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Question Details: Our lease does not end until 31/12/12. He has signed the lease/tenancy agreement and is named on it. We are unable to contact him as he has disconnected his phone. He stopped paying his rent last week. What should our next move be? We are possibly able to get hold of his parents as we know where they live and we suspect he is living there.
Filed under Tenancy | 2828 View(s)
Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley
You have a few options. But first it is important to note that all the tenants named on the tenancy agreement are "jointly and severally liable" for the rent. This means that you and the other remaining tenants in the flat are liable to the landlord for the short-fall in rent caused by your other flatmate's failure to pay rent.
However, you have a couple of practical steps available to you to try to recover the rent. You should attempt to contact your missing flatmate through his parents and encourage him to pay the rent he owes. However, you should be careful not to threaten, abuse or bully him in any way. In addition, you could inform your landlord and explain the situation. You could ask your landlord to contact the flatmate to request the outstanding rent.
If you get more than 21 days behind on the flat's rent, your landlord can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to end the tenancy early. This is probably not a good option so late in the tenancy though, and your landlord can still claim the outstanding rent anyway.
Alternatively, if you and the other remaining tenants keep paying the full rent to the landlord, including the rent owed by the missing flatmate, then you can claim the debt he owes you through the Disputes Tribunal.
For more information about the Disputes Tribunal click here: www.justice.govt.nz.
Answered 19 Nov 2012. The IMPORTANT NOTICE below is part of this answer.
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