What happens if my housemate leaves

[plumberman]

I share a house with a 3 housemates. I beleive that one of them is planning to leavebefore the end of the tenancy. We are bound by a AST. If cant find anyone to move in:

1) We all paid 1.5 months rent, will the LL take her share of the rent out of her deposti or does he have to give it back to her and will he take the shortfall from the 3 of our rent's that are left.

2) Will we have to replace the housemate ourselves if she cant find anyone else.

By the By
3) The LL says that he's going to pop round to do some maintence and check things over i.e take a look at the property. Does he ave to give us notice - he wont give a definite day and obv. we'd ike to spruce the place up a bit befroe he turns up. If he turns up, do we have any recourse against him.

[Paul_f]

Right plumberman! - you've given us some detail but we're left to guess a lot more such as:-


The 1.5 times a month's rent you paid was collectively? - as a dilapidations deposit - not individually - Yes?
There is only one AST signed by all three?
When did it start (the exact date) and how long is the fixed term?


Concerning the rest of the post:

You are joint and severally liable so the deposit covers all three - it's not "split" when one might leave.
The tenant who might leave will still leave the two left liable for all the rent so you and your co-tenant might have to recover it from the outgoing tenant No 3.
When he has been replaced, if the landlord does it he/she can recover costs of doing so from you. Remember a new AST must be drawn up as you can't "replace" a tenant.
The landlord MUST by law give you a minimum of 24 hours WRITTEN notice to enter your premises and to inspect the property for repairs/dilapidations. He must make another convenient appointment, again in writing giving 24 hours notice, in order for any maintenance to be carried out and you are entitled to be there at the time. You can refuse if it's inconvenient but not normally if it's an emergency. However I suggest you are sensible about this as it's in your own interests to have the property looked after.