Switching from LA to Private Let- Need Tenancy Advice

Little_Gem

Hi all,

New to all this so bear with me!

Me and my boyfriend currently have a tenancy agreement through a letting agent in London which ends at the end of March. We get on with our landlady who lives in Turkey and she would like us to stay in the property as we would like to as well.

Neither of us want to stay with the LA as they are rubbish and rip off's so my partner spoke to the LL and agreed to stay in the property automatically entering a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. We particulary want to do this as it gives us both a bit more freedom and as she is going through a divorce she is worried about losing the properties in the UK to her husband.

She is attempting to part ways with the LA but it sounds like they are insisting that she still has to pay them because they found us.

She wants us to tell the LA that we are leaving therefore we will get our deposit back and then she will protect this herself in a deposit protection scheme and we will no longer have anything to do with the LA. (I believe the checkout would be done by the LL anyways as the LA never did an inventory therefore they also cant withold any of our deposit)

We already pay our rent directly to the LL and have done since the 3rd month of our tenancy.

My main concern is that by the LA thinking we are leaving they will end our tenancy agreement, therefore even though we are staying in the property, with the LL's verbal agreement, we won't enter a statutory periodic tenancy as the letting agent will have ended our tenancy agreement, and therefore we will have no rights with regards to being in the property.

I don't believe the LL will rip us off but you never know and I would rather be protected than not.

Sorry if it's a bit confusing, struggling to get my head around it myself!! Just wondering if anyone has any advice or has been in a similar situation before???

princeofpounds

The LA is, basically, nothing to do with you. The contract is, and always has been, between you and the LL. The LA is merely employed by the LL to represent her.

My main concern is that by the LA thinking we are leaving they will end our tenancy agreement, therefore even though we are staying in the property, with the LL's verbal agreement, we won't enter a statutory periodic tenancy as the letting agent will have ended our tenancy agreement, and therefore we will have no rights with regards to being in the property.

The LA cannot end your tenancy. Only the LL can do this (and then only if they apply to a court or get you to agree to end the tenancy). So if your LL confirms to you in writing that the LA has been dis-instructed then you can ignore them totally.

We already pay our rent directly to the LL and have done since the 3rd month of our tenancy.

Be careful, if you have a LL resident abroad and they are not

- a member of the non-residents landlord scheme or
- you do not pay the rent to a UK-based agent of the LL (This can just be a relative or any nominated person, not a 'professional' estate agent)

then you are, in theory, liable to withold rent for tax.

This is a stupid rule for many reasons, and I've never heard of it being enforced, but if you can get the situation regularised. (Using the UK-based agent is often easier as it does not involve contacting HMRC)

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm

She is attempting to part ways with the LA but it sounds like they are insisting that she still has to pay them because they found us.

Not your problem. Any agreement of this nature is between her and her agent.

We particulary want to do this as it gives us both a bit more freedom and as she is going through a divorce she is worried about losing the properties in the UK to her husband.

No idea how this is supposed to help in a divorce, but again not your problem.

She wants us to tell the LA that we are leaving therefore we will get our deposit back and then she will protect this herself in a deposit protection scheme and we will no longer have anything to do with the LA. (I believe the checkout would be done by the LL anyways as the LA never did an inventory therefore they also cant withold any of our deposit)

Why should you lie for her? She can just tell the agent you have left and to send your deposit to X address, it is nothing more to do with you. You then simply have to cut all communication with the agent.

Be careful, they sometimes will pull tricks like ringing your landline and asking for you without saying who they are.

Make sure she protects the deposit - as she lives abroad it will be much harder to sue her in small claims.

Werdnal

As well as the tax issues mentioned above, she must also provide you with a postal address in England/Wales for you to serve notices to her, report problems etc. If she fails to do this, she is in breach of housing law.

The address could be a relative, reliable friend etc, or even her solicitor. This is the whole reason why it is wise to employ and agent when landlord is overseas and cannot handle their UK tax or tenancy obligations in person.

Little_Gem

Thanks for your replies!! I feel a bit more reassured now!

We do have a UK address for her, not sure if it's a friend or relative but we have forwarded post to her before at that address.

I know she has another property in the UK which I believe is rented out privately so I don't really know what she is doing about tax, I just checked out that link and I didnt even know that it existed! The letting agent can't have been deducting tax as they let us change to paying her directly with no mention of it?

I wonder if this whole situation would be a whole lot simpler if we could just transfer the protected deposit into her name rather than the letting agents, does anyone know if it is possible at all?

I do have the deposit information at home so need to check who it is with etc.

In the mean time we are ignoring calls from the LA!

Werdnal

Youneed to make her aware of the tax situation - give her the link above, as she needs to sort this out before the HMRC come after you to pay her tax for her!

Depending on which deposit scheme they used, the agent can transfer the deposit to her, but they will probably impose a charge for doing so. Agents tend to use the "insurance based" deposit protection schemes, so they just insure the value of the deposit. Independent landlords usually prefer the DPS as it is free, so it may be that the agent will have to release the money to you, for landlord to re-protect in the scheme of her choice.

Little_Gem

What about if the rent is paid into an English bank account?

G_M

Little_Gem wrote: »

What about if the rent is paid into an English bank account?

If that account is in the LL's name, and the LL is resident overseas, then HMRC can come after you for her tax!

To avoind this, you must pay a UK-based agent. But that 'agent' can be anyone she appoints eg her mum, best friend, or a professional letting agent.

I suspect the agent will find out one way or another if you stay. And may then demand agency fees off the landlord (YOU cannot be made to pay the agent).

My advice would be for the LL to do this properly.

* Read her contract with the agent
* check the cancellation terms
* give the appropriate notice
* Get the deposit transferred into her name
* obtain a final account
* obtain all the paperwork (your references, the inventory, tenancy agreement etc etc)
* WRITE to you instruscting you where to pay rent, from what date, what English postal address to use for her, how to deal with repairs,
* Contact HMRC (if appropriate)

None of this affects YOUR contract (which is between you and the LL NOT the agent, so you simply stay on a Statutory Periodic Tenancy)

Little_Gem

Ok so had a bit of a think and decided first of all I will address the Tax issue with her. It's difficult because she is abroad we email her and sometimes it does take a while for her to get back to us, I just like to get stuff sorted quickly! I'm hoping that she has already dealt with it somehow, it seems crazy that we are obliged to sort somebody else's tax out for them!!

Still not quite sure what to do about the letting agent, they keep ringing but so far we are just ignoring their calls. I know it actually has nothing to do with us as it's between the LL and LA, but we do need to get our deposit back from them so I suppose that means talking to them at some point! They are useless, I wish we had never gone with them I think they may have been voted Worst Letting Agent in London before but moving from the other side of the country to London we didn't have a clue!

Little_Gem

Good news! She already has a tax exemption form which she is going to give us a copy of!

Now to get the LA off our backs...

And I forgot to say, thanks for the advice everyone, its been a massive help!!

Kynthia

Little_Gem wrote: »

Good news! She already has a tax exemption form which she is going to give us a copy of!

Now to get the LA off our backs...

And I forgot to say, thanks for the advice everyone, its been a massive help!!

That's great news! It's so nice to hear when things are being done properly.

Only the LL know's what her contract with the agent states about terminating their services. Usually there is a significant fee to pay if the existing tenant's are staying. However there's not much you can do about that, but be careful that you don't put your tenancy at risk trying to assist the landlord.

ruggedtoast

Personally I wouldn't have anything to do with this scheme. She sounds like she doesn't have a clue and probably needs an agent.