Advice on absentee landlord

treblekicker

Hi,

This is my first time in a few years I've posted on Money Saving Expert, so hello to everyone here. I've looked and there's a lot of useful advice and apologies if there's already ten threads on this but we're having problems with our landlord and could so with some advice.

We moved into our current place last March and were planning on staying here a while - we like the place and it's a nice flat. However, we were also planning for children and because we have a little one on the way we'd like a bit more space and have decided to move.

Our landlady is abroad. She doesn't have a UK address - other than this one and the phone number we have for her we've never been able to reach her on. She communicates with us solely via email.

We then found out after deciding to move that she never put our deposit into the tenancy deposit scheme. She's also refused to pay for work done on a shared wall that she was liable for and has been sued before (in a case she lost) for work done on shared areas of the house.

In corresponding with her, she's refused to answer the following questions...

• Whether her phone number is a workable number
• Why she is not protecting our deposit
• An address where we can reach her at

Most recently she's refused to give us a reference until after we move out and she has completed the inventory.

Because of all this we're now considering withholding the last month's rent. Our deposit was actually six weeks but given her behaviour we doubt we'd see any of the money if we played by the book.

Do you guys think this is the best way of handling things? What process should we follow in doing this and are there any risks? We are particularly concerned that she'll conduct the inventory alone, claim we've damaged stuff and attempt to get money out us. Will date stamped photos online emailed to her help to close this ruse down?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Fire_Fox

Do you have a proper check in inventory detailing the condition of the decor etc.? IIRC without an address at which notices can be served on your landlord your rent is not due. I would be inclined to withhold the last six weeks rent on this basis, making it clear that this is in leiu of your deposit which she has refused to lodge. I'd also be inclined to pay for an independent inventory to be carried out, if not too expensive, and take dated photographs as you suggest. If she wants to take you to the small claims court for the rent arrears she will have to supply an address, at which point you can counter claim if you wish. However, if she has six weeks of your deposit and you owe her six weeks rent I doubt she will want to take that course of action.

BitterAndTwisted

She might not know the following things:

It is an offence not to have a UK address where notices can be sent.
It is an offence not to have protected the deposit and confirmed with you which one it is held in.
It might even be an offence to let a property to a private tenant without a formal agreement but I could be making this up just because I believe it should be. Normally there should be an address for the landlord on a properly drawn-up AST. This suggests to me that the landlord may not have consent to let from their lender if the property is not owned outright.
It is an offense not to have a Gas Safety Certificate for any boilers etcetera. Does the property have a gas supply?

However, under normal circumstances I don't think it's unreasonable for a landlord to decline giving a reference until they have satisfied themselves that the property was returned in exactly the same condition as when the tenancy started, however this is patently not a normal circumstance by any means.

Under the circumstances I would also be tempted to not pay the last month's rent either and do as you say, take dated photographs of everything if there was a signed inventory at the start of the tenancy. If there was no inventory I would have stopped paying the rent a long time ago. When are you planning to leave?

G_M

I could be making this up

Hi B&T - yes you are!

As has been stated LL has boken the law in several ways. And specifically as FF points out, the law says YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY RENT if no UK address is provided.

The courts would take a very dim view of there being no UK address, especially as you've specifically asked for one.

Stop paying rent.

lizzielondon

i'm not sure but isn't there also the issue that you should be paying the tax on her rental income directly to the tax man as she is abroad with no uk address?

i'm really not too sure about that though could someone confirm or not?

BitterAndTwisted

G_M wrote: »

Hi B&T - yes you are!

As has been stated LL has broken the law in several ways. And specifically as FF points out, the law says YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY RENT if no UK address is provided.

The courts would take a very dim view of there being no UK address, especially as you've specifically asked for one.

Stop paying rent.

Actually, I knew full well that I was making it up but WHEN I RULE THE WORLD things are going to be very, very different indeed.

This LL is an a*se and deserves everything coming to them, which will be a whole heap if misery, I hope. What a disgrace!

treblekicker

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. :j So to answer the questions you raise...

• We pointed out to her that refusing to protect our deposit was illegal and she hasn't agreed or disagreed with this. Her way generally with such things on email is to ignore any points like this
• On our lease she states that any notices can be served to the property we're currently living in - so in essence the only address we have for her is our own
• We've paid up to the last month - so we can only withhold one month
• Regarding inventory she gave us one when we moved in. We made notations on it and gave a copy to her and the letting agent that was hired to sign us on (she has privately managed the property)
• We're moving out at the end of March
• We don't know about the gas safety certificate, although couldn't she use this address for CORGI certification?

As stated in the original post, she's been overseas so we have no real way of contacting her. Doesn't our address count as AN address though for the courts though?

BitterAndTwisted

No, it doesn't because what would be the point in corresponding with your landlord, posting a letter and have it turn up on your own doormat two days later. Leave a note on the mantelpiece for them?

I don't understand your question about the address for the CORGI/GAS-SAFE reg. Do you have a gas-supply at the property? Have you seen a certificate, if so?

G_M

Actually, I knew full well that I was making it up but WHEN I RULE THE WORLD things are going to be very, very different indeed.

I look forward to that day....

No. Clearly your address is not her address. The point about the address is that it has to be one where you can serve legal notices on her eg if you want to sue her.
Inventory - do you have a copy signed by her? Does she have a copy signed by you?
Tax - actually Lizzie makes a good point. Unless the LL has received dispensation from the tax office, the agent, or if there isn't one, the tenant, should be deducting tax from the rent. This is so that the tax due does not vanish abroad! But I'd keep quiet about this if I were you
Gas - she should have sent you an annual copy of the certificate - that's the law!

treblekicker

Good point BitterandTwisted! Thanks again for the advice. We haven't seen a certificate for the gas here (heating). Someone from EDF was supposed to check the CORGI certification at one point but they never turned up.

In terms then of not paying the rent, how would should we handle it? What I mean by that is should we first send an email saying why we are doing this and give a final chance or just send an email when we stop paying?

With regards to references, as she is refusing to give a reference now, what's the best thing to say to new prospective landlords when doing a reference check?

Fire_Fox

treblekicker wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. :j So to answer the questions you raise...

• We pointed out to her that refusing to protect our deposit was illegal and she hasn't agreed or disagreed with this. Her way generally with such things on email is to ignore any points like this
• On our lease she states that any notices can be served to the property we're currently living in - so in essence the only address we have for her is our own
• We've paid up to the last month - so we can only withhold one month
• Regarding inventory she gave us one when we moved in. We made notations on it and gave a copy to her and the letting agent that was hired to sign us on (she has privately managed the property)
• We're moving out at the end of March
• We don't know about the gas safety certificate, although couldn't she use this address for CORGI certification?

As stated in the original post, she's been overseas so we have no real way of contacting her. Doesn't our address count as AN address though for the courts though?

Write to the letting agent via recorded delivery and formally request a contact address at which you can serve notices on the landlord. They may give you your own address, but at least you can say you have followed correct procedure.

Your landlord clearly does not live at your property, does not collect mail AND does not have it forwarded by the tenants, so I don't see how that is an address at which notices can be served. Having said that if you don't get an alternative address you could inform her via e-mail that you have served your notice to quit via recorded delivery to your own address, there will still be a paper trail of it arriving! :rotfl: