landlord wants to come round and collect his mail

geekinlondon

Hi

Can you give me some advice?

I get quite a lot of mail addressed to my landlord. I've lived here for 10 months and I know there was another tenant here before me, so he's had more than enough time to update his details with the people who send him mail.

I normally collect his mail and post it to him every couple of months, which I do not particularly mind.

However twice in two days he's texted me asking if he can come around and collect the mail as he's expecting something urgent.

I don't want him to come around unattended and I don't want to have my peace and privacy disturbed or the inconvenience of arranging a visit when it's not anything to do with maintaining the property.

Furthermore, if he knows perfectly well that an institution has the wrong address and he's expecting something urgent, it makes me a little suspicious as to why he's not just updated his address.

I plan to post the mail that I have to him, but I want to text him back saying that if he's expecting something urgent, he should update his address as I am not responsible for his mail.

What do you think I should do?

It's an assured shorthold tenancy that runs until April next year, in England.

Thanks
a geek

myhouse_2

Ask him to arrange mail to be forwarded to his current address by filling out a form and paying a little money at the post office.

Mrs_Z

hmmm... I suspect that your landlord does not have a consent from his lender to rent out the property.....

anselld

myhouse wrote: »

Ask him to arrange mail to be forwarded to his current address by filling out a form and paying a little money at the post office.

... then mark future mail "Gone Away, Return to Sender" and put it back in the postbox.

Biggles

Just say, "OK, I'll have it for you between 6 and 7pm tonight" (or whenever else is completely convenient for you). What's so hard?

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Your landlord should not be texting you, it's unprofessional. Ask your landlord if he has consent to lease from the lender or a buy-to-let mortgage - see the stickies for more information.

G_M

geekinlondon wrote: »

Hi

I plan to post the mail that I have to him, but I want to text him back saying that if he's expecting something urgent, he should update his address as I am not responsible for his mail.

What do you think I should do?

It's an assured shorthold tenancy that runs until April next year, in England.

Thanks

mr. geek

Personally I would text back - apologise but say it is not convenient (no reason needed) and say you will post it.

But more importantly, you should then write to him - yes, a letter. Addressed to him at the address provided in your tenancy agreement "for the serving of notices".

Be polite, friendly, but unambiguous. eg

Dear John/Mr Smith,

Sorry I was not able to be available at short notice (yesterday/Saturday/whatever) and I hope it did not inconvenience you too much.

Clearly it would be much easier for both of us if you let your various corresponents know your home address so that they wrote to you direct.

While I will be happy to continue to forward your mail for a short time more until you get this organised, I cannot guarantee to do this immediately in all cases as I might be working away, on holiday or busy.

Can I take this opportunity while writing to say (either) how happy I am here and I hope to be here well beyond next April (or) I have a slight problem with the boiler/damp in the kitchen/whatever, and perhaps you could arrange for someone to look at/repair this in the next week or so?

Yours sincerely,

A Geek.

If you have any concerns that the LL might just come round for his mail and use his own key anyway, read this thread here.

treetrunks

Id just arrange a time for him to come and get it. Strikes me as a much better idea simply to have a decent relationship with the owner of the house you want to live in.

While he may not have the consent of his lender to lease the property, unfortunately he isnt the only person in the world. It obviously has some risks (as you can read about on this site) but pressing the issue on this might also mean you no longer have anywhere to live.

Just my thoughts

geekinlondon

Thanks for all of the replies.

I think I will be following something along the lines of G_M's advice.

Why's it a problem? I just want to be left alone. Unfortunately I would never find it acceptable for him to come round and collect his mail when he thinks there's something urgent. That would not be a good relationship, better to make it clear from the start I think.

Also I don't like the idea that I'm responsible for the timely delivery of important mail - I've got other things to deal with.

I don't really have any other issues with the flat, apart from the rent. If there were any issues of course he would have to come round. I would find that to be stressful, but I would understand that's something I have to put up with.

The fact that he may not have permission from his lender to let the flat out is a concern. But I don't feel like I will get any benefit from making an issue out of it at this point. Letting himself in without permission is something that's worrying me, but he's given no real reason to think that he will so I should try not to worry about it.

I hope to scrape together enough money to buy somewhere next year so it won't be forever.

Thanks for all your input.

A. Geek, London.

Moomum

It may be innocent, my inlaws rent out their fully paid off house and travel the world, when they come back they pick up their mail from the tenants. They have no forwarding address to redirect too.

Werdnal

Moomum wrote: »

It may be innocent, my inlaws rent out their fully paid off house and travel the world, when they come back they pick up their mail from the tenants. They have no forwarding address to redirect too.

In that case I hope they have registered with HMRC as non-resident landlords, and have provided their tenant with a postal address in England/Wales for serving notices!


OP, my guess is the "urgent mail" the landlord is awaiting is something from their mortgage lender!

No harm in asking the LL if the have consent to let - its a perfectly reasonable question to ask if your home depends on them complying with the rules. If they do not have consent, and fall behind with payments, the mortgage can repo and you no longer have a roof over your head! If they do have CTL, even if they get into arrears, mortgage lender cannot just chuck you out.

Its all very well for another poster above to reply that CTL is not the end of the world. Trouble is, this type of LL tends to also "forget" the more important aspects of letting regs - is your deposit protected for instance? Do you have gas appliances - LL provided you with a safety certificate?

Ignoring CTL is one thing ... ignoring deposit regs can cost you money ... ignoring gas safety can cost you your life ...