Housemate moving out

[phil12345]

I am in a house share and one of the tenants is moving out a few months after we signed the contract, for personal reasons.

 

However he is now being awkward saying that because he isn't living there, he shouldn't have to contribute towards the bills.

 

There is nothing in the contract that deals with this explicitly but we have a verbal agreement between ourselves (there are four of us) that the bills are split equally. Apart from the bills where I have added his name to the account, is he still liable for them?

 

He is being difficult and I have only just managed to convince him he still has to pay rent despite moving out as he is bound by a contract.

 

Thanks

[citizenkain]

Ive read on here of people being sued for this sort of thing,signing a contract and leaving,he should get someone else to take his place,thats what they usually do

[mariner51]

Morally but not legally unless he is named as the account holder.

 

 

I can understand why he is unhappy for utilities he is no longer using.

 

 

You should all be looking for a replacement, acceptable to LL, to be assigned his share of T. Thus his liability for rent etc will cease and if remaining flat mates find the replacement, they can be reasonably confident they should be able to live with new person.

 

 

I don't know why flatmates don't just call a house meeting to sort out problems & organise a replacement.

[phil12345]

Morally but not legally unless he is named as the account holder.

 

 

I can understand why he is unhappy for utilities he is no longer using.

 

 

You should all be looking for a replacement, acceptable to LL, to be assigned his share of T. Thus his liability for rent etc will cease and if remaining flat mates find the replacement, they can be reasonably confident they should be able to live with new person.

 

 

I don't know why flatmates don't just call a house meeting to sort out problems & organise a replacement.

 

Thanks, if only it was that simple.

 

If he is not an account holder but his name appears on the account, is he still liable for those bills?

 

I added everyone's name to the bills because I was under the impression this would split the responsibility.

[The Carpet Cleaners]

Let's also look at this from another angle... I shall play devils advocate here..

 

Are you all jointly named on the AST? if so you are all jointly liable for the rent.

 

LL and utilities will take the easiest way to get the money they are owed, which means ...............

 

If your flat mate just did a runner without leaving a forwarding address, LL would still demand full rent from the remaining housemates, and would not waste time and effort in trying to find the missing one.

 

Same with the utility bills.

 

This would then leave the remaining housemates the job of hunting down the absconder and taking that person to court for their share of the rent.

 

So maybe it would be in everyone's interest to just replace this person ASAP??