Students who were too in shock to go back home after they found their housemate dead in his bed, are being sued by their landlord for £6,500 of unpaid rent. The three friends who needed counselling for post traumatic stress, were rehoused by their university after they found Robert Chavda, 21, lifeless in bed. They said the incident has destroyed them emotionally and they can't possibly move back into the five-bedroom property. However, untouched by the event, landlord Werner Toogood has demanded rent for the remaining five months of their contract for the house on Sussex Avenue, Canterbury.
The students are now tangled in a legal battle against Toogood. He claimed rent for the 2013/14 academic year to Medway Civil Court and expects a verdict later this month. Toogood argued, “The fact is that the building is still there. The circumstances have not changed. It was not our circumstances which changed, but the tenants. Had the building fallen down, it would have been a different argument. We did what we could, but unfortunately we did not have any spare accommodation. It was the tenants' responsibility to pay the contract, but after various conversations we received a letter saying they were no longer going to continue with paying the rent. The offer was made for three months, but it was rejected because it would have left it fallow for three months.”
Robert died on January 11 last year, following a brain haemorrhage after taking MDMA. His housemates Dan McCourt, 22, Elon Carlton-Carew, 22, Adam Waller, 24, and Jack Dick desperately tried to resuscitate him. Three of the students offered to pay Toogood three of the remaining five months of their tenancy to terminate the contract, but he refused. Jack Dick paid in full to avoid court action.
