Missing landlord.....

lilysgarden

Ok, this is a really long story but any idea's on where to go and what our rights are would be great at Citezens Advice was pretty useless.....

Anyway, my b/f originally rented our flat nearly 6 years ago with a friend and I moved in around 18 months later. Tenancy was originally through an agency but after the first year, we started dealing with the landlord directly. Had no real problems at all, landlord was a bit rubbish at turning up to complete repairs, but was fast if it was something urgent, left us alone, never turned up or gave us hassle. We were getting on really well.

However, the past year things have been weird. The ll owns a number of properties in the area and disclosed to my b/f that he was on the verge of bankruptsy and his wife was threatening to leave him. Then we started noticing that when tenants moved out, no one was replacing them and as a result a number of his properties have now been empty for months.

We still didn't worry too much until a month ago the man in the privately owned building next door came over to see if we had a number for the ll as there was a water leak from the empty shop below our flat into their house. Gave him the number but he came back saying it doesn't work. We tried and found the number had been cut off....in short we ended up getting the fire brigade out to break into the shop and stop the leak.

We now have a leak under the bathroom floor which is soaking the carpet and the whole flat has a really bad damp problem causing wallpaper to fall off the walls! Me, the b/f and the neighbour have knocked on the door of every property the ll owns, no one has seen him since before xmas, no one knew the number had stopped working, and one ex-tenant has been trying to get his deposit back nearly 3 months after moving out.

At the moment, we've stopped paying the rent and put the money into a seperate account in case he turns up.But the b/f is really worried about coming home to find the locks changed. Can this happen and what are our rights if it does? We've put letters through every door of the properties he owns or may be staying at asking him to get in touch, we even visited his local pub to try and find him! What are our rights in this kind of situation?

Cheers in advance for any advice! Nikki

tam2oo5

dont you have an address?, where does his wife stay? Legally the guy cant just come and change the lock i would imagine he would need to issue a letter dont know if its section 21 or 8, then procede through a court. This is info i picked up on the site ... This sounds quite important to me. Something could be up with the guy is he alive?

Fire_Fox

Get the leak repaired with your rent money, and make sure you keep the plumber's invoice! Before you do that you might wish to lodge your concerns over the damp and availability of the landlord with Environmental Health, they would normally enforce any repairing obligations but I think it would also be handy to have a 'neutral party' aware that you are going to repair the leak.

timmyt

er...rent somewhere else!

G_M

What address do you have? On the contract?
Go to the agency that introduced you to the LL and ask.

If you have any address (which you should have), write to him there recorded delivery AND c/o the agency (also recorded delivery) explaining:
a) about the damage/leaks
b) that as you can't contact him you are arranging repairs out of the rent and
c) that you are holding his rent in a seperate account till he contacts you.

Even if you know he's moved, write and keep a copies of the letters and postage receipts. Then you can prove you've done everything you can.

If you have NO address, just write c/o th agency - doesn't matter if they no longer manage the property.

ps - how did you use to pay your rent?

eco-friendly_2

"However, the past year things have been weird. The ll owns a number of properties in the area and disclosed to my b/f that he was on the verge of bankruptsy and his wife was threatening to leave him. Then we started noticing that when tenants moved out, no one was replacing them and as a result a number of his properties have now been empty for months."



Sounds like he's thrown the towel in, it won't be long before yourselves and others get a chap at the door.

lilysgarden

Thanks for the idea's, it's all pretty much stuff I've done already anyway. Sadly, none of the addressess or phone numbers I've tracked for him are actual addresses he lives at etc...simply properties he owns and only a few are occupied!
Personally I think the guys strung himself up in one of the properties, but I've also heard rumours he's been sectioned. Tried calling the police to report him missing and was basically ignored!!!

As for rent, that's going to another account while we look for somewhere else. Thankfully it was paid straight into the ll's account so it was a simple case of cancelling the standing order. Just don't want to risk screwing up our chances of getting another place simply because we can't get a reference from the current ll....

chappers

Have you tried a land registry search on your house or any of the others he owns to try and find his home address.
With regards to the repairs write to him at the last known address you have for him explaining that you are going to get the repairs done and dedeuct it from the rent as you consider it to be an emergency and then do just that.
Keep putting the rent aside.
If a repossesion or recievers are called in you will get given notice, so personally I wouldn't worry about that until it happens, he may not have amortgage and then you will be fine, until he resurfaces or you find out something untoward has happened to him.
In the worst case scenario , he doesn't have consent to let and in the event of the property being repossesed and his lender not recognising your tenancy you will have the money to move somewhere else.

llh189

A similar thing happened to me my landlady moved, got a new job and changed her mobile phone all done without letting me know about any changes to her contact details, I merrily paid my rent for 18 months with no contact then the washing machine broke down, tried to contact her but to no avail, stopped paying the rent for three months - still nothing!

In the end more out of frustration I googled her bank account and sort code, found the details of her bank and wrote to them direct enclosing a stamped letter marked private and confidential to my landlord and a covering letter explaining that I urgently needed to contact her, asking them to fill in her address details and post the letter on my behalf - a few days later she contacted me!

We sorted the washing machine - that was a year ago - I haven't heard a peep from her since!

How trusting is she!

Planner

Im affraid im not clear why you have taken it upon yourselves to stop paying rent? Your potentially setting yourself up for trouble.

poppysarah

The quickest way of speaking to the landlord would be to stop paying rent. Not a good plan though really.