Question about renting - HELP needed!

hopefully this is the right place to put this

anyway, i dont really know anything about renting so i need your advice. me and 5 other people are renting a student house at uni. one of our housemates never pays his rent on time, this morning i went downstairs to find a letter saying that cos he hasnt paid his rent for this month they are going to take court action. however on the letter it says that they arent just going to take him to court but all of us and our guarantors cos we have a joint tenancy. now as i said i dont really know much about this, but can they really take all of us to court over him not paying? all the rest of us paid our rent when it was due 2months ago and its not like we pay the rent altogether as a house, they charge each of us separately. im just a bit worried cos i dont want to have to go to court cos of this, especially as ive paid my rent!

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

I dont know much about it, but by the sound of it, if they charge you sperately and you pay speraretly then surely they cant cos they know who isnt paying

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Originally Posted by Abbie

I dont know much about it, but by the sound of it, if they charge you sperately and you pay speraretly then surely they cant cos they know who isnt paying

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yeh thats what i mean, its not like we pay the rent altogether, they know its him that hasnt paid yet theyre taking action against all of us, it just seems a bit unfair!

The thing is, if you had to go to court or whatever they'll do, they really have nothing against you since youve paid

Ring a solicitor up and ask what the deal is, they'll be best placed to tell you where you all stand.

I've only ever rented with my partner, but I would suggest you speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau in the first instance as they will have all the advice you will need.

Is the contract a joint contract which you all signed together, or do you have separate contracts?

I agree with getting legal advice on this one, take your lease agreement and all you have to prove your payments with you; there might be something in the small print that allows the landlord to sue all of you jointly. And if you can, chuck the non-paying lodger out. Not paying your agreed share is unfair on the others and can be costly. :angry:

forgot i started this thread! we all had a go at him about it and he said hed pay the next day, so i went down there and checked he had (as hes lied to us before about paying)! he had so that was ok. and surprisingly i received my money he owed me for the bills (over £100!) which id been waiting for since may! which surprised me cos when i left the house and asked him for it he sneaked out so he didnt have to pay me! but after texting him asking when i was gonna get it he finally sent it!

anyway, thanks everyone for your advice :) hopefully we wont have a problem next year as hes not living with us

Always make sure your read your tenancy agreement. Any clause such as your liable for someone elses debt, strike it out.