Urgent help needed - student accomodation

[LoveBeingAMum555]

Hi

DS2 is supposed to pick up the keys for his student house tomorrow. He has just found out that one of his roommates hasnt paid the first months rent and no-one can get hold of him. The rule is that if all tenants havent paid their rent no-one can have the keys.

DS2 is doing a work placement so needs to be in work on Monday. We live too far away for him to stay here and commute.

Anyone got any clever ideas or suggestions? Does anyone know if there is any way around this, short of paying the rent on behalf of this idiot?

Has anyone got his home address so you could call round, his parents might be there even if he isn't. If my DS had let his friends down I'd be mortified.
I'd guess he's away on holiday and has forgotten rather than anything else. I suspect everyone else will disagree but personally I'd pay iy this once as being the easiest way to get your son somewhere to live before Monday.

See if he can rent student accommodation nearby, they are often cheap and flexible (can do a couple of days/ a week) and halls should be empty now. We did it when a flat took longer than expected

Has he git any friends already moved in he can bunk with? Hopefully it is a misunderstanding and his flatmate will respond in time .

Thanks all. DS is worried that he has got cold feet about going back to Uni and has decided to bury his head in the sand. He lives too far away to go around or believe me I would have done that!

We dont even know whether it is possible for DS and the other housemate to pull out of this agreement and rent another house together if the worst comes to the worst, or whether they end up liable for his share of the rent (which they cant afford). I am a guarantor so I suppose I have some liability too.

We are all getting very worried now, just really hoping that the Letting Agent will be helpful tomorrow but as DS says they will get inundated with problems at this time of year.

If anyone else has any ideas or knows how any of this works that would be a big help.

Do they have individual contracts per room or just one for the whole house?

I think I'd get it in writing from the agent that if you pay, you can rent the room out to another student (if this bloke has got cold feet).

Depends how much that's going to cost you? Could you pay for a premier inn or something for this week?

can DS Facebook stalk the bloke & see if you can contact his parents?

best of luck!!

Are they 'tenants in common'.
In theory the Agent should chase the tenant. If they can't get money from them they should approach their guarantor. If that fails then they come to the other tenants and their guarantors.

If they cannot locate the tenant they may allow the other tenants to find a new person to take over the missing tenant's tenancy.

This would be doable as there will still be students looking for accommodation, especially first years. (You might have to hang in until results day as there can be a shortage of uni accom for new students )

I doubt your Son will be able to leave the tenancy as he has signed a contract for the year.

But there will be options as above so don't panic yet

Has he signed the contract, with a guarantor? If so, do you have their details?

This happened to my son and his house mates many years ago.
I suggested that the three housemates put in to pay for the third housemate share
Obviously the bank of mum and dad of the three
We all paid and they had another housemate join them after a couple of weeks
The original housemate never heard from him again
Hope this helps op

Thanks. £485 for a Travelodge in the city centre without any food, so thats not really an option. I dont have details of the guarantor and have just noticed that this lad has put his address down as the student house that they have just moved out of.

They are tenants in common, so I assume that as someone said if the Agents cant get the money out of the tenant or guarantor it is going to fall back on DS and the other housemate, but surely they would allow them to find someone else if it came to that?

We could help cover the other tenants rent for a month or two but cant do that long term and I know the other housemate's family is not particularly well off.

Any student/youth hostels nearby?

@stepuporshutup Thanks, that's helpful. Do you know what happened with the deposit? As far as we know the housemate paid this, but now we are not 100% sure. The deposit is £300 so it makes a big difference if we have to pay this as well.

Has the contract been signed and dated by all parties, including the landlord? If it hasn't, they can pull out. Although it might be a pain for your DS, if the other student is going to pull out, it might be best in the long run rather than the rest of them having to cover his rent for the entire year if they can't find a replacement housemate. Even if it has been signed, the landlord might be willing to release them from the contract now rather than risk having to go to court to evict them and recover any unpaid rent.

Thanks, yes all parties have signed the contract.

So DS got a message first thing from the housemate to say he was sorry and was sorting it, we had the car all packed but before we drove the 2 hours to pick up the keys DS rang the Letting Agent and was told it hadnt been paid and they couldnt release the keys.

The Letting Agent rang the housemate, then rang, texted and emailed his mother who is guarantor. She said she knew nothing about it but was taking her son straight to the bank to pay it (for some reason he couldnt do it on his banking app).

We have missed DSs key collection time and the next available slot is 4pm Monday. We cant take DS through with all his things until next weekend as we are going away, so DS is getting the train on Monday with a sleeping bag and the bare essentials. We have had to unpack the car again and will take his stuff through next weekend, it has been a really fraught day and until we get confirmation that the money has gone through none of us can relax.

DS has spoken to his housemate again and he seems confident that it has been paid because he does want to go back and finish his degree and needs somewhere to live. DS says this lad is really disorganised and he thinks he either didnt understand the implications or what he has done (even though it was explained to him) or was being really selfish because he didnt actually need to move in today. Either way DS is now regretting choosing to live with this lad.

We are all now keeping fingers crossed that the money has actually been paid. The Letting Agents have been great and said that if it doesnt go through DS needs to ring them and they will talk through the options. My one consolation is that at least the housemates mother now knows the situation.

Meh, you should just pay so everyone can get the keys. The MIA lad could have paid you back or not moved in.
Now you are still waiting.

@lightisnotwhite I agree. I posted that yesterday, if the OP just paid it would have saved her DS and her a whole lot of grief and inconvenience.

Thanks, we are not sure if the deposit has been paid though so it could be £700 which is a lot of money, neither us or the other tenants family are particularly well off.

The housemate is still saying that he wants to live in the house so it's his responsibility and I don't see how we would ever get this £700 back. He has known for months that he was legally committed to this tenancy agreement and had to make this payment.

It's an option we haven't ruled out but I see it as a last resort.