A court Judge has decided that three Canterbury Christ Church University students who discovered the body of their dead flatmate will not have to pay their landlord £6,500 in ‘overdue’ rent, despite his demands.
21-year-old Robert Chavda was found in the shared property by his flatmates, after he had taken an MDMA overdose.
His friends immediately tried to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful, and shortly after they asked their landlord – Mr Werner Toogood – to rehouse them in a different property.
However, he failed to fulfil their requests and so, once the university allocated new accommodation to the group, as well as counselling services, they stopped payments to him.
While a fourth student paid his rent in full – to avoid legal action – the other three offered to pay their landlord for three of the five months remaining on their tenancy, but their offer was declined.
Mr Toogood initially expected the deceased’s parents to also pay unsettled rent over a period of two years, before cancelling the debt.
Medway Civil Court heard that the landlord was expecting a total of £6,529 from the students, to cover their late payment.
However, Judge Simon Gill stated that, because the landlord renovated the property immediately after the students left it, he had technically repossessed the home, as they would have been unable to move back into it.
The friends, who have reportedly known each other since school, have been receiving professional advice on coping with post-traumatic stress, and their families have welcomed the ruling.