My landlord is in massive debt, where do I stand?

letitiaannaking

Hi, I hope you can help us.

Me and my partner moved into our first home together at the end of February. Since then things have been pretty stressful.

Originally, the landlords were letting through an agency, but the moment we had signed the contract, they ditched the agency and decided to go private and do it themselves.

As soon as we moved in, owner of the property went to Dubai to start his own letting business apparently, while he left his wife and kids to stay in the country and look after their house. This is their own house and is the first time they've ever let out a home.

Since then we have asked repeatedly for them to change their address. We get about 10 letters a day from various companies, credit card companies, companies house, the hospital, insurance companies, TV and Brodband companies, the usual spam rubbish, doctors letters for the kids ect ect. Often we have to deliver their build up of post to the house the wife of the landlord is living at (she and her kids are living at her parent's house) Three months ago, she came to take photos of the house to apparently make sure we are looking after it properly, and told us that she is going abroad for two months, to we presume see her husband. (on previous occasions when making polite chit chat we have asked where is her husband, she normally replies "I don't know") It's been three months, and we haven't heard from her, and nor has she contacted us about the mountain of post we have taking over our kitchen.

This morning, there was a letter from Northampton CC addressed to the "defendant" It turns out that they are in debt with the VW company in MK for £15000. Previously a man came to the house from VW to talk to the landlords, we gave them the address the wife is living at with a number to contact her on, but we received this. We are going to contact the CC and alert them to their change of address, but there is only a short amount of time until the baliffs come around.

We have no way of proving what is ours and what is the landlords, our tenancy isn't up until February, we paid £1000 deposit, which is apparently safe (thank god as we are only students) and we pay £650 a month on rent. (The house is falling apart I hasten to add, it's been fitted entirely by a cowboy-or someone with little DIY knowledge. When we moved in the carpets were filthy and were never cleaned. There is a hole where the downstairs loo pipe goes outside which is blocked in by old clothes and is sopping, the shower is broken, and flooded under the stairs once, meaning all electrics were wet, the landlord's wife brought around her dad to fix it, and took away the downstairs light, which has never been returned. Since then the electrics are prone to blowing out our fuses to electrical items. The gas cooker often lights, but then unlights five minutes later gausing gas to leak into the kitchen, the back door can't be locked, the gas fire is broken as hasn't been fixed but has a yellow label on it saying it can't be used. The doors don't shut properly, the back gate to the side entrance is broken so we can't get into the back of the house with a bike for example. There was broken glass all down the entry. There's a broken pipe on the side of the house which has been like that since moving in. The floorboards in the hall have become uneven and dangerous. There is random white cables in the bedrooms which lead to nowhere and are dangerous. The banister is loose and wobbly which is dangerous, and there are poles missing from it, which is dangerous should we have kids. The decorating is slapdash with red paint accidentally splashed onto white walls. Part of the roof fell off upon shutting a window, the bathroom window is broken. (I can go on for a long time)

I am worried as to where we stand, obviously they are in a huge amount of debt, and orginally tried selling the house for a year, to no avail so are renting it out to us so our rent covers their mortgage (apparently) I have checked online and our house was bought in 2007 for 142k, they are now only worth 111k. I think they should be charging a little over £500 to cover that? Though I may be wrong. So I think we are being overcharged for the house anyway. Especially given its condition.

Where do we stand with their debt? We plan to move out as soon as we can though, as how can we be expected to live with landlords in debt like that? We've spent £1000s moving to this house, we've sold lots of our possessions to afford the rent and the things that keep breaking.

What should we do? I just want to move away as soon as possible I'm so scared we're just going to lose our home one day, and have a month to find somewhere new.

molerat

Do not worry about their debt, keep a copy of your tenancy agreement handy to show any "visitors" and don't let anyone in. Send all correspondence back marked "Return to sender, not at this address".
Do they have consent to let from their lender ? Have you got a gas safety certificate for the property ? Send a letter to the landlord at the address you have for the serving of notices, you must be given this by law, stating all the defects. If nothing is done, especially to the electrics, speak to your council private housing officer. Until you go through the correct procedures your contract is until Feb and you are stuck with it.

letitiaannaking

Hi Molerat,

Thank you,

I don't know whether they have consent to let, nor have we received a gas safety certificate.

We are unable to contact the landlord as he is not in the country, apparently he is in Dubai, his wife was here up until recently but she has also been awol for four months now. The address we have is not for the landlords, but is for her parent's home who are powerless.

I also forgot to mention, that the company the landlord has apparently set up abroad, is using our home as the place of business (I think that's right) but they have filed no accounts since setting up, so we constantly receive letters from company's house I presume asking for these accounts.

Because we live here, and they are so in debt, do we have a poor credit rating because of that too?

We have hundreds of letters now also.

Also, is it allowed for us to live in a home that may be repossessed at any given moment?

(Obviously I'm quite young and niave about such things, I'm 19 and never lived independantly before so this is quite scary...)

You say I have to go through specific procedures our contract is til Feb. Does this mean we have to live here no matter what until then, or until I send letters to the landlord then we can move?

casperlarue

Hi there, as Molerat says do not worry about your landlords debtors, as long as you can prove your identity to any visitors you will be ok.

However, I do agree this is not the best way to live and reading between the line it would appear your landlord/landlady have done a bunk to avoid their creditors. If the worst happened and the house was repossessed, as a tenant you would be safe until the expiry of your tenancy agreement ( ie. Feb 2013) but you must make the court aware you are a tenant and you are living there.

Reading through the long list of problems/issues with the property it would seem that your landlord is not really making you his priority. Also, don't know what HMRC would make of a buisness being registered at an address which is also being let out as a home??

Generally I would advise for tenants and landlords to follow the law as it applies to them, ie for you to pay your rent as agreed under your rental contract. However in this situation it would appear that your landlord has no interest in dealing with any problems at the property.

Do you want to stay until Feb? Are you able to fund a move to another property or do you need your deposit back first? have you checked this is registered and protected? What I'm saying .... in a round about way! ... in your position I would be trying to move on rather that sticking out this tenancy to the bitter end.

Kayalana99

Bang me round the head with a slege hammer for suggesting this but couldn't you stop paying the rent so the landlord contacts you?

Obvouisly don't spend the rent - but if landlord is AWOL I bet he would start noticing his cheques not coming through and make contact thus you could pay him what was owed but same time hand notice in/find out where he is etc!!

I think your way to worried !! Obvouisly its very stressful in this postion but what the landlord does no way affects you unless ofc as said the house was to be repossed but in which case you would get till feb anyway.

letitiaannaking

Hi Casperlarue,

Our deposit is protected, we made sure of this in the beginning. We have learned that we can, if this is as dodgy as it all seems, then we can leave with a month's notice. So this gives us time to look, and see where we are financially. In all honesty for the money we are paying and the location we are in, I would have expected a nicely fitted house, but as it stands it's a bit of a death trap, that was made to look nice for people viewing quickly, like us, but as soon as you live with it everything falls to pieces.

I personally would like to move on, but my partner is unsure as he is in the critical stage of his PhD, and this is a big setback if we try and move. We also have our beloved pets to consider too.

If we are asked to leave then my mum can give us my sister's room back at home as a last resort, but I really don't want to get to that stage.

I'll happily settle for a much cheaper house, or flat providing it has a living space, kitchen bathroom and a bedroom as long as it doesn't fall to pieces lol!

We are going to the landlords apparent address with his mother in law to see what is what which will hopefully get us more information and help sway our decision.

theartfullodger

Hate to bring more bad news but if landlord is not resident in UK then under HMRC either landlord gets written certification from HMRC regarding his tax position or you the tenant MUST withhold 20-ish % of rent for taxman.

This twit sounds like he couldn't organise a rent receipt let alone. HMRC certification.

Google HMRC nonresident landlord.

The option of "forgetting" to pay rent & then hearing promptly from Mr Idiot may be favourite....

What a cowboy....

Bet he doesn't declare his taxable rent income.

HB58

Under what basis do you think you can leave after 1 months notice? If you have a fixed term tenancy, you are obliged to pay rent for the duration of that tenancy. Once the fixed term has ended, you can then give 1 month is you will be on a periodic tenancy (as long as you have not signed another contract). The landlord has to give you 2 months notice.

If the place is unfit for habitation, contact your local council who should be able to send round someone to have a look. There are ways that you can get work done and withhold rent to cover the cost - but only if you have followed certain steps beforehand. I believe that the 'Shelter' website tells you about this.

In your place, I would send back all mail as 'not at this address' except anything marked to 'the occupier' which you should open and deal with as appropriate.

theartfullodger

Almost HB. No notice needed to leave at end of fixed term. Advisable mind but not required.

HB58

theartfullodger wrote: »

Almost HB. No notice needed to leave at end of fixed term. Advisable mind but not required.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. What I should have said is - if the OP does not leave at the end of the fixed term, they can then give 1 months notice thereafter (subject to dates etc).

RAS

You really really need to take note of what artful told you.

This is really important.

Do you have an HMRC certificate?

If not withhold the next two months rent in a separate account as you need to pay that to the tax man.

Thereafter withhold 25% of the rent every month.