No Section 48 on Tenancy Agreement

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

Would love to know more about this particular case it must be something you can pursue even if you are a tenant or as in Bristol you have left.

BitterAndTwisted

I suspect that the tenants wrote to their landlord via a letting-agent and requested the address and didn't receive it. Then they decided that as the rent wasn't payable they stopped paying it. Possibly the rental agreement expired, the tenants moved out and the LL pursued them for the arrears thinking that they were home and dry. They weren't.

I wonder what might happen if, for instance, a person was renting what had been a holiday let in an attractive seaside resort without the LL's address for serving notices, always paid their rent in cash to an unidentified intermediary and then became unable to pay it?

Any ideas folks?

By the way, I have located a telephone number for a certain holiday-let company in an attractive seaside resort Jellied. Any use to you?

G_M

I'm sorry but you seem so obsessed by the S48 I've totally lost track of what you are actually trying to achieve. Perhaps because you yourself are not sure?

1) Intellectual satisfaction from pinning down a point of law? (you seem suitably intelligent/knowledgeable)
2) Find a legal way to avoid paying any rent? (you must be very hard up if £4 is beyond you)
3) Protect yourself from eviction for rent arrears? (or any other reason)
4) Find your LL's address to protect yourself in the future from...whatever?
5) Find your LL's address so you can pay him direct and cut out the unpleasant agent?
6) .............. ?

From your posts, frankly, option 1) looks most likely, but if you can clarify, then the advice we give can be tailored to your motive.

jelliedeel

Yes GM as a lone parent on benefits I am hard up and as quoted the fact I have a current DRO suggests this. There is no motive I just asked about S48 and whether anyone has had prevous experience thats all. I am happy to let my no mark LL get away with not complying with the law and I have said I will let this go but it is interesting there are cases of this nature and if there is a law for S48 why am I wrong in looking in to it and trying to ascertain what it means to me and yes I am fairly intelligent and over the age of 30 so not a chavvy 19yr old looking for a way out on Benefits and Council Housing.

BitterAndTwisted

Ach, Jellied I don't think anyone did think you were chavvy 19 year old, your typing is far too comprehensible for that.

I think G_M's questions were perfectly valid. As I said to you by pm the lack of your landlord's address is not at present putting your security of tenure at risk. If you choose to not pay your rent it could very well do so. Being illegally evicted is a distinct possibility I wouldn't relish having to deal with when I have a child to keep a roof over the head of, especially when on benefits

jelliedeel

Ok folks that is fine I will proceed with my deposit not being in a scheme and the rest I am happy to let go. I can't believe anybody else in the same boat who was being hassled for rent would not say and to think without his address I needn't have ****** paid anyway, I am not trying to avoid paying at all I'm just astounded at how I have been treated called a silly !!!!! on my doorstep and yet to protect him I will carry on paying my rent even if I don't have to by law.

I just wanted to equp myself with the law before I said anything to him or anybody else that showed I knew what was what and that it wasn't just about me owing him money and why he and his agents had the right to be so aggressive for what seemed a paltry sum of money to start with.

On the face of it it always appears simple T owes LL money get them out I was just looking at the argument from another angle as in could I be protected in any way.

G_M

I certainly didn't mean to imply any chavvyness! I know sometimes my posts can be a bit sarcastic, but in this case I genuinely meant "you seem suitably intelligent/knowledgeable".

But as Bitter says

Being illegally evicted is a distinct possibility I wouldn't relish having to deal with when I have a child to keep a roof over the head of,

and hence my attmpt to understand your motivation and what you want to achieve.

The simple answer, as you know yourself, is that according to the law you do not have to pay rent.

That is not the same as saying it is a good idea to stop paying rent. If you are just

looking in to it and trying to ascertain what it means to me

well it means legally you can stop paying, but if you do there WILL be (practical) consequences.
* Long drawn-out legal battle (unlikely but possible). You'd probobly win eventually.
* Illegal eviction (quite possibly)
* harrasment, trauma for your child, fear, stress, legal costs (each quite likely, all possible)
* HB issues (quite likely)
* etc

BitterAndTwisted

Your deposit not being in a scheme could be less of a risk to you than your landlord once you have left the property. They can't lodge it to avoid being compelled to return it and perhaps might be fined three times the deposit amount if you take a claim to the Small Claims Court.

If you've been reading up on this forum you will know that no deductions can be made if there wasn't a dual-signed inventory at the beginning of your tenancy.

Absolutely no-one would condone your having been terrorised or insulted on your own doorstep and you're not protecting him in any way by paying your rent.

Pick your battles, angel. Pick your battles.

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

b)Ask for an address. Say you need it fo HB or tax reasons. Whatever. It's less antagonistic than saying "It's my right under S48"!

It's not a case of it being a T's right to have an address "under S48" (of the LTA87) - a T's right to have a name and address for their LL arises under S1 of the LTA85 and whoever received the rent and/or is acting as agent for the ll has to supply that information within 21days of receiving a written request from the LL

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

The simple answer, as you know yourself, is that according to the law you do not have to pay rent.

The lack of provision of an address under S48 means that the Ts rent payments are in effect "suspended" AFAIAA and once the LL *does* provide the info required under S48 the LL can request that the rent has to be paid over.


The OP may also like to note the case of Drew-Morgan v Hamid-Zadeh [1999] see link