Multiple Individual Tenancies In A Single Dwelling
If joint tenancies are tricky, sharing the same house with strangers can be infinitely trickier. If four people share a building and each has signed an individual lease, co-ordination can be a nightmare and lead to very disruptive lifestyles. Who’s responsible for cleaning up? For reporting faults? How are bills shared? How can the outgoing tenant get at least a part of their deposit back? Will s/he get it back from the management – or from the incoming tenant?
Say one gives notice to quit, while the other three wish to stay on, the landlord faces either a period of three-quarters rent (because no tenant is liable for anyone’s rent but their own), or the unenviable task of trying to find another single person to fit in with the existing tenants – who can deliberately make people feel pretty unwelcome if they’ve already formed a tight clique. Besides which, these type of leases rarely all start and finish simultaneously.
The landlord then faces the impossible task of trying to assess who is responsible for what damage or mess, as one tenant demands a deposit return when they move out, and all the others deny responsibility for a thing. (Again, an interesting situation that arbitrators of the new tenancy deposit schemes may struggle with too!)
Families (Parents And Children)
Families will usually be regarded by management as a single group or
household. Adults will sign the single lease. No one aged under 18 is legally allowed to enter a contract. While few families choose to rent for long, many find themselves renting to cover short gaps, perhaps between buying/selling houses. Other family groups may be housed by landlords on Housing Benefit arrangements as a more long-term agreement. In these circumstances that same joint and several liability principle applies to the household members.
Oral Agreements
Tenants and landlords may not have a written agreement but a verbal one. (Please check out Lesson 7 where your contract rights and responsibilities are explained a bit more.)
Some landlords prefer to not give anything in writing; presumably believing that they have given away less rights this way. This isn’t the case. Not for either party. Tenants’ drawbacks are immense where no paperwork framework exists. It can be almost impossible for tenants to prove that they haven’t agreed to a fixed term of, say, one year, which would allow their landlord or agency to pursue them for any rent or outgoings during this period, unless they have something in writing. Both parties are much better protected with some written evidence of their contract.
Given tenants’ vulnerability without written details of their tenancies, they are entitled in law to certain details in writing, if their tenancy began after 28 February 1997. Any tenant can make a written request to their landlord for the following details, and the landlord is obliged to provide, within 28 days, a written confirmation of:
- the date the tenancy began
- the amount of rent payable, and the dates on which it should be paid
- any rent review arrangements
- the length of any fixed term which has been agreed.
If your landlord refuses to provide this written statement or ignores your letter, you can get in touch with the local authority or the Citizens’ Advice Bureaux, and they will help you. The landlord is
actually liable to be fined if they won’t provide you with this basic statement. For those of you who rent through agencies, and who have not been given the address of your landlord, write to the landlord via your agency. If the agent will not forward your written request for a statement, again contact one of the sources previously given, as you have a legal entitlement to be provided at least with the basic framework of your tenancy on paper.