No Section 48 on Tenancy Agreement

jelliedeel

Wednesday 15th December proved to be a very successful day in the history of the University of Bristol Law Clinic, for it marked the hearing of the infamous ‘Case 444’ before Bristol County Court.
Essentially a landlord-tenant dispute, this has been one of the longest running cases handled by the Law Clinic, lasting for over two years. The dispute centred on the interpretation of section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, which provides that no rent is due from a tenant until the landlord serves notice of his address to the tenant. However, the case gave rise to a completely new legal issue for which there is no existing case authority, namely whether such a notice can be served after the tenancy has come to a close.
Mr Robert Brown (a professional barrister from Arden Chambers in London) acted on behalf of our client (the former tenant) and skilfully argued that a section 48 notice could not be served after the tenancy had come to a close. Consequently, our client won their case and was exempted from making the rent payments. Although the landlord has been granted the right to appeal to the circuit courts given the novel nature of this case, winning the case at this stage was a remarkable achievement for the Law Clinic.
There are many people who must be thanked for their efforts in achieving this result. First and foremost, many thanks go to Mr Robert Brown who was kind enough to represent our client pro bono. Secondly, Edward Murchie, Firm 4 Manager of the Law Clinic, must be thanked for seeing this case through to the hearing with diligence and commitment. Finally, credit must also go to Jennifer Robinson and Laura Keeley, who in their capacity as student advisors have also worked on this case and have at times needed to represent the client in court.

G_M

Ah! I see the catch 22!

In the case above, a key factor was that the tenancy had ended.

In an ongoing tenancy, how could a situation arise in which simultaneously
a) no landlord address was known and
b) a court case was ongoing over rent

For a court case to be started, the court would need to know the LL's address.

Hence, presumably, the lack of existing case law (other than the Bristol one which was about a tenancy that had ended).

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, that's very interesting and edifying but it cannot take into account the harassment and intimidation you have already received from this "agent" on your landlord's behalf and whatever harassment and intimidation you could receive from any other agent the landlord chooses to employ to persuade you to take a path other than the one you seem to be toying with.

This landlord could choose any number of illegal and unfair tactics and you don't even know who he is or where he can be found yet!

Have you checked your rented property address on the Land Registry website yet? (For the possibly third and most definitely the last time).

jelliedeel

Hussain v Singh and ors; CA(Beldam, Simon Brown LJJ); 6 October 1992.
Section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, which came into force on 1 February 1988, and provided that if a landlord failed to furnish a tenant by notice in writing with an address any rent due from the tenant should be treated as not being due at any time before the landlord furnished notice, applied to tenacies created and rent in arrears before that date.
William Geldart (Dean & Co) for the plaintiff; Mary Isles (Hirshfield, Lipson & Vadher) for the first defendant; Timothy Sewell (Dulai & Co) for the second.

jelliedeel

Information to be given to tenantE+W

1 Disclosure of landlord’s identity.E+W

(1)If the tenant of premises occupied as a dwelling makes a written request for the landlord’s name and address to—
(a)any person who demands, or the last person who received, rent payable under the tenancy, or
(b)any other person for the time being acting as agent for the landlord, in relation to the tenancy,
that person shall supply the tenant with a written statement of the landlord’s name and address within the period of 21 days beginning with the day on which he receives the request.
(2)A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1) commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
(3)In this section and section 2—
(a)“tenant” includes a statutory tenant; and
(b)“landlord” means the immediate landlord.

jelliedeel

SECTION 48 NOTICE. A recent judgement in the appeal court (Hussain v Singh and others6) left one landlord high and dry in his pursuit of rent arrears. Section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 clearly states that "A landlord of residential premises 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". The lesson of the above and other judgements7 is that compliance with section 48 is vital and a notice in the appropriate form should always be served.

I wish i had £4 in the bank to check registry but i honestly haven't got any money at all, well not till next week anyway. I have rang Shelter and they have told me to get in touch with my Tenancy Relations Officer at the Council so will find out about that too. Thank you for all your help and I really do appreciate what you have all said, by the way I am a lady with a small child and only wanted to cover my back as it where should things get out of hand with LL.

BitterAndTwisted

Jelliedeel if you PM the property address I'll go onto the Land Reg site and find out for you, if you want to risk it. I suspect that the owner of the property is most likely a limited company and the LL is hiding behind that somehow.

By the way, how did you find the property to rent in the first place?

jelliedeel

Sorry I don't know how to pm you and I got the flat through local paper.

BitterAndTwisted

Right-click with your mousie on my name in my post and it will reveal a number of options: "Send a private message" will be the second one down. Click that and it will open private message window.

PLEASE only send me your address if you are utterly confident that I am a sane, middle-aged woman who lives in North London with no malicious intent. I could be a mischief-maker. Or your landlord, don't forget.

jelliedeel

Well its to late done now lol, as I say whats the worst that can happen. Are you my LL then where do you live please.