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

DiscoCat54

Hi Letitiaannaking, I was in exactly the same situation as you last year except that my LL's dept also included his mortgage so we were evicted. On your contract the LL's name should be given. Is this the 'gentleman' or his wife? Or maybe both of them? I don't think it's directly relevant where the money goes, it's more around who your contract is with I.e. the name on the tenancy agreement.

I didn't find that returning mail to sender worked. I opened them and called the debt collectors and without exception they stopped writing.

pmlindyloo

casperlarue wrote: »

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.

I am more han happy to be corrected and I hope for the OP's sake I am wrong, but I believe that if the landlord does not have consent to let from his lender (and in the OP's situation this is a distinct possibility) then a lender does not have to allow the tenants to stay until the end of their tenancy but muct give them up to 2 months to vacate.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/housing/1730319

OP, I think you have many issues here and although I respect the viewpoints of many of the posters on here I would suggest that you visit CAB (choose one with a housing specialist) or give Shelter a call and ask for their advice.

I tend to agree that your LL may well have done a 'runner' and you need to protect yourselves with some specialist advice.

theartfullodger

letitiaannaking wrote: »

"but on the contract it says the standing order every 17th of the month is to go to her"
her being his wife.
Considering there are only two people in the mix here, and me already saying one is male, and the other is his wife, I thought that was clear. I'm sure you understand my reluctance to give names.

I'm sorry but are you always this sharp with everybody? I get that you're trying to help, but you are very curt. Have I irked you in any way?

I am sorry for how you feel about your position.

I am simply trying to find out who is named in your tenancy as the landlord: could you kindly confirm who, please?? Who it is has a possible major impact on your bank-balance...

If you'd prefer not to see my posts simply put me in your ignore list...

Cheers!

casperlarue

Letitia, Artful really is trying to help.....I understand that you have a landlord (who lives abroad ) and his wife in this country (who you pay rent to)

Who is named on your tenancy agreement..... you and your partner and....?

Better_Days

Sorry OP, but Artful is right to ask for clarification regarding who is the LL as it may make a big difference to you.

Paying the wife does not make her the LL. For example Tenants often pay their rent through Letting Agencies. This does not absolve LL's of their responsibilities in respect of the property, and it doesn't make the LA the LL.

So does the tenancy agreement name the husband or the wife or both as the LL (s) ?

Yorkie1

OP, please could you answer the following questions:

1. Are you in England / Wales?

2. On your contract, who is named as the LL? Is it the husband, the wife, or both?

3. Do you know whether it's just the wife's name on the account into which you pay the standing order, or the husband's too?

4. You say you have a 12 month tenancy. Look at your contract - does it include anything which allows either party to give notice during the 12 months? e.g. "at any time after the expiry of 6 months either party may end the tenancy by giving 2 months' written notice" or similar.

Turning now to the disrepair issues.

5. Have you received a gas safety certificate for the property?

6. Have you written to the LL at the address on the tenancy, outlining all the issues?

7. You can contact environmental health at the council and ask them to do an inspection to see whether the property is fit for human habitation. Have you contacted them yet - if not, can you do so?

The post / debts:

8. I would return all of it to sender "not at this address". Don't bag it up any more and pass it on. If they cared enough, they would have set up a redirection.

9. Debt attaches to a person and not the property. You will not have affected credit records by this. However, I would keep a copy of your tenancy agreement by the front door in case a bailiff does turn up. Do NOT let them in.

10. If you see any post for "The occupier", make sure you open it.

11. You understandably fear being evicted at short notice. This is unlikely to happen if you do deal with any post for the occupier. Essentially, if the lender takes steps to repossess the property, they will always write to the occupier as well as the LL. The letter will set out details of a court hearing.

As previously advised, you must attend the hearing and make your presence known to the judge. Assuming that the LL does not have consent to let, the judge can suspend the possession order for a couple of months so you would have ample time to find a replacement property. If the LL does have consent to let, the lender is bound by your tenancy and you have the right to stay until the end of it (unless of course you wanted to try to negotiate an early surrender ... ).

DVardysShadow

letitiaannaking wrote: »

"but on the contract it says the standing order every 17th of the month is to go to her"
her being his wife.
Considering there are only two people in the mix here, and me already saying one is male, and the other is his wife, I thought that was clear. I'm sure you understand my reluctance to give names.

I'm sorry but are you always this sharp with everybody? I get that you're trying to help, but you are very curt. Have I irked you in any way?

Artful is a little frustrated that he asked who the landlord is but you replied with who the rent goes to. And he has asked the question again and here you are picking at him being sharp but still not answering the question. So now everyone is a little frustrated. By missing the point that the Landlord is the Landlord as given on the tenancy agreement and not necessarily the holder of the account you pay in to, you are making yourself open to a big tax bill you don't deserve.

FraudBuster

We've kept the letters in a bag, as we used them as a way to try and meet with the landlord, but she wasn't in. We'll keep this lot, but if/when this gets sorted we'll be sending them right back where they came from.

Why do you want to ignore the advice given by very experienced posters?

GDB2222

letitiaannaking wrote: »

Ahh I see. It's always been said that he is the landlord, but on the contract it says the standing order every 17th of the month is to go to her. That must be to get around the non resident thing as he was the one who we were in touch with before we signed the contract, we only met her by accident when we were in the area with my partner's mum, and she wanted to see our new home and she was there moving the rest of their stuff out.

It is also possible that he is going to go bankrupt, and she is holding the rent money in a separate account to tide them over. In any case, if there is any doubt that the wife is resident, I would withhold the tax bit.

If your partner is doing a PhD, listen to him when he says that he does not need the stress of moving on top of everything else.

Fire_Fox

Bailiffs: do not let anyone into your home under any circumstances, not even for a minute, do not leave any windows open or leave them standing at an open door. Show them a copy of you tenancy agreement, maybe even have photocopies to hand out.

Repairs: write to the landlord or his agent at their last known address, use recorded delivery keeping the receipt and a copy of the letter. If you get no response then contact Environmental Health or just do both contacts simultaneously. As others have said you may be able to withhold rent and do repairs/ gas safety yourself but you MUST have a paper trail.

Other debt collection: return to sender or write recorded delivery to the creditors, you might enclose a copy of the front page of your tenancy agreement or a council tax bill if you want to send proof. Holding onto letters and whinging about them is pointless and risks your partner being interrupted and stressed by more visits.

Landlord: meeting with them is useless, they aren't going to suddenly resolve everything now and that doesn't leave you with any proof of your actions. The artfullodger is a very helpful and knowledgeable poster (landlord) BTW.