Evicted because landlord subletting without authorisation

Chomeur

A friend of mine who was subletting has been evicted from her flat because the superior lease was terminated (maybe because the sublet was unauthorised but I don't think the reason matters). She's lost her deposit and several weeks' prepaid rent as well as incurring incidental costs and massive inconvenience. The deposit wasn't protected.

Her landlord claims to be in Africa and collected rent and the deposit through a friend in the UK, so suing the landlord is going to be pretty hard. The police refuse to do anything saying they don't investigate fraud any more (perhaps they have plans to stop investigating crime altogether, I don't know).

If she sues the friend he's just going to claim he was only acting as an agent, and he may not have any assets anyway, and I'm not sure she has an address for him. So it seems a pretty hopeless situation sadly. Any suggestions?

Alter_ego

Go to SA, pay a taxi driver.
Seriously, next time ensure rent is protected, and that she has a note of which company. Sorry but I don't see a realistic course of action regarding the landlord.

G_M

has been evicted

I take it there is a court possession order and bailiffs have been instructed? If not
a) she does not need to leave yet and
b) by stopping rent till the above does happen she can offset what she's owed

Failing that, she has little option but to write it off, or sue the LL if she can find him in the UK (6 years to do this!) or (risky) sue the friend as agent (assuming she has documentary evidence and he has assets).

Sun_Lover

Chomeur wrote: »

A friend of mine who was subletting has been evicted from her flat because the superior lease was terminated (maybe because the sublet was unauthorised but I don't think the reason matters). She's lost her deposit and several weeks' prepaid rent as well as incurring incidental costs and massive inconvenience. The deposit wasn't protected.

Her landlord claims to be in Africa and collected rent and the deposit through a friend in the UK, so suing the landlord is going to be pretty hard. The police refuse to do anything saying they don't investigate fraud any more (perhaps they have plans to stop investigating crime altogether, I don't know).

If she sues the friend he's just going to claim he was only acting as an agent, and he may not have any assets anyway, and I'm not sure she has an address for him. So it seems a pretty hopeless situation sadly. Any suggestions?

If the friend is acting as 'agent' he or she should have registered the deposit and could be fined 3 times the amount of rent for failing to do so. As the landlord is not UK resident it would be worth telling the friend/ 'agent' the Inland Revenue will be very interested to hear more about the rental income received as he/she could be liable to pay tax on rent received if the landlord did not have the necessary exemption from the Inland Revenue. The friend/agent might be more inclined to give back the deposit as the potential liabilities for acting as 'agent' for the landlord could prove very expensive for him/her!!!!

pinksleepybear

Sun_Lover wrote: »

If the friend is acting as 'agent' he or she should have registered the deposit and could be fined 3 times the amount of rent for failing to do so. As the landlord is not UK resident it would be worth telling the friend/ 'agent' the Inland Revenue will be very interested to hear more about the rental income received as he/she could be liable to pay tax on rent received if the landlord did not have the necessary exemption from the Inland Revenue. The friend/agent might be more inclined to give back the deposit as the potential liabilities for acting as 'agent' for the landlord could prove very expensive for him/her!!!!

Unfortunately, it's the tenant's responsibility to pay the tax to HMRC on rent paid to an (uk taxpaying) overseas landlord.

G_M

If the landlord "collected rent and the deposit through a friend in the UK,.." then the friend is a 'letting agent' for the purpose of HMRC rules. Thus the friend, NOT the tenant, is liable for the tax.

See here:


"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

A letting agent is a person who:

• has a 'usual place of abode' in the UK
• acts for a non-resident landlord in the running of their UK rental business
• has the power to receive income of the non-resident landlord's rental business, or has control over the direction of that income
• is not an 'excluded person'