DD's former housemate took money but didn't pay bills - legal liability?

[Ponders]

DD has been sharing a house with 3 others since last summer. 3 of them paid £350 a month to the 4th; £250 rent, the rest for bills & council tax. There were a couple of questions over the year about whether things had been paid or not, but he always managed to convince the other 3 that they had (he is an old friend of one of them & you trust old friends, don't you? ). The bills were all (except council tax) in his sole name & nobody else ever saw any of them.

They were given a month's notice to move out at the end of the lease last month, supposedly because the owners wanted to sell, & worked very hard to leave the house spotless so they could get their deposits back.

It now transpires that he frequently failed to pay the rent, or paid it short, & didn't pay all the bills either (just before they moved out pre-pay meters were fitted; he bullshitted about that too ). The agents have now kept the deposit to cover the final unpaid month's rent.

Council tax was never paid & DD's name is also on that account so she is technically liable for at least half of that???

The 4 of them are supposed to be meeting up tomorrow - he doesn't know how much they all know so should turn up. His brother ran up £20K debt on their mother's credit card & disappeared; they are wondering if this one id likely to do the same so have little hope of getting anything back from him (one of them lent him £400 last month )

She has bank statements (at least I hope she's actually got them, she's not the best record keeper) to show that she paid the £350 to him every month. Should she put in a small claims court case against him to prove that she has paid him the money & isn't liable? Is it likely that the council can get a CCJ against her if she doesn't pay it off? Would she be best off going to the CAB?

Did the landlord put the deposit into the Deposit scheme?

she may be liable but I would fid this out first.

was the tenancy in his name only?

I don't know about the Deposit Scheme, I'll get her to ask the agent. They moved in last summer, when did it begin?

I think the tenancy was originally in the name of him & one of the others, because they were both in work at the time & DD & the 4th were still technically students (had finished uni but hadn't got proper jobs yet)

Thanks, DF - she's only found out today what he's done, so there are still a lot of questions!

I guess the problem is that if he gave the landlord the deposit even though it was from them all the landtord can technically count it as a deposit given only in the two nameson the tenancy so your Daughter and the other people who are losing out may not legally be able to get it back.

They could persue it with the friend though I don't know how they would be able to force the issue legally. Having the bank statements is a good thing, unless she paid him in cash? If it was going straight into his bank then she might be able to take him to the small claims court.

not sure about the deposit thing, but if it's last summer then that's recent enough. Still might not have any claim though as the person named on the tenancy has defaulted on the rent

No, that's what I was assuming about the deposit, DF - they must be entitled to take it as it's owed.

She paid the £350 by standing order, I think, so that's OK.

Any outstanding payments should be his personal liability, & so are their deposits (& the £400 lent last month ) but getting it out of him looks hopeless at this point.

I'm mostly concerned that she shouldn't get a CCJ against her for the council tax. She got into terrible debt before & during her student years & ended up with a CCCS arrangement which she's been paying off religiously, so it would be really unfair if she ended up with a worse financial record for something out of her control

She's jointly and severally liable for the CTAX, so they are all liable, but also individually if the Local Authority can't get hold of the others.

If the tenancy wasn't in her name she should not have been liable, or on the bill under the hierarchy of liability and she needs to prove that. If she was, then it won't be a CCJ, but a Liability Order from the magistrates court, which means she can make an arrangement to pay, have an attachment to earnings or benefits, or if it remains unpaid, it will be referred to the bailiff. Failure to pay after that will mean a return to court and the possibility (faint but I have known it to happen for wilful refusal and culpable neglect) of prison.

The legislation is on line, or google the Local Authority website and it should explain the process.

Hope that helps.

Did the Landlord ask for guarantors to be named and sign a form to say they were guaranteeing the rent.

No guarantors IIRC, LC (all of them well over 21 & not students)

scaryteacher, all the bills were in his name alone except for the council tax - but she (& the others) have already paid him their share of the council tax - are they really going to have to pay it again??? She has spoken to the council today & explained the situation but nothing is fixed yet.

I don't think there is any rent still owing but they would like their deposits back if poss.

He has had enough from all 3 of them to pay all the money due but just hasn't paid it - can they take him to court? What he's done is fraud, surely?

Report it to the Police as theft.

It is obtaining money be deception.

Thanks, LC, that's what we were thinking - although if he can pay it back they'd prefer not to go down that road.

He's just starting a PGCE & will be getting his student finance in a couple of weeks - they are planning to tell him to hand over all he owes them from that, & if not they will have to think about reporting him for theft

(& they have no idea what he has done with all the money )

They may have to pay it again Ponders as the Council don't have it, and it is not their bag to sort out. They have names on the bill and they will pursue them.

You need to establish what kind of tenancy it was and on what basis they rented. If it was a HIMO, and they all had locks on their doors, and only paid for their room and there were more than 4 people on the tenancy agreement, (I think) then the l/l should be liable.

If it was a joint tenancy and they had access to all of the house and shared all the facilities, then they are all liable for CTAX. If the tenancy was in his name only, and he was effectively sub letting, then he will be solely liable - but you need to get hold of the tenancy agreement to check what is what.