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Legal matters

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have any legal concerns we suggest you consult a solicitor.

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Original poster

Student housing advice

35 replies

vdbfamily · 17/04/2025 06:45

My youngest DD has asked me to do a MN thread for advice.
She lives on a Uni campus in first year and in Dec, she and 5 of her current halls cohort went looking for a house to share from September this year. They found somewhere they liked via a third party estate agent.
There was a portal they had to sign up to which gave 5 stages of committing to this house. The last stage was a signed tenancy agreement.
The portal shows they are currently at stage 3 where they are doing background checks/ seeking guarantors etc.
However, a week after seeing the house, they were sent documentation to view and sign and return to the company which she did.
Over Christmas she decided she wanted to move to Germany and study from this September. She contacted the Landlord to say she no longer wanted to live in the house and he said that unless she finds someone else she will have to pay as she had signed a tenancy agreement. She found the document she signed and it clearly states it is a tenancy agreement so she cannot contest that.
Does she have any legal ground to argue that she was misled as she was told that signing would be final stage and she had not understood what she was being asked to sign.
I will try and share screenshot of portal as it reads currently.

OP posts:

Velmy · 17/04/2025 09:39

Sorry OP I just had another look at the screenshot - You say in your posts that no guarantor forms have been signed, but the portal says that guarantor details have been provided...

I would ask your DD for a copy of everything she has submitted here. If she's filled out the guarantor stuff on your behalf you may find yourself a bit more involved in this than you'd like to be.

peppermintcrumble · 17/04/2025 09:42

vdbfamily · 17/04/2025 07:08

She is fully stepping up and currently applying for full time jobs in her University town so that if she cannot find replacement, she will live there and work until able to find a replacement.
However, to say you are sending someone an application form and that form actually being a tenancy agreement is a bit sneaky in my opinion. It did clearly state Tenancy agreement on it so not disputing that but in her head she was not committed until further along in the process.

That’s not sneaky, sorry, it sounds very clear.

My dad taught me to always read and think about things before I signed them. This would be a good life lesson to drum into her now.

peppermintcrumble · 17/04/2025 09:43

RitaConnors · 17/04/2025 07:54

The flatmates are annoyed as now they are going to be living with some random person rather than with their friend. Living there and working means that all of them, and not just your dd, will be liable for council tax and she won’t be a student. My own dd was in a similar situation in her second year and it was problematic.

As a parent of one of the left behind flatmates I was unhappy as we had been pushed into being a guarantor for the whole flat (I know…) so we were in a bad position and were pissed off at being pit in that situation.

Yes this is a good point about council tax.

Original poster

vdbfamily · 17/04/2025 12:45

RitaConnors · 17/04/2025 07:54

She has ' paused' her course temporarily at present so she can return to it if needed so is still classed as a student and would not be liable for council tax.

OP posts:

Original poster

vdbfamily · 17/04/2025 12:46

oviraptor21 · 17/04/2025 08:15

Could try Citizens Advice but they are also closed over the weekend.
An application is not the same as signing a tenancy agreement. From the information you have posted the process does look misleading but you haven't shown what your daughter did actually sign so it's hard to tell.

She has been to CAB who were unable to help. It was definitely a tenency agreement

OP posts:

marcopront · 17/04/2025 17:41

vdbfamily · 17/04/2025 12:46

She has been to CAB who were unable to help. It was definitely a tenency agreement

Show quote history

If CAB are unable to help as it was definitely a Tenancy Agreement why is she expecting different advice?

Original poster

vdbfamily · 17/04/2025 21:45

marcopront · 17/04/2025 17:41

If CAB are unable to help as it was definitely a Tenancy Agreement why is she expecting different advice?

Show quote history

CAB told her they cannot give legal advice. A lawyer had told her that for£350 they will send a letter that might get her out of contact as it was misleading. I don't think she should waste the money when next term is the one she is most likely to find a replacement. She is just concerned that will not give her time to apply for German Uni

OP posts:

Phunkychicken · 18/04/2025 08:13

When you say she's paused get choose soon wouldn't be liable for council tax, that's only true if she unpauses (IE returns from interruption) when she moves in. Her uni can only provide the student status confirmation if she's actively studying (and paying fees) at that time.

Is she going to apply for Student Finance for her living costs? She'll need too check whether they'll be ok with her 'false start' as it were and cover the whole of the new degree, you can only have one extra year so if she re registers at her UK uni this year this will scupper her chance of getting Germany covered.

Again her current uni would advise (and would have advised) her of this. She really really needs to speak to them next week

TheGrimSmile · 18/04/2025 09:33

I'm not an expert on landlord and tenant law but in general legal contract terms, it seems unreasonable to me. Legal contracts have to be fundamentally fair. Surely the agents can't have it both ways and say that she's signed a legally binding contract BUT they are allowed to pull put of that contract if they later find they are unhappy with it eg they fail the reference checks. They can't have it both ways. Their 5 step system is very misleading. Personally I'd be telling them to shove it. At the very least she should get further advice from student housing. That whole set up sounds dodgy and legally unsound to me. I doubt the agents would pursue it in court.

ClarkeFangirl · 28/10/2025 14:07

Greetings hive. Looking for wisdom re student accommodation and tenancy agreements.

My 19yr old non-binary, autistic eldest has, within the last few days, signed a tenancy agreement for a room in a student house, joining a bunch of girls he shared a university accommodation flat with in first year. He stayed in hall for this, second year.

There isn't much discussion between home and him anyway, so we've just gleaned a tiny bit of info about the place. I knew it was the smallest room in the house, but it turns out there's just a skylight and not enough space for a desk. I don't know if there's any other furniture besides the bed.

It costs as much as all the other rooms in the house, and I think more than the not-cheap campus accommodation.

No money has been handed over yet but the TA has been signed. Is there any way we can take this on? DC has, by the sounds of it, agreed to rent a cupboard, not a room.

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