with this and so won't put my child through this. If I need to use a credit card I would! and I hate debts.

I think that’s what we’ll end up doing but I resent it so much. The thought of that girl having a 5 bed house to herself and the four others being out of pocket. Maybe that’s her plan!

OP you need specific legal advice in this situation.
I have seen two posters in this thread claiming to be landlords and either implying that it would be easy to be able to eject this person or suggesting withholding rent whilst insisting that the landlord takes action.
The problem is that whatever type of tenancy your DD and her friends have, as students they are almost certainly within the ‘fixed’ period of their tenancies. Initial fixed terms vary and are typically 6-12 months in other cases, but lets to students are normally based around the academic year.
I am not saying that it’s not worth contacting the landlord to see if there is anything he can do, but however willing he may be his hands will largely be tied during the fixed term.
He won’t be able to use the section 21 ‘no reason’ eviction process. Whilst he might be willing to try section 8 for anti social behaviour, or other breach of the Tenancy Agreement, the court process is long and would probably extend past the end of the current tenancy. The standard of proof for anti social behaviour is high, and success is by no means guaranteed unless the offender has a criminal conviction or at least a warning from police or local authority.
There is no point in anyone threatening to move out, or withhold rent. The landlord will simply invoke the guarantor agreement.

She’s threatening them and now using the toilet with the door open. This woman sounds far from normal and they should be calling the police.

It’s so hard as a parent. My dd is not little anymore and I’m sure sone people probably think she should deal with it herself but as an adult myself I’m not sure what I’d do in this situation. I just want to help and support her in the way I would anyone I love who needs help.

I’m not sure there’s much they could do and then she’s going to be furious that the police are involved and possibly make things even worse!

But that's part of the guarantee. All of it. Whole flat. if 5th room is empty all 4 roommates pay for it or their 4 guarantors ,if 5th room guarantor buggers off too together with 5th tenant.

Saying her parents would pay, is only if they pay. LL can still get that rent from 4 flatmates as they have whole flat, not individual rooms.

hugs to you both and other girls. I agree.

Just asked DH, who is police. It’s not domestic abuse as previous poster said as they’ve not been in an intimate relationship with the girl.

It IS, however, a police matter when she said “You’ll regret telling the landlord, watch your backs,” or whatever the threat was.

Whoever “forced” the girl upon them, either LL or agent, it WILL be their responsibility. There was a previous post by a LL on the thread. They know more than anyone so I’d follow their advice.

Thank you. I think I knew this would be the case but I just don’t feel like letting it go and letting this girl get away with it. However, my dds safety is what’s important. She’s staying at her partners parents now and I think we have no choice but to go collect all her stuff and get her moved out. I just wanted to yell and scream at the estate agents and landlord to make myself feel better!

To suddenly start leaving the door open in a shared house while you’re sitting on the toilet is odd behaviour. She might be mentally unwell as well as nasty. When I was a student one of the girls in our house fell out with the rest of us. She slammed a few doors and was a bit sulky, before she moved out, but at no point did we feel threatened by her. What this girl in your DD’s house is doing is a whole new level.

The problem with four of them moving out for the last three months is that if she trashes the place, they’ll all be liable and at least lose deposits. If they do end up moving, make sure it’s done via the agent and the property checked at that point.

I read and hear about this- repeated so many times. usually its pp paying for flats the had to move out of so not to ruin their credit rating. this is serious stuff so none should sign up to it without a full understanding.

her wanting whole place to herself- funnily that's the first thought I had. and I am a serious person. the increase in behaviour just seem to want to get this outcome. not good.

This makes it sound like it’s a joint tenancy, which would mean they are all equally liable for the rent.