Frustrated Tenancy Agreement?

[stressedout]

Hello,

My son is a tenant in a shared student house with 5 others on a joint and several tenancy. The tenants parents have each provided a guarantee for payment of rent to the landlord. The tenancy runs from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009.

Unfortunately one of the tenants vacated the house due to a serious psychotic breakdown and was admitted to hospital last August, quit university and has not returned to the house since.

His guarantor claims due to his sons illness his contract is frustrated and he and his son are not obligated to pay rent to the landlord after he vacated the house due to illness last August.

The landlord is now seeking to recover rent due by the tenant who vacated the house due to illness from the other 5 tenants and their guarantors.

We claim in the absence of a formal assignment to a suitable person (ie. another full time student so as not to remove the council tax exemption from the house) even though the tenant who is ill vacated the house he and his guarantor are still bound by the tenancy agreement and liable to pay rent.

The 5 students who still occupy the house have advertised a room available but there have been no takers and unlikely now as only 2 months of the tenancy remain and the unpaid rent due by the tenant who was admitted to hospital remains unpaid from August to date.

Can a party to a shared joint and several tenancy walk away from their obligations including payment of rent due to a serious illness claiming their contract is frustrated and impose their obligations on the other 5 tenants and their guarantors who have all paid their rent up to date.

Thanks,

stressedout

[jeffrey]

Frustration of contract virtually never occurs; and it's impossible to frustrate one party's bit of a joint-and-several Agreement; so, no.

[Bel]

You need to look at both the tenancy agreement and the guarantor agreement to see where the liability lies.

If you are all liable as joint and several tenants, and obliged to cover his rent, then you can sue him for the money you have have had to pay for his share, through the courts, or hopefully , by negotiation.

Although his circumstance is unfortunate, he is still liable.

[stressedout]

Many thanks for the replies to my problem.

It looks as though legally they can't walk away from their obligations.

Thanks,

stressedout

[Matthew Moody]

Of course they can't.

An Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement is exactly that - and with the addition of Guarantors for the household of 5 students; it becomes even more complicated.

However, I do have to say having operated HMO's for many years (but not yet in the student arena) that I do find the joint and several tenancy concept quite alien from the point of view that things do go wrong, people do fall out and everything is not always a bed of roses!

Per the advice given already, I would work with the landlord to SUE the other party for their part of the rent given that you are all liable as otherwise, you and the other parents will need to fork out that rent whilst the other parent gets away scot-free - not really great.

What I don't understand is why its taken so long - surely any landlord worth his salt would be onto this straight away and start making claims against the other parties through the courts - to leave it until 2 months before the end date is crazy in my opinion.

Good luck with this one anyway - and hope you get the rent out of them

Matthew