Advice on absentee landlord

BitterAndTwisted

Just send the letter by Recorded delivery as advised and keep a copy and proof of postage for future use. You are not breaking your neck actually trying to find an address for this dreadful woman, you are attempting to prove that you've tried to find it. This will be an arrow in your arsenal when you need ammunition to "persuade" her not to take you to court for unpaid rent or shortfall for damages from your deposit. It's a possibility and a very slight one that the agents who found tenants for her may have had a different address for her at the time. Remember, amongst all the other offenses she has committed, it is not lawful to have a rental agreement with no proper address for serving notices to the landlord so you can't formally even give her notice that you are ending your tenancy. Therefore rent is not due and payable.

I thought this was made clear to you earlier on in the thread?

treblekicker

Thanks. It's late and this is all new to us so we just want to check and be sure. We're planning to send the email informing her of this in about ten days. Watch this space...

Fire_Fox

You can (and should) still write to the letting agent and ask for an address at which you can serve notices on the landlord. They were never 'your' letting agent anyway they always worked for the landlord, so should still maintain records.

treblekicker

We have tried. They say they have no address either. Don't think they're covering anything up - particularly as they got their marching orders.

Fire_Fox

Have you got that in writing?

treblekicker

No. That's a good point and worth a try. Thanks.

Fire_Fox

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Just send the letter by Recorded delivery as advised and keep a copy and proof of postage for future use. You are not breaking your neck actually trying to find an address for this dreadful woman, you are attempting to prove that you've tried to find it. This will be an arrow in your arsenal when you need ammunition to "persuade" her not to take you to court for unpaid rent or shortfall for damages from your deposit.

I thought this was made clear to you earlier on in the thread?

This is why we are getting you to write recorded delivery letters, so you have a paper trail of all your efforts to contact this amateur. The law is totally on your side but you must do everything by the book. Keep all the receipts and copies of your recorded delivery letters!

uk_property_expert

I am not 100% sure on this but it would be worth getting advice. I read an article in a landlord magazine where 5 students had their whole years rent refunded becasse their deposit had not been registered. The article was titled somthing like warning to landlords. I think it would be worth a call to the tenancy deposit scheme. Also from the landlords point of view I have fouund this advice on a landlord association website

If you take a tenancy deposit which should be protected but you fail to comply with the tenancy deposit protection legislation then –

• Following a Court Order you face a penalty of three times the amount of the deposit. This is an automatic penalty and cannot be reduced.
• You cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice so as to bring the tenancy to an end on the so called notice only/shorthold ground. It does not, however, stop you serving notice under Section 8 (e.g. in relation to rent arrears or other tenancy breaches).

Fire_Fox

Why are you suggesting the OP rings the TDS and why only one of the three schemes?

BitterAndTwisted

How can you question them Fire Fox, they claim to be a/the UK property expert?