No Section 48 on Tenancy Agreement

jelliedeel

No only a mobile number there is no office or registered address on anything. I have lived in this flat for nearly one year now which makes me a weekly periodic tenant, does that change anything. Also it has been more than 21 days should I still try and obtain this address third party which is council have address obtained by other means but have not supplied it to me either.

G_M

So you have no address for the agent OR the LL? Are you even sure he/they own the property?

Get your local council private rental sector involved.

If you have an address to send money to, then
1) give the cash to a friend, who writes a cheque to the LL/agent, and you post it or
2) get a bank draft (Barclays charge though - £10 I think)
3) Use a postal Order (£10)
4) Banks used to issue counter cheques - they wrote out the cheque for you and debited your account or took cash - not sure if this is same as a bank draft though

But if the LL is as fly-by-night as this you need to involve your local council: private rental sector or similar eg here

For £4 you can get the property owner's (landlord) name from the Land Registry instantly. It gives an address too, but that might just be the property where you live.

jelliedeel

Ok thank you for your replies, I still want to know more about the Section 48 notice though can anybody else clarify please?

Mrs_Arcanum

This link is handy. http://www.lettings-landlords.co.uk/info/sec_47_48.html Would seem without the Landlords address in the Tenancy Agreement they cannot evict you for non payment of rent. This is an essential requirement on the Landlords part.

theartfullodger

GM has given you good, solid advice: Follow it"!!! Your landlord sounds like a right tax-cheat (& ignorant of the law also..)

If you are desperate to understand S48 here it is...
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/31/section/48

48 Notification by landlord of address for service of notices.E+W

(1)A landlord of premises to which this Part applies shall by notice furnish the tenant with an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on him by the tenant.
(2)Where a landlord of any such premises fails to comply with subsection (1), any rent or service charge otherwise due from the tenant to the landlord shall (subject to subsection (3)) be treated for all purposes as not being due from the tenant to the landlord at any time before the landlord does comply with that subsection.
(3)Any such rent or service charge shall not be so treated in relation to any time when, by virtue of an order of any court, there is in force an appointment of a receiver or manager whose functions include the receiving of rent or (as the case may be) service charges from the tenant.

(For once..) a fairly clear bit of law..

When LL eventually does "furnish the tenant with an address in E&W.." then all the rent you are holding onto becomes due. But then you know his name & an address.

You can also then ask him for his actual address..
LL&Tenant Act 1985 Section 1.. he then has 21 days to supply that.

tbs624

jelliedeel wrote: »

Ok thank you for your replies, I still want to know more about the Section 48 notice though can anybody else clarify please?

Some of the posts above seemed to have missed the point.

If your LL does not provide you with an address at which Notices relating to the tenancy may be served then the LL/LA cannot "lawfully demand" rent, until such time as they *do* provide that information to you.

That does not mean however that you may simply go and otherwise spend your rent monies: you should put them into a separate bank account.

S48 does not say T must exhaust all possible means of finding that address via their own efforts - it means that the address must be supplied by the LL/LA.

From the LL&T Act 1987:

S48 Notification by landlord of address for service of notices.E+W

(1)A landlord of premises to which this Part applies shall by notice furnish the tenant with an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on him by the tenant.
(2)Where a landlord of any such premises fails to comply with subsection (1), any rent or service charge otherwise due from the tenant to the landlord shall (subject to subsection (3)) be treated for all purposes as not being due from the tenant to the landlord at any time before the landlord does comply with that subsection.
(3)Any such rent or service charge shall not be so treated in relation to any time when, by virtue of an order of any court, there is in force an appointment of a receiver or manager whose functions include the receiving of rent or (as the case may be) service charges from the tenant.

Edit: sorry Artful , didn't read your post before replying

G_M

So as you can see, you can simply stop paying rent.

Put the money aside, though, as once they comply with S48 you have to pay all the back rent you owe.

Expect the LL/agent to be angry and come knocking on your door. If you are threatened, call the police.

A GET IN TOUCH WITH THE COUNCIL!

jelliedeel

Thank you for your replies. I do have a contact with the Council who is helping me and I am taking further advice from that. Its just that the intial advice I was given said that S48 only applies if you have rent arrears, but surely I have no rent arrears because no rent was ever due because of a lack of S48!

tbs624

S48 applies to all ASTs. A LL who does not have that clear S48 statement within his/her contract is a muppet.

If a LL writes to you telling you that you are "in arrears" but you have not paid rent because there has been no S48 complianceby the LL , then you tell him in writing that you have the rent available and will pay it over once S48 *has* been complied with.

However if the LL promptly provides that info and you then don't cough up, the LL will of course be able to proceed to court using S8 (Gr 8, 10,11 as appropriate)


Just looking back at the OP - you mention HB? You should also let the HB/LHA officer know that your LL has not complied with S48. as the LL can apply for the LHA/GB to be paid direct to him after 8 weeks.

jelliedeel

Really appreciate all your replies and further to last post i have taken advice from 3 legal people who unbeknown to me have closed ranks because they actually talk to each other once one or the other opens a case for a client. It would seem there is no case law for S48 and a solicitor told me that they wouldn't use S 48 because they didn't know how the judge would react, its all about winning cases obviously. I was also told that if I knew that no rent was lawfully due why did I claim HB, doh I ddin't know about this S48 then and anyway I have paid my rent with it I haven't spent it.

I am beyond desperate now that not one legal person can advise me what to do I was even told that the LL doesn't have to put in an S48 but yes at least hios address isn't that the same or is it a legal requirement as I thought, these are legal people heaven help me I have no chance in clarifying this matter at all.

So do i phone the LL as I still do not have an address and ask him to comply with S48 or is that the point do I have to give him a chance to do that or can I leave it, no one it seems legally can help or advise me why is this? Any legal whizzes out there please?