Student Group Rent: One student is not paying the rent, what can be done?

[Sam]

I'm renting a property with some other students, my parents are the lead tenants. One of the students is a complete, well, there are no words. He leaves clothes and dirt just about everywhere and has barely paid the rent on time, as well as still owing money to other students in the house. The student has now not payed the rent for last month at all, but my parents subsidised his rent money so we did not all end up with a bad credit rating. It has been several weeks and he has still not paid it. The company that are in charge of the property has said it is basically not their problem, that the rent will need to be paid no matter what, but, the student can continue living there even if they are not paying the rent. This makes absolutely no sense to me, and there must surely be a way around this or something we can do? I am becoming concerned he is going to disappear altogether, he has provided no contact number and only can be contacted through Facebook. Whilst the other students and myself do not mind paying a bit extra in his place, we do mind that he will still have access to the property, apparently legally.

Is there anything that can be done about this, or any loop holes? My parents cannot afford to go to court and apparently would not have a case anyway, we could also do without the continuing stress this has caused. So, can anything be done or do I need to become a gangster and break some legs?

[Piran]

You contact the office at your Uni or College, and believe me they will have a strong word with him. They have been known to throw people off their course due to bringing the Uni/College into disrepute.
UK

[Ben]

Talk to the landlord of the property and explain the situation. Even if you ask to change all the locks at a price if needed. Why should you pay for someone else? get him kicked out and get someone else in!

Its the landlords property and he has the final say not the estate agents. All they do is represent them and advertise/manage for a price.

[Carol]

Each state and country has an "Department" that handles Real estate law from renting to buying and selling, In the US it's called the Dept of consumer affairs and because states laws are different then each state has its own web site and office. If you call your small claims type court in other countries they can tell you what its called there.
The LL can usually give a "notice to pay up or quit" here each state had a different amount of days they have from 3 to 5 (states are different) if they have not paid the FULL AMOUNT (although if partial payment is accepted it starts over so do not accept parcel payment . Once that 3 or 5 day passes you can then according to laws where you are either give a 30 day "notice to vacate" (In some areas the 3 day pay up or quit is all you need and sheriff can be called to force them to move. but that's usually on a month to month where you have a years lease so find where laws are and follow to the letter one error and you must start all over

[Lily B Talus]

It's the joint tenants thing that's got you, you are all liable for this bloke's rent if he doesn't pay ...all you can do is try to chuck him out and then go to the small claims court for the money

[Who]

The company is correct

All of you signed a lease together as joint tenants
THAT means that all of you together are responsible for ensuring the rent is paid. But who pays what towards that rent is up to an contract between the tenants and nothing to do with the company.
As far as the company is concerned the only thing required is the total amount of rent is paid when its due.Its up to you all to ensure its paid, but if 1 dont contribute then the others must pay instead, otherwise the company can sue all of you or any one of you. (e.g the one who's got the most money).
If you HAD an agreement you would have to sue the non-payer for breach of the agreement. (but since you aint you have little chance in succeeding)

The company is also correct that you cant throw him out. HE is on the lease just as you are. so he has as much right to live there as you have,.even if he never pays a penny towards the rent.
(cos YOU never bothered to arrange a contract that says he MUST pay a penny)

(Even worse - If he is a joint tenant then he has a legal right to live there and come and go as he pleases
If you prevent him from coming and going then he can go find somewhere else to live, and sue YOU for the cost of him living there)

The reason it makes no sense to you is cos you never bothered finding out the legal implications of being a joint tenant before you signed the lease
There is NOTHING in a joint tenancy that requires any of the individual tenants to pay any specific amount towards the rent, Just that ALL the tenants together must ensure ALL the rent is paid.
To make sure all tenants pay their share of the rent (AND utilities) requires a separate contract between all the tenants and has NOTHING to do with the landlord or the lease

Its a shame cos you are in the same position as LOADS of other students (but they dont know it) who just signed a contract (the lease) and never gave a thought to the legal implications of what they were signing

If your parents have house insurance and added the legal pritection insurance they could ring the number you should have, otherwise go see CAB or a solicitor but it would appear there are no loopholes

Last thing
Its would be a waste of time contacting the college or uni
Your lease is a private contract between you and the landlord.and has NOTHING to do with them
They will not get involved nor say anything to the other party (cos if they did he could sue them)

[HuckingFilarious]

yes there is a lot that can be done if you use some common sense here. Firstly it was wrong of your parents to make up his rent, he is not their child and there is no need for them to be so silly as to pay his rent for him (which they will never get back anyway).

What you need to do is to gather together all of the house mates and have a meeting with this chav that is living in your place and warn him that if he does not pay his share of rent and clean up his act, you will all kick him out and find another student to take his place.

If you were not such a nerd, you could become a gangster and break his legs but we both know that you would break your own hands if you tried to even life something heavy let alone break someone's legs.

Stop being so childish and a drama queen and just chat with the guy and sort it out and if he doesn't agree, kick him out and find someone else.