Problems with Housemate and Letting Agency

[stevo7790]

Hi all,

 

Need some advice and guidance please, am in unknown waters here and not sure what to do.

 

Im march of this year I moved into a 3 bedroom property with a lad I knew, we were friends but not really mates I guess you could say.

The house was available for rent through a local Letting Agent, all above board no problems yet.

Agreed rent was £600pcm and that alongside Council tax and utility bills was more than manageable.

My Employer kindly lent me £1200 as a long term loan to cover the £600 bond and £600 1st months rent.

My housemate paid back me back the rent over 3 months and this was fine.

 

In June my housemate split from his long term girlfriend and started behaving oddly, so much so he was threatening to leave his job as he didnt like it.

Luckily this didn't happen but this is where things began to go sour.

One day in June his ex came over and demanded a sum of money from him, I dont know the amount but it was something that arose from their breakup, this meant he couldn't pay his half on June's rent straight away. I paid it in full and the bills and between then and the end of June he paid me back but had a little outstanding from the bills.

In July he began talking about moving jobs, my opinion was that aslong as he paid his rent and bills then it was none of my business.

July 15th I went on Holiday to Ibiza, 10 days later when I returned the house was trashed. He had punched the upstairs light switch and cracked it, punched through both the dining room and kitchen doors, his dog had pretty much run right through the greenhouse smashing some of the panels, the downstairs toilet handle was broken making it hard to use, the towel rail in the kitchen was snapped off and too make things just that little bit worse, had taken my sports car out, even though he had no insurance or license ( not even a provisional ) and crashed it!! causing upwards £2000 of damage Rumour was he was drunk but I couldn't prove it.

He promised he would have it all fixed asap, that was until he told me he had resigned from his job and the job he was hoping to move into had collapsed.

I paid the rent and all bills for July and August on the understanding he was looking for work, this never happened. On the 19th of August I left the house to go to work and found my housemate had pulled the beam clean off from the small porch outside the front of the house, apparently from doing pull-ups again drunk.

I stopped talking to him at this point and decided I needed to get out of the house.

 

On the 22nd of August I wrote a letter and took 15 photographs explaining pretty much what I have written above and also letting the Estate Agent know I was vacating the property on the 2nd of September, leaving my housemate there as he had no intention of leaving. Also that as the 6 month tennancy was up on the 11th of September I did not wish to renew.

Upon hand delivering the letter, I was met by the manager of the Agents who read my letter and agreed it sounded a mess and had no issue I was moving.

Within 30 minutes of leaving the Agents I had a call from them asking me for permission to do a visit, I agreed and so did my housemate.

Roughly an hour later I got a call from the bloke who did the visit trying to quiz me about the damage, I explained it was all in the letter and he surely had seen it, he said he had and then stopped, finally he asked me if he could have somebody else come out on the 2nd of September to do a hand over.Which I agreed.

 

On Wednesday 31st August I had to call the Agents as I received a letter requesting a time of 5:30 to do the handover, due to work commitments I requested to change the time to 6pm and also that I hadn't finished moving a few bits out of the house, this was agreed and I was somewhat pleased.

 

The 2nd of September arrived and as of 5:30 I received a constant stream of phone calls from the owner of the Agents, I was driving at the time and could not answer, as I arrived at the property at 5:50 he called again, I answered only to be asked why I wasn't there at 5:30 and if he could be available then, why couldn't I, I explained I had called his office and arranged it, his response was 'oh, ok then' he wanted to come back to property there and then, I agreed.

 

When I got in the house, my housemate was packing, strange I thought as that morning it seemed like he was intent on staying until the tennancy expired.

Turns out he was sent a letter aswell asking him to hand over keys on the 2nd, but assumed it only applied to myself.

 

I was upstairs when then owner of the Agents arrived, I didn't hear him knock but he shouted up the stairs and promptly came into my room where I was packing.

His first question was ' Why has July's rent not been paid?' I showed him on my online banking it had been paid on the 1st of August and he apologised.

He then told me it was unfair to place blame for all the damage on my housemate and I should pay for it. At this point I asked that my housemate should be present for this, however, he declined and said ' He doesn't seem the talkative type' he then said he wasn't happy with the damage and I agreed. This moved him onto the rent for August to which I said I need my housemate to give me what he owes, since your here why don't you ask him?, again this was refused.

I informed him that my housemate was intent on staying in the property until atleast the following weekend, at this point he told me he had already spoken to my housemate and agreed to let him stay until the friday of that week. I told him I would be out of the property be 8pm I was met with no response.

When asked about the outstanding bills, I explained I had them all upto date and that the Water and council tax were paid up until the 2nd and were now in my housemates name.

He was happy with this.

However, he said he couldnt do the hand over because of the mess, and asked me as I was working and getting a wage if I would pay it, as it was the responsible thing to do, I laughed and said no chance, I'm gone tonight mate, you know this.

With that he said he would return on the friday and expect the house to be empty, odd I thought but nevermind.

 

I had moved out of the house by 8pm, a friend told me my housemate had between the Tuesday and Friday repaired all the damage and had tried to claim the bond, but he was told no as the last months rent had not been paid.

 

This morning I have had an email from the letting agent asking for the last months rent to be paid, I don't mean to sound like I am trying to get out of anything but I am so angry its beyond beleif, I was of the opinion that since I had left and my housemate remained there, it would now be his responsibility to square things up. But also that the bond which I can prove I provided would in any case cover the outstanding rent?

The Letting agents are now panicking as they didnt ask me for a forwarding address, but I have covered all the bills so I'm not worried about them.

 

What can I do? should I respond to the email asking about the rent and tell them to use the bond or... should I say it's my ex-housemates responsibility as he remained in the property after I had left?

 

I hate to sound like im avoiding responsibility but I am not and I thought I had done the right thing by going to the letting agents with the photos and letter I wrong.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated