Legal Questions and Answers by
Jonathan Stones of John Barkers
Question :-
Whilst at university my son shared a flat with three other students. The responsibility for paying both gas and electricity bills was ‘given’ to him by the others.
To cover his share of the bill when they vacated the flat, one of the students gave my son a cheque which had been written by his girlfriend who owed him money. Unfortunately my son misplaced the cheque and when he later contacted the girl she said she now didn’t
have any money in her account and he would have to wait until her grant arrived. He’s still waiting.
My question is: Who is responsible for payment of the tenant’s share of the electricity bill in these circumstances? Is it my son who accepted the cheque and lost it?
Is it my son’s flatmate who was responsible for his share of the electricity but asked his girlfriend to write the cheque? Is it the girlfriend who wrote the cheque and spent the money?
I would be grateful if you are able to advise me on the legal aspects of this scenario.
Answer :-
It isn't clear from your letter who was directly responsible to the electricity supplier. It might be the students or it could be the landlord, who then collected the electricity money from his tenants.
Either way, the nub of this matter is that each of the four tenants was equally liable for one quarter of the account. Your son was merely administering the payment.
In the current circumstances the girlfriend is irrelevant . . . it is the former flatmate who is responsible for paying his share of the bill and your son should write to him directly.
If that fails to produce any result your son could take proceedings in the Small Claims Court. Hopefully it will not come to that because there is a set court fee of £40 and, as the sides in a small claims case take care of their own expenses, there is no way of recovering that forty quid.
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