Help !!!!

[majik]

i was renting a house with friends, we signed a 6 months contract on 1/2/07 to last us until 31/7/07

well long story short i was sharing with a couple (were friends) until the male violently attacked the female in the house, the male then abadoned the property but kept his keys.

we asked the landlord for permission to change locks at our own expense due to what had happened he refused. He then asked us to "vacate the property as soon as possible" in a letter dated 15/4/07 due to what had gone on etc and told us that if we did we were not liable for remaing rent under contract as he had new tenants who wanted to move in.

he said he did this as he knew we couldn't afford to stay as there was only 2 of us now and not 3.

we agreed and informed him that we would be out of the property by 27/5/07 he said that was fine and that new tenants would be moving in on 1/6/07.

we met and gave back the keys we had (1 set with tenant who abandoned property) and i got a signed reciept for returning my keys.
the property wqas also inspected and no damage was recorded/noted

a month ago i recieved a letter from him telling me that as we breached the contract and left early we were still liable for the remaining 2 months rent of our contract as his new tenants did not move in, and we owed him 2 months rent plus numerous other charges for "damage"

he kept my £900 deposit and has gave me a week to pay him £1650 or he will take me to court.

what do i do?

i still have the letter from him asking us to leave and he states in his paperwork that if i had left when he asked that i would not have been liable.

i have also now recieved the court paperwork which i have sent back refuting the claim entirely and stated that i left at the landlords request.

i am really worried that if it goes to court it's gonna ruin my credit chances in the future as im only 21. also the other 2 tenants are now back together and have apparently according to the landlord ignored his request for keys back and request for rent which is why he is now taking court action.

i know the contract states that we are all jointly and severably liable but surely as he asked us to leave then we have not breached the contract he has ?

[MATTYFEZ]

I think your pretty safe regarding owing rent, assuming rent was paid in full up untill the date where the landlord wanted you out (stated in the letter).
You are in posesion of the letter the landlord has written to you reliving you of your obligations to pay for the full term, that will be vital to your case if the landlord persues it that far.

What the other tennants have done with thier keys is an issue between them and the landlord, you gave your key back and have a recipt, so no worries on that count either.

So relax a little!

It looks as if the landlord is trying to walk off with your deposit also...there lots of info here if you read around about what to do when the deposit is kept so have a look around regarding that issue.

[majik]

The problem is we do not have anything in writting stating a date the landlord wanted us out, all we have is a letter stating we were £200 in arrears and for us to leave "as soon as possible"
The arrears were paid by the tenant in question immediatly, we have verbal agreement to vacate on 27/5/2007 and obviously signed receipt dated the date we let etc.

He has also stated in court papers that if we had left when he asked that we would not have had to pay any extra rent. However he has also put that we requested to leave on the 27/5/2007 and he agreed.
Obvisously he requested we leave (letter dated 15/4/2007 and we verbally agreed a date with him so he has effectively lied in the legal paperwork.

The issue the landlord has is he is now claiming we didn't leave when he asked (didn't give us a date in writting just said as soon as possible)

We left (24/5/2007) 5.5 weeks after receiving the letter and landlord was unable to meet to collect keys and inspect house until 27/5/2007

My main query is as he didn't give us a date to leave by in writting and has put in his legal paperwork that he agreed for us to vacate the property on the day we did what's his claim ?

the way i read the court paperwork is " i asked them to leave as soon as possible and we agreed a date, they left but i still want my money ! "

does he really think that will work in a court ?

sorry if it seems confussing but im actually posting on behalf of my gf however i was the one the landlord dealt with.
Still not sure why he always dealt with me as i was never a tenant but i guess that sums up his landlord skills.

Thanks for your response MATTYFEZ i will inform her she can spend her money on xmas pressies now not live in fear of having a massive bill to pay Yay !!!

[Planner]

Okay - pretty confusing – this answer rely’s on the fact you have given us all the relevant information… and are not keeping something back (i.e. in the original post you had it in writing that the landlord wanted you to leave because of the “incident” with the other tenant – by the second post you didn’t have it in writing and he wanted you to leave because of rent arrears?!)

Can you clarify;

- Did all three of you sign a single AST or did you have one each?

- How much was your individual bond and how much was the bond in total for all three of you?

- What does the letter you got of the LL dated 15/04/07 say (would it be possible to type it on here in full?) if not what is the exact paragraph/wording of what he says about you moving out and not being liable for further rent?.

- when you agreed a date for moving out with the landlord was this in writing and was his response in writing?

- Was the rent in any arrears when you left? – i.e. where you paid upto the date you left?

- Was a check in invenentory done when you moved in and do you have a copy of it?

- Have you a check out summary/ did you take any pictures of the condition of the property when you left? - do you have anything in writing from the landlord that he was satisfied with the condition of the property when you left?

[majik]

-we all had one each

- total bond was £900 and was paid soley by me.

- "leaving a shortfall of £200, you said you would pay this to me last week up until now i have heard nothing. I have not received payment so i must ask you to leave the property as soon as possible as you are now in arrears"

however the arrears were from the tenant who left the property as £700 had been paid plus the lanlord agreed to deduct the remaining £200 from my deposit !

he does not state in the letter that no rent would be due once we left but he has said that " if we had left when he originally asked no further rent would have applied" in his court paperwork .


- again nothing in writting apart from his court paperwork stating that " remaining tenants approached me with a leaving date and i agreed "

- reant was up to date when we left bar May rent (£300) from the tenant who left who also met with the landlord and paid the £200 owing on 15/5/2007 according to the court paperwork.

- no inventory check was done either when we moved in or when we left all we have is a signed receipt from landlord's partner (who dealt with the issue from start) stating the i had returned my keys.

- no pictures/check out summary as landlord seemed nice enough and asked us to leave so he could re-let and had tenants lined up who unfortunately pulled out.

i agree that the is very confusing but our stance is LL asked us to leave in writting and we did and keys were returned within 6 weeks, surely as we were following the LL request he cannot try to claim the remaining rent !

[Planner]

Originally Posted by majik

-we all had one each

- total bond was £900 and was paid soley by me.

- "leaving a shortfall of £200, you said you would pay this to me last week up until now i have heard nothing. I have not received payment so i must ask you to leave the property as soon as possible as you are now in arrears" - Sounds to me like hes asking you to leave because of rent arrears.

however the arrears were from the tenant who left the property as £700 had been paid plus the lanlord agreed to deduct the remaining £200 from my deposit ! - Doesnt matter who "owed" that particular portion of the rent arrears - you where all jointly responsible so the rent arrears belonged to you all. It was good of the LL to offer to deduct it from your deposit.

he does not state in the letter that no rent would be due once we left but he has said that " if we had left when he originally asked no further rent would have applied" in his court paperwork . - Then you left without his agreement. I think it looks like you owe it. The statement about you leaving in the paragraph above doesnt appear to be a carte blanche invatation from him to leave when ever you like, its an invatation to leave unless the rent arrears are paid.

- again nothing in writting apart from his court paperwork stating that " remaining tenants approached me with a leaving date and i agreed " - If nothing in writing about liability for rent for remaining term then again, looks like you are liable.

- reant was up to date when we left bar May rent (£300) from the tenant who left who also met with the landlord and paid the £200 owing on 15/5/2007 according to the court paperwork. - Still a little confused. Was £300 due on top of the £200 paid or with the £200 paid is only £200 due? - either way it doesnt matter whos share it was when you are jointly responsinble. You need to stop thinking in terms of three "rents" and "three deposit shares" there is one rent and one despoit.

- no inventory check was done either when we moved in or when we left all we have is a signed receipt from landlord's partner (who dealt with the issue from start) stating the i had returned my keys. - This is good for you in terms of any delipidations claims from the deposit. Without a moving in inventory the LL will struggle to claim. Again doesnt matter whos keys wearnt returned, if x3 sets where issues and on x2 returned the missing set will come out of the depsoit.

- no pictures/check out summary as landlord seemed nice enough and asked us to leave so he could re-let and had tenants lined up who unfortunately pulled out. - Always take pictures when you leave

i agree that the is very confusing but our stance is LL asked us to leave in writting and we did and keys were returned within 6 weeks, surely as we were following the LL request he cannot try to claim the remaining rent !

- Like I said, It doesnt appear his inatation to leave was a get out of jail free card to be used anytime by you. It was a specific inatation to leave because of rent arrears, a situation which you apparently rectified. Unfortunatley I think you are responsible for rent up until the end of the fixed term.

[majik]

To help clarify we receiced the letter asking us to leave (15-4-2007), the landlord was then paid the arrears (£200) immediately and we informed him verbally of the date we would vacate (24/5/2007), the landlord suggested that £300 of the deposit would be used to cover the tenant who abandoned the property (we agreed as we were required to make 1 more full monthly payment as we were staying until end of May) we then met his partner on the date agreed and handed back the keys etc. (so the landlord still has £600 of the deposit)

how can he claim we didn't leave when he requested, there was no date given to us in writting it was all verbal all we have is a letter.

Surely according to the agreement tenancy/housing act agreement we would have to be 2 months in arrears and he would have had to have court papers to evict us due to arrears that way.

it was verbally agreed the date we were to vacate and to prove this i can surely use the fact of the signed reciept as if it was not agreed they would have been there to inspect property etc.

he has also used the phrase in his legal paperwork "the tenants asked to leave on the 27-5-2007 and i agreed" does this not prove that we left with the agreement of the LL following the letter asking us.

[Ed999]

You appear to have surrendered the tenancy by agreement. The thing you need to do in order to win the case is prove the terms of that agreement, by producing documents or witnesses.

On the other hand, the landlord does appear to have ADMITTED that agreement in his court documents. If that is the case, you need prove nothing - he has already admitted it to the court!



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