Getting Out Of A Rental Agreement?

[JoeDavola]

My brother, who is a student, has just moved out. He's renting a place with a friend, and without seeing it my dad signed as guarantor.

My brother got the keys this week and we went round to see the place. It's a slum - I don't know what the ****** he was thinking. He could do far better for what he's paying. I'm a little less shocked than my parents cause I've seen plenty of student houses, but even by student standards, it's rotten.

The question is, now that he's signed a 12 month lease, is there any way out of it? None of us have the heart to tell him what we think, but we feel terrible that he's being ripped off with a dump like this. Is there any way he could get out of this even if it meant losing his deposit?

He obviously can't just walk away as he's signed a 12 month lease, and Dad is guarantor so if my brother doesn't pay it, my Dad will have to.

Is it possible to tell the letting agent to put it back on the market, and if they find someone else to rent it then you can move out?

[Live Peasant]

My brother, who is a student, has just moved out. He's renting a place with a friend, and without seeing it my dad signed as guarantor.

My brother got the keys this week and we went round to see the place. It's a slum - I don't know what the ****** he was thinking. He could do far better for what he's paying. I'm a little less shocked than my parents cause I've seen plenty of student houses, but even by student standards, it's rotten.

The question is, now that he's signed a 12 month lease, is there any way out of it? None of us have the heart to tell him what we think, but we feel terrible that he's being ripped off with a dump like this. Is there any way he could get out of this even if it meant losing his deposit?

He obviously can't just walk away as he's signed a 12 month lease, and Dad is guarantor so if my brother doesn't pay it, my Dad will have to.

Is it possible to tell the letting agent to put it back on the market, and if they find someone else to rent it then you can move out?

Lesson learned the hard way. Is the place physically dangerous or just a sh*t hole. Is there a gas safety record etc?

Did they have an inventory form? If not, video the place, every square inch of it, otherwise he'll get screwed on the way out as well.

There is little that a bottle of bleach, a scrubbing brush and a bit of application won't cure.

[bug09]

Get your brother to call in at the Union's Student Welfare Unit (I guess your talking university student here?). They tend to have a lot of experience of dealing with duff housing.

I did just that when we had a dump that was not being maintained. Their advice was to setup a bank account with all the housemates as joint account holders, and then to notify the agency that unless a (reasonable!) list of repairs were not carried out in a (reasonable!) amount of time, then rent would be paid in to this account instead of to them.

We did this. The agency told us all the excuses under the sun as to why this was illegal / contract / eviction / whatever. But each month we would stroll in to their office with a new print out of the new balance. Within 3 months all the (reasonanle!) demands had been met and so we handed over the entire lot of rent arrears.

Good luck. As Peasant says, it's a lesson learned.

[JoeDavola]

As far as I know there's nothing that actually breaks the law. It's just a dark, filthy, overpriced shit hole. Dad's describing it as a 'slum' which is slightly harsh but then again my parents are more shocked than I, not knowing what a lot of student housing is like.

I really don't know what was going on in his mind - my parents always think he's the one with the common sense; in this case it doesn't seem so.

There's nothing he can get them with legally as far as I know, I just wondered if there was any way at all he could avoid having to pay 12 months rent on the place.

[wherebee]

As far as I know there's nothing that actually breaks the law. It's just a dark, filthy, overpriced shit hole. Dad's describing it as a 'slum' which is slightly harsh but then again my parents are more shocked than I, not knowing what a lot of student housing is like.

I really don't know what was going on in his mind - my parents always think he's the one with the common sense; in this case it doesn't seem so.

There's nothing he can get them with legally as far as I know, I just wondered if there was any way at all he could avoid having to pay 12 months rent on the place.

You should be advising your parents that this sounds like actually a very good, cheap, way of educating your brother how to live independently (i.e. start having some streetsense).

It also sounds like a fairly cheap way of educating your parents that supporting their son without doing all the research will at best embarrass, and at worse financially cripple them. Make jokes such as 'phew, at least you weren't helping him BUY somewhere". Many a true word spoken in jest....and you might be thankful to have a chance to plant those seeds in their subconcious......

[JoeDavola]

You should be advising your parents that this sounds like actually a very good, cheap, way of educating your brother how to live independently (i.e. start having some streetsense).

It also sounds like a fairly cheap way of educating your parents that supporting their son without doing all the research will at best embarrass, and at worse financially cripple them. Make jokes such as 'phew, at least you weren't helping him BUY somewhere". Many a true word spoken in jest....and you might be thankful to have a chance to plant those seeds in their subconcious......

That's a very good point.

I doubt Dad will ever sign anything like that again without actually seeing the place first. The irony is, when I was that age he wouldn't have trusted my judgement enough to do the same!

[porca misèria]

I've got burnt with a variant on this in the past: move in to somewhere that looks perfectly decent, only to find upstairs party all night. It gets to a point where a perfectly innocent car passing outside at 4am wakes you in terror, lest it be the neighbour returning to turn the noise on.

AFAICT there's nothing you can do about it. Just hope you survive without turning into a gibbering wreck.

[tim123]

Bad luck for your brother. What about if your parents get one of the many advertisers for housecleaning to give it a thorough going over. With some new throws, cushions and own cutlery and dishes you can make a difference. I've gone in and helped clean out some dirty student flats for my sons and basically a really good going over can make a difference. We packed up the landlords stuff in boxes and didn't use it so the inventory was not a problem.

One of my friends guaranteed his son's rental and when he chucked college after a month he still had to pay the full year. The landlord didn't even try to advertise it since he had a mug to pay for it.

No. He had a contractal agreement that somebody would pay for it. The law is very much on his side in this.

tim

[ChumpusRex]

One of my friends guaranteed his son's rental and when he chucked college after a month he still had to pay the full year. The landlord didn't even try to advertise it since he had a mug to pay for it.

The landlord has a legal obligation to minimize your friend's costs, and therefore must readvertise as soon as possible.

Your friend would have been well within his rights to pay no more than the agency's tenant finding fee + one months rent and leave it at that.

[tim123]

The landlord has a legal obligation to minimize your friend's costs, and therefore must readvertise as soon as possible.

NO. There is recent case law that says that he doesn't. The judge rulled that there is no obligation on a LL to mitigat a tentant's losses if the tenant wants to move early.

tim