Landlord moved new tenants in during our notice period and is refusing to communicate

mouche

I suspect it is totally dodgy and I think the landlord never had permission from his bank to rent out the property as at least one mortgage letter got through to us.

We'll try to get in touch with the EA as well - they weren't the most professional bunch but at least they have an office we can track them down at.

RAS

mouche wrote: »

We'll try to get in touch with the EA as well - they weren't the most professional bunch but at least they have an office we can track them down at.

You can find this out by downloading his records from the Land Registry - cost £4

mouche

Right I've downloaded the records from the Land Registry - the address of the owner is given as the rental property. Should I also send a copy of the letter (asking him to meet us there to collect the keys) to the rental property as well as the address he gave us by email?

Also on the title register is:

(03.09.2007) REGISTERED CHARGE dated DDMM2007 (am hiding this in case he ever finds this post).
2 (03.09.2007) Proprietor: NORTHERN ROCK (ASSET MANAGEMENT) PLC (Co.Regn. No. 3273685) of Northern Rock House, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4PL.
3 (03.09.2007) The proprietor of the Charge dated DDMM2007 referred to above is under an obligation to make further advances.
These advances will have priority to the extent afforded by section 49(3) Land Registration Act 2002.
4 (03.07.2008) Charge dated DDMM2008 in favour of Welcome Financial Services Limited.

We had the vague idea of contacting his mortgage lender to inform them that the property is being rented out - we're pretty sure they don't know. Any idea how we can do this based on the above info? Also is there any way we can inform HMRC as he lives abroad (though we only have email notification of this). Again we have no intention of doing all this is he shows up, collects the keys and returns our deposit.

may_fair

You are not automatically entitled to a refund of the rent for the period 2nd-9th October, because where rent is paid in advance for a particular period it is deemed to be applicable for any part of that period so that if the tenancy comes to an end during the period no refund is due.

However, the tenancy (arguably) ended by mutual agreement to surrender and you made it a condition that the LL would pay you the week's rent. So you have a claim against LL on the basis of this oral agreement (perhaps you have evidence of it in an email sent to LL?)

You have no claim for 3x deposit for non-compliance with deposit protection because a binding court of appeal judgment earlier this year ruled that a tenant has no claim for non-compliance after the tenancy has ended (and even if you argue that there was no surrender, the tenancy will end at expiry of your notice to quit).

You can, however, bring a claim against the LL for return of the deposit only (plus the week's rent). This would be allocated to small claims, where court fees are low and you don't need a solicitor to conduct the claim. You can serve the claim at the address for serving notices in England/Wales given to you by the landlord.

The keys are an incidental issue, and have no bearing on your liability for rent. Assuming there was a surrender of the tenancy on the 2nd, the tenancy ended at that point even if you never return the keys. It would be inadvisable to enter the property without the consent of the new tenants - you'd be trespassing.

mouche

may_fair wrote: »

The keys are an incidental issue, and have no bearing on your liability for rent. Assuming there was a surrender of the tenancy on the 2nd, the tenancy ended at that point even if you never return the keys. It would be inadvisable to enter the property without the consent of the new tenants - you'd be trespassing.

Thank you, that was very clear and concise. All we really want is our deposit back and the week's rent if possible so your post is good news.

We are still concerned about being able to prove that we have returned the keys. What if he denies that he received them or claims that we did not return the correct keys?

P.S - We have no intention of entering the house on our own though we will ring the bell to ask for our post.

may_fair

mouche wrote: »

We are still concerned about being able to prove that we have returned the keys. What if he denies that he received them or claims that we did not return the correct keys?

Whatever you do with them, obtain evidence of doing it - that is, either take a witness, or get a signed receipt, or send via a tracked postal service, etc. The worst that can happen is that the LL might counterclaim against you for the cost of changing the locks or for getting another set of keys cut - but if you have evidence of returning the keys, then I doubt he'd succeed.

I'm not really sure where the best place is to return them to - so I think your plan of sending the letter advising what you intend to do is the correct course of action, though I'd probably give the LL a deadline to respond - i.e. say you will do X with the keys unless you hear from LL by [date]. Perhaps send them via Special Delivery to either the rental property or to the address the LL gave you (do you know who is at this address BTW?) If you decide to go in person to the rental property then take a witness with you and if no-one's home just put them through the letterbox (in a padded envelope so that that the keys couldn't go unnoticed or be hooked under the door by a passing burglar).