Housing affordability continues to improve in Perth
Perth's first home buyer market recorded healthy activity levels in the June 2016 quarter, with the bulk of sales transactions occurring in the $350,000 to $550,000 price bracket.
I am renting with friends and one tenant has broken the lease early – who is responsible for paying that tenant’s portion of the rent?
When renting with friends, there's usually an unwritten agreement of who will pay what rent, electricity, gas etc. This agreement however has no impact on the actual tenancy agreement.
The tenancy agreement is between the owner and the tenant; the "owner" could be more than one person as can the "tenant", with each being jointly and severally liable for the obligations of the contract.
This means if an issue arises between the shared tenants, such as one can't afford their share of the rent or wishes to move out, the other tenant/s will be equally penalised for the rent being late or any other defaults of the tenancy.
This is where it can become messy with the tenant who is trying to do the right thing ending up being the one covering the full rent to avoid incurring any breaches or bad rental history.
The tenant may have cause to lodge a court application against the defaulting tenant under the RTA, however essentially this is something the tenants need to resolve between themselves.
Suzanne Brown, REIWA Councillor and Director at Rentwest.
