Landlord wants £1,000 retainer

Jowo_2

A legitimate landlord who lives overseas would employ a letting agent to find a tenant and manage the property. What are you going to do if this is a genuine tenancy and the boiler breaks down?

Jowo_2

Twinkle_Star wrote: »

..
EDIT: Oh, one more thing. The LL also has a family member in London, who I expect could also get involved, it it would help.

irrelevant - the contract is between you and the landlord. The tenancy has nothing to do with your family members and the management of it has nothing to do with any other party than the landlord.

Twinkle_Star_5

Jowo wrote: »

No, it doesn't sound right. Wiring money abroad is the basic way a scammer operates as opposed to a legitimate landlord. A legitimate landlord who lives overseas would employ a letting agent to find a tenant and manage the property. What are you going to do if this is a genuine tenancy and the boiler breaks down?

Thanks Jowo.

I am as certain as I can be that the LL is legit. He wants me to pay the money into a UK account, it is just that he is abroad.

I am certainly still on my guard, but I think it is just a case of figuring out the right way to protect both me and him, given that we can't meet up at the moment, and that (as you point out) there is no LA involved.

I think he would be pretty open to whatever I suggested, as long as he was protected, it is just that we can't really bring in a professional LA now (who would no doubt want to do references again, etc).

As for repairs, he has given a contact in the UK for serving notices to etc (it is his sister).

Again, I really do think he is legit, but I obviously don't want to leave myself exposed.

Arthritic_Toe

As long as you are as sure as you can be that he's legit, this kind of arrangement can work really well. Try and check him out using as many sources as possible (sounds like you already have) - google his name and phone numbers etc to try and find some independent corroboration that he is genuine.

You might find that if anything needs sorting out, that you have to do it yourself and deduct it from the rent etc. If you build up the right kind of trusting relationship with the LL it is, in my opinion much better for both parties, than dealing with letting agents.

Twinkle_Star_5

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

As long as you are as sure as you can be that he's legit, this kind of arrangement can work really well. Try and check him out using as many sources as possible (sounds like you already have) - google his name and phone numbers etc to try and find some independent corroboration that he is genuine.

You might find that if anything needs sorting out, that you have to do it yourself and deduct it from the rent etc. If you build up the right kind of trusting relationship with the LL it is, in my opinion much better for both parties, than dealing with letting agents.

Thanks Arthritic Toe.

I wonder if I should suggest that we sign the contract, send it to my uncle in Toronto, have him meet with the LL, get him to sign it and then , once we know it is signed, transfer the money.

Does that sound reasonable?

G_M

1) Don't pay huge sums without a signed contract. Either use post or your relative in Toronto.
2) If you are paying rent direct to the LL (his bank account) you must deduct tax as he is non-resident - YOU are liable for HIS tax in this situation. Read here.
3) Confirm with him which deposit scheme he will use. Being abroad does not mean he can avoid these requirements - in fact it makes it more important that you check them out first
4) if you have any lingering doubts, you can check the name of the legal owner of the property for £4 with the Land Registry here.

Which tenants have to operate the NRL Scheme?

Tenants of non-resident landlords have to operate the scheme if:

• the rent they pay is over £100 a week

and either:

• they pay the rent direct to a non-resident landlord
• they pay the rent to a person outside the UK
• they pay the rent to a person who is not a letting agent in the UK

HMRC may sometimes instruct tenants to operate the scheme even where the rent paid is less than £100 a week.
HMRC has produced a booklet called Non Resident Landlords - guidance notes for letting agents and tenants that tells people what their responsibilities are under the scheme.

Twinkle_Star_5

Many thanks for all of this. I have responded to the specific points below.

G_M wrote: »

1) Don't pay huge sums without a signed contract. Either use post or your relative in Toronto.

OK. Would it be binding if he signed it, scanned it, emailed it to me, and then I signed it? I'm just a bit concerned that a scanned version wouldn't be binding.

The post will take a while, and we are supposed to move in within 2 weeks. I called FedEx today and they said that documents would normally be next day, but they cannot tell how long it would be delayed due to the current weather.

G_M wrote: »

2) If you are paying rent direct to the LL (his bank account) you must deduct tax as he is non-resident - YOU are liable for HIS tax in this situation.

Thanks. I didn't realise that. I will read up further and then ask the LL.

G_M wrote: »

3) Confirm with him which deposit scheme he will use. Being abroad does not mean he can avoid these requirements - in fact it makes it more important that you check them out first

He was told me that he will be using the DPS.

G_M wrote: »

4) if you have any lingering doubts, you can check the name of the legal owner of the property for £4

Thanks. I have checked this and the names do match. I haven't seen anything to confirm his name, but I am as sure as I can be that he is the owner.

BitterAndTwisted

Use your lawyer-relative in Tronno and ask them to confirm the landlord's identity by having sight of his passport, witness them writing their signature on the agreement and have their office scan and email it to you.

Twinkle_Star_5

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Use your lawyer-relative in Tronno and ask them to confirm the landlord's identity by having sight of his passport, witness them writing their signature on the agreement and have their office scan and email it to you.

Thanks. Now, from the landlord's point of view (because I want him to be comfortable too), if I sign the scanned copy, re-scan it and send it back to him - does he have a legally binding contract, or does he have to wait until I sign the original and send it to him? (at which point he will have a contract where both of our signatures are originals)

Twinkle_Star_5

Hi again.

I spoke with the LL tonight and he is adamant that he will not sign until he receives the money (he gave some legal reasoning that his solicitor had provided, but I couldn't make head nor tail of it, and even he said that he didn't understand it).

He did suggest that if I wanted to use an intermediary in the UK (a solicitor I suppose) that he would be happy to pay for that.

Is there a way that a UK based solicitor could be used to solve this?

I suppose that I could pay the funds to them, and that when they received the contract, they could release the funds to him, but it would seem that there would be still be problems with witnessing the LL signing the contract.

I will have to call a couple of solicitors in the morning, but if anybody could advise how a solicitor might be used here, I would really appreciate it.