Landlord not been paying mortgage

franklee

Sorry to hear this missusd

I'd suggest you read the last few pages of the Check your LL has permission to let that property. - Consent to Let sticky thread at the top of this forum as it gives information and links to the new law that helps protect tenants if their landlord without consent to let gets repossessed. The important point being the tenant has to spot the repossession and intervene by asking the lender for a delay or applying to court for up to two months delay to enable them to move. To this end make sure you read any letters you get addressed to the occupier as that may be your notification.

Do read Shelter's page on this and also the guidance on the new law which goes into the steeps a tenant can take, links for these from this post:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=42187220&postcount=407

You ave two complications. You as yet can't give notice and leave as your tenancy agreement binds you till November. You aren't sure if your landlord had the right to let the property as he isn't down as owning it at the land registry. Can you find out what the connection between your landlord and the registered owner is, did the owner authorise the let, are you subletting or what? I'd write to the address you've been given for serving of notices and ask for your landlord's name and address in writing. When you call Shelter don't forget to tell them about the different owner at the land registry, plus if you don't have an address for your landlord do mention that too.

I hope you will come back and tell us how you get on. Good luck.

Aquatronixjenny

With regards to the deposit, I would query which protection scheme it is with NOW. He can protect it any time up to the end of the tenancy so maybe a brief letter to him from you making him aware of the law will encourage him to sort it out asap. In this situation I wouldn't hold out and then take him to court over it as the chances are he won't have any funds to pay it back anyway once it gets to that stage.

princeofpounds

I've been through this situation. Firstly, don't worry too much. You will not wake up one morning to find bailiffs hammering at your door. It doesn't work like that.

If the landlord really cannot pay any more then you will eventually have to move on, but you will have time to organise things. Stressing about it is more of a threat to your wellbeing than the actual process.

As stated above, opening mail delivered to your house is not illegal. It is only illegal in transit, or if you do it with malicious intent (and how anyone would every prove that I don't know). This misconception comes up on the forums all the time but the relevant passage of law is quite clear.

The first thing to do is to contact your landlord. Tell them that you were opening mail, without looking carefully at the address, and saw the situation. They may get annoyed, but you have a fixed term until November so there is nothing they could do until then to end your tenancy. And if there is a problem then that could end your tenancy sooner anyway, plus you will worry if you do not raise the issue, so personally I would risk their indignant attitude. Besides, they are playing games with your security of tenure, so you deserve an explanation.

Surprisingly often these arrears arise due to misadministration (or intentional 'misadministration'), particularly when communication addresses are not up-to-date, so you might find that when the problem is brought to their attention they get dealt with.

Then you need to find out if the landlord has permission to let form his lender. This has ramifications for your tenancy should he be repossessed. The fact that the lender are still billing the address suggests not, but you can't be sure. If he does, then you can relax - the lender is bound to respect your tenancy until November.

If he does not, then your tenancy is cancelled when he gets repossessed (immediately, as the mense [higher] tenancy of your landlord has been cancelled). This is not a disaster, although it is inconvenient. You do not get kicked out ASAP. What would happen is something like this:

- you will receive a letter to the occupiers from the court, notifying you of proceedings to repossess.
- a case will then be heard and a possession order awarded, giving possession in x weeks. The banks may wish to retain tenants and contact you about a new tenancy, or more likely they will just want to evict and sell.
- Only after this order expires will court bailiffs be retained. They are the only people who can evict the occupants. They will write a further letter to notify you of eviction itself, and then enforce it (by which time you will be long gone). They normally have a waiting list of several weeks.

So you can see that you will get several warnings and several weeks to make alternative arrangements (this is why you hear all these stories of squatters taking ages to move on). I know the the government (both recent and new) have been discussing this 'black hole' in tenant's security and planned to introduce a right to 2 month's notice for tenants screwed over in this way, but I am not sure yet if it has come into law. So the situation might be even better than I have described.

If it does come to possession hearings, the most difficult thing to deal with is the lack of information. You will probably find that the bank will not speak to you due to 'data protection'. Your landlord might not speak to you for embarrassment or selfishness. And the court might not speak to you in much detail as you are not a party in the case. So you will have little option but to attend the possession hearing to learn the true decision.

The critical thing is not to overpay rent or pay it to the wrong party and to know when to move. So make sure you are paid up until the posession hearing date and no more. You are right to be concerned about your deposit and if it is not protected in a scheme (which is necessary by law - contact the three schemes to confirm if yours is or not) then I would use that to 'pay' the rent prior to the hearing, one of the few situations in which such a course of action is advisable.

If the landlord wins, you carry on as normal and bring your rent up to date. If not, then the tenancy ends. You no longer need to pay rent and can move out at any time. So you should do viewings in the run-up to the hearing but not sign a new agreement to avoid being tied into two places at once (unless your current landlord releases you from the tenancy early in writing which is always something you could ask for).

Finally, your council are a final backstop - with a possession order on the house you are unintentionally homeless. They have a duty to house you, at least temporarily, and you might even find yourself eligible for a cheap council house with kids and a homeless status. So you will not end up on the streets if a suitable property is hard to find quickly.

For more advice, contact Shelter (for free).

RAS

Please can we clarify something

missusd wrote: »

We currently pay £550 a month for our rented house and have never missed a payment, no reasons to be concerned about Landlord etc.

So the landlord is Mr A

Last week we received a letter in a name we didn't recognise...shoved it in a drawer to send as not at this address and forgot about it.
Cut to today I found said letter and naughtily opened it.

Fine

Turns out the Landlord is not the person named on the tenancy,

What exactly do you mean by this?

(and a check with registry trust has confirmed that),

Why did you check the Registry Trust? This deals with CCJs?

is registered as living in this property still and is 3 months in arrears.

So who is paying the mortgage is in arrears.

So is the mortgage being paid by Mr A (your landlord)?

Or is the mortgage being paid by someone else?

Who owns the property? You can get this from the Land Registry.

franklee

Excellent post princeofpounds.

Just to clarify a couple of points, the Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010 came in in October 2010, details at the end of the sticky thread.

The extra issue I'd want clearing up pdq in this case is did the person missusd was given as the landlord on the tenancy agreement have permission from the real owner to let the property to her? It's important for missusd to know who her real landlord is and their address and if her tenancy is binding on the registered owner of the property.

missusd

Thank you all for your excellent replies,

In regards to the tenancy it is in the name or Mrs A.
The letters came to a Miss B.
I opened it thinking it was a former tenant..I have never before heard of Miss B.
On the tenancy agreement and rent book it is Mrs A.

The house when checking on the land registry (not registry trust; apologies-doh!) shows up as the house being owned by Miss B.

I am unable to establish a connection between the two people; did try looking on Ancestry to see if they are sisters born to same mother but they are asian so there surnames tend to be different I have been told. Not sure if this is correct or not.

I have spoken to Shelter who have advised me to contact the tenant deposit schemes to see if it is held with them; will be doing that this afternoon.
They did manage to put my mind at rest a little by explaining the process of repossession.
I am cautious about doing anything that may jeopardise my tenancy with immediate effect. They seem nice people but as we all know this can change pretty quick if they are faced with being reported for letting the house and tax issues etc-in prinicipal they can not kick me out, but, I am aware these things do happen and often.

We had to tell our teenage daughter last night. She was upset we haven't started to decorate her room as promised over the weekend. She was pretty much heartbroken and I feel dreadful

franklee

If the date on the land registry for Miss B and the mortgage was a long time ago is it possible that was Mrs A's name before she got married? Could you perhaps write to your LL and ask who Miss B is, maybe write you returned a letter for Miss B to sender guessing she was a previous tenant and it only occurred to you afterwards you had better check in case any more letters arrive?

Or maybe just write some website recommended you looked up the land registry record and you're worried your not paying rent to the owner?

Thanks for the update, I hope it all works out.

davilown

franklee wrote: »

If the date on the land registry for Miss B and the mortgage was a long time ago is it possible that was Mrs A's name before she got married? Could you perhaps write to your LL and ask who Miss B is, maybe write you returned a letter for Miss B to sender guessing she was a previous tenant and it only occurred to you afterwards you had better check in case any more letters arrive?

Or maybe just write some website recommended you looked up the land registry record and you're worried your not paying rent to the owner?

Thanks for the update, I hope it all works out.

Sounds like marriage change?

missusd

davilown wrote: »

Sounds like marriage change?

Hello,

I am almost certain it isn't as the first name is different too.

Thanks for the reply and kind regards.

RAS

HAve you tried plugging either name into 192.com or www.pipl.com?