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my 19 yr old son has moved into a multiple shared house 3 days ago but now wants to move back out?

He paid a deposit of £250 and needs to pay 1 months rent in advance this friday. The landlord owns the 'upstairs' part of the house and has 3 rooms rented out - one to my son, 2 to other separate occupiers. The kitchen, bathroom and toilet are shared. My son signed a 'contract' on paying the deposit - I need to look at this yet, but his concerns are that there are no locks on any of the doors to the other occupants rooms and his own, or the bathroom and toilet. The gas cooker does not work properly and there is no safety certificate for it and there is no fire safety equipment such as fire blankets, extinguishers, alarms. He accepts that he should have checked all this before signing the contract and giving over the deposit - we learn by our mistakes! Ive got a feeling that the landlord may not be fully legal to rent out the rooms. My son wants to move back out of the property before having to pay anymore money for rent, without giving the landlord any notice - where does he stand legally? Im worried he may have to pay the next 6 months rent until the end of his current contract but if the landlord isnt legally registered how do we find this out? I dont think the house is fit for renting out to tenants if there is no fire safety equipment or locks on doors.

Public Comments

1. Student? Talk to the University accomodation office - they may well know of this landlord. There is no requirement for fire equipment in rented properties - mad but true. And locks on the personal doors would be the responsibility of the tenants anyhow. Gas Safety is certainly an issue.
2. Hello I would talk to the landlord 1st before proceeding into legal stuff. Id be firm that your son no longer wants to occupy the room because of the little issues he has encountered. Be firm that he no longer wants to be there try to convince him, sometimes “negotiating” works fine. If not well id kindly threat him by saying that you would like to proceed legally. Good luck! Jesze
3. You need to the contract he was given. If he has signed it to say that everything was fine and that he would give a month notice etc, then you might struggle. As the landlord actually lives in the house and just rents out room, then I think that is different from renting out a flat or property, as it is his home. It is entirely legal for anyone to rent out rooms in their house and get rent up to a certain value each week or month without declaring it. That might be the case here, so he wouldn't have to be registered anywhere. Start with Citizen's Advice and see what they have to say, alternatively lots of solicitors have a free 30 minute interview. Might be worth a try too