Do I owe rent ?

[Nana45]

Hi,

I moved out of a flat a few months ago. The person I lived with was quite hard for me to deal with.

I originally had a six month contract which took me up until January. I stayed an extra two months.

In the contract it states :

The separate accommodation and furniture and effects shall be held by the Tenant for the period from 4
th July 2017 until 3
rd January 2017 and standard
monthly rent payments commencing on Friday 4th July .

The Lessor notifies the Tenant that
should the Tenant wish to leave the property prior to the end of the tenancy agreement as dated above, the Tenant must provide a minimum of two months’ notice to the Lessor and be willing to allow prospective tenants to view the bedroom and keep it clean and tidy prior to
vacating the premises. The Lessor agrees that a one month notice period will be provided to the tenant to vacate the premises.

I have left now. I stupidly originally said I would pay the two months rent after I leave thinking I had to give two months notice. Now I am not there and can't afford to pay the extra two months.

I am not sure if I legally have to pay It?

Thanks in advance mumsnet

Were you a lodger in the owner's house or were you renting a room in a HMO? Did you pay a deposit and what happened to it?

You agreed to those terms so yes, it's a contract.

Actually having re read this, it's not at all clear because it only talks about 2 months notice if you want to leave during the fixed term, it says nothing about notice after the fixed term. I guess this is a room in a shared house, so either an hmo or a lodger. I think if you pay your rent monthly, then in the absence of any other agreement you would need to give a month. If it's an ast and notice period not mentioned then it is one month by default. So no, probably not. Point out to them no notice period is mentioned outside of the fixed term and leave it to them to either issue or go away.

The contract says if she wants to leave before the end of the contract...but she didn't. She stayed on for an extra 2 months! When did you actually tell the LL you were going to leave, Nana45? And how much notice did you give? Normally it would be 1 month notice if you leave after the initial six months.

I was renting a room . The person I lived with was acting as the landlord , but it was not her house. I had a contract with her and her name on it. I paid her the rent and bills and then she paid the mortgage herself to either the owners or the bank (I don't know who she paid)

I gave her two months notice but left within a week as I was finding her extremely hard to live with. I originally said I would pay the extra two months. But now I look at the contract it doesn't seem clear that I had to give two months notice from the contract.

It was a shared house with just me and her.

I paid a deposit for the room .I assume I haven't or won't get it back until we agree when my contract ended, and am being optimistic that she will give it back .

How much was the deposit? I.e. was it one month's rent or more?

Less than one months rent. About two thirds of a months rent

I am happy to leave the deposit and tell her to use it for the remaining rent . And just give her another third of money for final months rent.

Has she chased you for the money? It's unusual that a tenant/lodger has to give more notice than the landlord and if there were issues between you the sensible thing for her to do would be to call it quits if it wasn't working out and she has your deposit money anyway. If she was illegally subletting to you then she's on a sticky wicket trying to enforce the terms of the poorly written agreement.

She can’t keep the deposit, as that is protected and she must return it. You can call and ask the scheme directly, but I believe the contract issue is separate. If you did break the terms of the contract, she would have to pursue you for the money through small claims court. She cannot claim 2 month’s rent either - she can only pursue you for an actual loss. So she would need to submit evidence she has tried to find a tenant for the next two months and wasn’t able to, thereby incurring a loss.

If she finds someone next week, then she can only sue you for that loss - a week’s rent. She can’t sue you for 2 months because she’s not incurred that loss and already rented the room.

This sounds more like a lodging than a tenancy. Deposits from lodgers do not legally need to be entered into a protection scheme and your contract shouldn’t have been an AST either. Also, standard notice from landlord to lodger is 1 month and vice versa, 1 week.

So I’d not be paying any more rent and would absolutely ask for your deposit back.

Actually, it seems I’m wrong on the week’s notice: it’s actually the same as the period between rent payments according to this:

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/subletting-and-lodging/lodging/what-rights-do-lodgers-have/

Lodgers have very limited rights. What have you been asked to pay OP?

The people who own the house know that she was renting out the extra room. I think it was a sort of deal that if she sorted out a lodger and paid all the mortgage (my rent and whatever she paid) than she much cheaper rent - i think she barely pays any rent and easily has enough money to cover this.

She has said that she has found a new person to move In at the end of May, but that she had a loss of the two months that I wasn't living or paying rent there. So she claims she is out of pocket for two months.

She hasn't messaged me at all to show how of my deposit would be returned. She just keeps emailing to ask for the rent and I say I don't have it, and say I can pay back very slowly.

In her messages she says she will begin legal action.

Thanks for all the links. All interesting to read!

Ok so she is your landlord. You are a subtenant. You had a fixed term agreement that ended in January, therefore after that you were then on a periodic contract.
This means that to end your liability for rent you would need to give notice of 1 month and your notice must end on the first day or last day of your tenancy period. Did you actually give notice or just move out?

HOWEVER as there is a new tenant moving in at the end of May and you have moved out, she has effectively agreed that your tenancy will end then. (its called a mutual surrender by operation of law) so your liability for rent will end then.

I seriously doubt she will take you to court. It will cost her money to do that and she wouldn't have a case anyway.

If you have already paid this months rent she will have suffered no financial loss and should return your deposit.

She will have to prove it in court. Show adverts, show estate agents she’s used, how she’s done her best but hasn’t been able to get anyone sooner. I think she will struggle to be able to prove she couldn’t find a tenant as opposed to she was being picky about finding a tenant she liked, etc. It’s waaaaay waaaay to much of a coincidence that she somehow found a tenant exactly 2 months later. If she said you owe her 3 week or 4 weeks, I would have believed her. If she decided to go with a tenant who said they could only move after given their own 2 months’ notice, then she made a decision to hold the room for 2 months and she can’t make you pay for that.

You can always contact Shelter for free legal advice. I had an awful landlord threatening to take me to court, turns out he didn't have a landlord registration, not even a HMO and didn't keep our deposit save either. He ended up having to pay my friend and I money. Don't get intimidated by threats!

Everyone. This help has been so so great. Thankyou so so much. I will use this information in the next email I receive from her, which I am sure will be soon .

thanks! will let you know how it goes :)

But you said you'll pay the two months. It seems a bit unfair to not pay now. Sounds like she was expecting the money so now has money problems herself. I don't know about the legal side of it but morally I think you should pay (will have to be in little bits and/or include the deposit money).

Her void period is really not your problem, especially as it sounds like she was using your rent to subsidise hers - surely it should have been half each (or maybe 60/40 to reflect her time in finding tenants etc.)