Out of order "new" landlord

Tenant123_2

Hi there, I am looking for some advice on an out of order landlord....well his son that is now claiming to be the new landlord. Basically we have rented a loft in london and pay the original landlord monthly. We obviously signed a lease with him etc...
However, his son has recently given us a letter stating his father has no right to rent the flat to us and the property actually belongs to his mother and he is acting on her behalf.
He has since told us that he wants to break down the loft and wants to know when we can move out. We have told him we can move out by the end of August. However, he has since erected a scaffold in the garden and has since been sending builders over.
Just tonight we were sitting with the balcony doors open and builders just appeared out of nowhere at 8pm. He has not once asked to enter the property or got our permission or the other tenenat's permission in the ground and first floor flats to erect a scaffold or start building.
What would our right of recourse be??
I find it quite disturbing that someone who is not even our landlord is now claiming he is the landlord and trespassing on our property!
Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks

PasturesNew

Your "any advice" will be here shortly ... lots of great people who know what's what. Not me, I'm afraid. I'd be out of my depth because of the issue over who is the rightful owner of the place.

However, I'll start with some basic questions:

Do you have an AST?
Did you do this through an agent, or direct, if direct, how did you find it?
What are the dates of the AST?
Is your deposit in a Tenant Deposit Scheme?

The bottom line is: even if it's his place, he can't just turn up and get you out and do the whole builder/scaffolding thing.

If the rent is due any day now, cancel that. Keep the money to one side, safe, until you know what's going on.

Get in touch with your landlord, see what he has to say.

marmitequeen

look at the shelter website. and then hang on for the fantastic folk who are on here as they'll give you top advice.

My gut reaction is 'no' to most of those things - they can't do that to you. Good luck.

moromir

I believe that you can look up the registered owner of the property on the Land Registry for about £4, that might be a good place to start although I don't know how often it is updated if ownership has just changed hands.

9wizard9

Don't stop paying the rent! Otherwise you could open yourself up to eviction due to arrears.

Definitely worth checking the Land Registry to find out who owns the place though - only costs about £4 to download the title deeds.

Assuming you've got an AST, you don't have to leave unless you've had proper notice served, and even then you don't actually have to get out until a court says so.

In the meantime, you should be entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property - if this son is actually the owner/landlord, then this could potentially be seen as harrasment. I guess it might be trickier if he has no actual claim to ownership - it's probably a matter of trespass then.

Though I'm no lawyer, so I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon.

lynzpower

It basically doesn't matter who owns the property, its really not your concern what the family are doing between themselves.

If you have an AST then you will be tied to those dates. You absolutely have a right to quiet enjoyment during those dates.

If you could give more info as others had asked, we'll be able to help more

clutton_2

if one landlord sells the property to another landlord, the departing landlord needs to write to the tenant telling them that there has been a change of landlord, also giving the new landlords' contact details and instructing the tenant to stop rent payments from their account and that they will be advised by the new landlord how to pay the rent into his account....

otherwise anyone from off the street could walk in and say "i'm your new landlord.. pay me now!"

If there is building maintainance to be done on the building which requires the erection of scaffolding then LLs dont need tenants permission to do so...

LLs DO need tenants permission to enter the property.

Tenants must be given 2 months notice.. but until OP answers all the questions already asked we cannot advise when this can happen

olly300

If the builders are causing you a nuisance there is nothing stopping telling them they don't have permission to be on the property and you are going to call the police as they are harassing you. If you repeat this firmly they will up sticks and leave as they won't want to be in the middle of landlord/tenant dispute. (This is not a 999 incident so don't call that number.)

Even if the son happens to be the the block of flats freeholder and as well as your flat's leaseholder, both leaseholders and tenants are entitled to "quiet enjoyment" of their property so he can't just allow builders round without informing you first even if it's to carry out essential maintenance.