Guest Baffled_by_it_all Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 (edited) We're ending our tenancy fairly soon and my flatmate wants to do a runner without paying the bills (council tax etc) I think this is an incredibly bad idea and want to pay my share. I've explained to him that my credit rating and his is at stake and that they'll be able to find him but he doesn't care. He just says 'they haven't got my forwarding address' He's actually just bought a flat! Is there any way I can sort this without being stung for all the bills. Edited May 10, 2006 by Baffled_by_it_all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizzly Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 In whose name are the bills ? Is everything joint ? Check your tenancy agreement, sometimes they state that the deposit will not be returned until you have proved that all the bills have been paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 You're jointly liable for the council tax, and so, you will end up having to pay it, then you can take him to a small claims court to get your money back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrShed Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 As cinnamon says basically....sue him after you have paid for the bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Crunch Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Check your tenancy agreement, sometimes they state that the deposit will not be returned until you have proved that all the bills have been paid. You can safely ignore that clause if it is in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Winners and Losers Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 You can safely ignore that clause if it is in there. What does that mean? How can you safely ignore it? How will you get your deposit back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrShed Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 By suing the landlord. I'm sure that such a clause, certainly if the bills are in your name, is an unfair term according to the OFT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Winners and Losers Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 By suing the landlord. I'm sure that such a clause, certainly if the bills are in your name, is an unfair term according to the OFT. Interesting. I have those terms in my lease. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrShed Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 WAL, the reasoning is that...if the bills are in the names of the tenants, then it is quite frankly none of the landlords business if the bills are paid or not, it does not affect him in any way. If the bills are in the landlords name however, this may be a different matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Crunch Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Interesting. I have those terms in my lease. Thanks. Its quite likely that there is a whole pile of unenforceable ****** in your lease. http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/DAAEFE5...EE/0/oft356.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pms Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Its quite likely that there is a whole pile of unenforceable ****** in your lease. http://www.oft.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/DAAEFE5...EE/0/oft356.pdf Got to say that I agree with Messer's Crunch and Shed on this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pac-man Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 I had a similar situation in a previous flat. Flat mate had run up a huge phone bill, but it was in anybody's name who had never lived there. Fine whilst we paid bills, but when we left she refused to pay her share. I wasn't happy about it, but neither was I prepared to pay her share........never heard anything since, as the landlady was shockingly lax and I don't think she knew who was living there. Didn't have a contract with her in this instance. I wish you luck, it's not a good position to be in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roshan Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 The moral of the story is not to get bills in your name. When you ring up BT, if you tell them your name is Joe Bloggs, that is who they will send the bills to. Then there is very little they can do to enforce a bill in an imaginary persons name. I know a guy who had to prove all ulilities had been paid before he could get the deposit back. It wont directly affect the landlord, but it will affect the landlords next tenant, so its a decent thing for the landlord to do to aviod any extra hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time to raise the rents. Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 We're ending our tenancy fairly soon and my flatmate wants to do a runner without paying the bills (council tax etc) I think this is an incredibly bad idea and want to pay my share. I've explained to him that my credit rating and his is at stake and that they'll be able to find him but he doesn't care. He just says 'they haven't got my forwarding address' He's actually just bought a flat! Is there any way I can sort this without being stung for all the bills. Typical tenant scum behavior. Note that if the bills aren't paid in full, your own credit rating will be impacted as they'll chase whoever is named & want the more honest people to pay. You'll have to pay for your mistake in living with this scumbag by paying the bill yourself to protect your own reputation. If I were you I'd steal their belongings and sell them on Ebay to get the money back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Crunch Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Typical tenant scum behavior. This is not typical tenant behavior at all, it is the behavior of a minority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time to raise the rents. Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 This is not typical tenant behavior at all, it is the behavior of a minority. Do you think so? The number of bailifss chasing ex tenants of mine is no indication then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrShed Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 No it is not....as you have proved over several recent posts, you are not an overly responsible landlord....if you bother to check out your tenants properly, and not treat them like crap, then they will usually not leave you in this situation. Apart from this, you cannot possibly judge based on your own personal experience of a few properties....it is not a true representation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time to raise the rents. Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 No it is not....as you have proved over several recent posts, you are not an overly responsible landlord....if you bother to check out your tenants properly, and not treat them like crap, then they will usually not leave you in this situation. Apart from this, you cannot possibly judge based on your own personal experience of a few properties....it is not a true representation. If you bothered to read my post, you'd see it's not me they're leaving with debts. It's their other creditors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrShed Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 So? In all honesty I don't care if you decide to continue with your illegal practices. Just don't advise others to do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time to raise the rents. Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 (edited) So? In all honesty I don't care if you decide to continue with your illegal practices. Just don't advise others to do the same. Edit. What are you on about? Was it illegal for me to say that many tenants have creditors chasing them? Running out of arguments shedman? Edited May 21, 2006 by Time to raise the rents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrShed Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Not exactly.....just got confused with your other ridiculous advice on another thread. It is irrelevant whether it is you, or other creditors they leave owing money to....if they were properly checked, then you should(9 times out of 10) get people in who do not leave owing anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time to raise the rents. Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Not exactly.....just got confused with your other ridiculous advice on another thread. It is irrelevant whether it is you, or other creditors they leave owing money to....if they were properly checked, then you should(9 times out of 10) get people in who do not leave owing anything. I've never had a single one leave me owing a penny. Nor have I ever taken a deposit without full agreement from the tenant (the most I kept was 30 pounds BTW for a chair covered with a nail-polish stain). Nor have I ever had a tenant fail to pay their last months rent. And everyone let me do viewings in the last month prior to moving out. The tenants & tenant questions on this part of the forum make me sick with the constant attempts to take advantage of LL's good nature. And if you don't think LL's are good natured, what kind of person lets strangers with so many statutiry rights move into their properties? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 The tenants & tenant questions on this part of the forum make me sick with the constant attempts to take advantage of LL's good nature. Boy you're grouchy today aren't you. I suspect that in spite of your pantomime villain posturing you're probably not such a bad guy as a landlord. From the way you talk it sounds as though you have a decent relationship with your tenants and maybe as a result they treat you reasonably well. But do remember that there are a lot of bad landlords around as well - ones who don't fulfil their obligations, get things fixed, keep the deposit for no reason etc As a tenant you can get ground down by the ongoing stream of aggravation from dodgy landlords and get into an attritional state of mind. Certainly happened to me at times. One reason I'm now happy to own rather than rent. Occasionally it all gets a bit one-sided here though. I do try to remember that landlords are people too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time to raise the rents. Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Occasionally it all gets a bit one-sided here though. I do try to remember that landlords are people too... In conversations with new tenants I discuss the fact that you only really know what a person is like when something goes wrong when you see how they react to it. Obviously there are incompetent LL's out there, but the number of times I've been queried on light bulbs and how to clean vacuum cleaners is bloody shocking! You'd think their Mums & Dads did everything for them before they became tenants! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Crunch Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Something does not add up; Do you think so? The number of bailifss chasing ex tenants of mine is no indication then? I've never had a single one leave me owing a penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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