Last year my sister moved in to a rented flat with a friend. Joint tenancy agreement.
All went well, however my sister decided over the Summer to move out when the tenancy ended, as the rent was proving too expensive and she wants to move in with her boyfriend next year.
Flatmate was seemingly fine with this. For reasons I can't get into (too identifying) she is entitled to social housing and said she was pursuing this as a new place to live. They notified the landlord of their intention to leave at the end of the tenancy and he arranged new tenants.
HOWEVER - Flatmate has now announced that she's not going anywhere, and that she intends on staying when the tenancy expires next week. It transpires that her social housing situation isn't sorted yet (why she thought it would be easy I have no idea), and until it is she's not moving out as she'd have nowhere to go. From what I understand, this can and will take about 6 months.
The landlord is aware of his newly intended squatter and I believe is arranging alternative accommodation for the new tenants. Flatmate doesn't seem to give a shit about this (astoundingly she seemed to think my sister should help her), suffice to say they have now fallen out.
My sister is now beside herself with worry that she's going to be liable for the rent as well because they're joint tenants. Is this right? Is there any way she can get out of this? Everything we've read online is really contradictory. She's currently trying to get advice from Shelter.