Landlord and Tenants Act vs Data Protection Act

spooky69

An agent has informed me that they do NOT have to tell me who the landlord is as the landlord has apparently instructed the agent that all negotiations are to go through them and that they do not want to deal directly with me and thus under the Data Protection Act they 'cannot' reveal the landlord's identity. Fact or fiction? I am inclined to think the latter.

After many years of being under SPT a new agent has bought out the old agent and within a month or two of this happening the landlord apparently wants a new contract with a yearly cost for both the landlord and tenant. I'm smelling fish from somewhere...

I found it disappointing but not entirely surprising to find that this large and well-known agency would be mucking about like this.

Thoughts?

sandsni

Whereabouts are you in the UK?

Someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon I'm sure, but AFAIK a tenant is entitled to know who the LL is, even if they deal via a LA. You can check who owns the property yourself via the Land Registry for a few quid (£3 is quoted on this forum quite regularly).

The following link explains it better. It applies in England & Wales, but you get the idea.
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord's_address.htm

spooky69

Thanks. I know how to find out (in fact I already know anyway) but wanted to know if there was any basis for the agent to refuse or if it was just an indication of the type of person I am dealing with.

I am in England.

propertyman

spooky69 wrote: »

An agent has informed me that they do NOT have to tell me who the landlord is as the landlord has apparently instructed the agent that all negotiations are to go through them and that they do not want to deal directly with me and thus under the Data Protection Act they 'cannot' reveal the landlord's identity. Fact or fiction? I am inclined to think the latter.
?

Assuming you are in England and Wales the agent must provide the landlords name and address under

1 Section 47 of the Landlord And tenant Act1987
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/31/section/47
2 On request under section 1 of the Landlord and tenant Act 1985
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/1

Tell them to chew on that.

the LL can of course insist on you only dealing with the agent, the address rights were introduced to assist when it comes to legal proceedings.

If you are in Scotland search here https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/Pages/Process.aspx?Command=ShowHomePage

spooky69

Would the landlord instructing the agent that they do not want to deal directly with me (if indeed that is true) be considered a 'reasonable excuse' for not providing the information. I would guess not for the reasons relating to legal proceedings.

propertyman

spooky69 wrote: »

Would the landlord instructing the agent that they do not want to deal directly with me (if indeed that is true) be considered a 'reasonable excuse' for not providing the information. I would guess not for the reasons relating to legal proceedings.

I have not said anything about a reasonable excuse, its a legal right, full stop.:)

tbs624

OP - you have a legal right to have an address for your LL and LA commits a criminal offence if failing to provide it within 21 days of receiving a written request from the T.

See LL&T Act 1985, s1

Information to be given to tenant

1 Disclosure of landlord’s identity.(1)If the tenant of premises occupied as a dwelling makes a written request for the landlord’s name and address to—

(a)any person who demands, or the last person who received, rent payable under the tenancy, or
(b)any other person for the time being acting as agent for the landlord, in relation to the tenancy,
that person shall supply the tenant with a written statement of the landlord’s name and address within the period of 21 days beginning with the day on which he receives the request.

(2)A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1) commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

(3)In this section and section 2—

(a)“tenant” includes a statutory tenant; and

(b)“landlord” means the immediate landlord.

and s38, same Act

38 Minor definitions. In this Act—
“address” means a person’s place of abode or place of business or, in the case of a company, its registered office

So unless the LL runs a business from the LA's office or has his/her registered office address there it's the LL's place of abode that is required.

Your LA may be confusing this with the requirements of s48 of the LL and T Act 1987, for which the LA's address would be sufficient.

No requirement for anyone to have any specific level of knowledge, training, qualification etc before setting up in business as an LA. Some of of them talk twaddle and even if they do know the law, will try to mislead Ts, Many of them wouldn't know the finer points of the DPA and its a standard blocking method.

You could also check the Land Registry details for the property- small fee payable.

sandsni

Did you read the links? If you make the request in writing the LA has to give you the information within 21 days, regardless of whether the LL wants to remain anonymous or doesn't want to deal direct with Ts.

The LL could be blissfully ignorant of what the agent is telling you. Or they could genuinely not want to deal with Ts directly (for a myriad of reasons). But, even if the LL instructs you to deal only with the LA, they still can't refuse to tell you who they are.

spooky69

Indeed. The wording 'reasonable excuse' is in Section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 that you linked to.

(2) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1) commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

I presume a reasonable excuse would relate to not being able to disclose rather than choosing not to or being instructed not to.

whalster

From memory there is a free download on private landlord directory
It outlined the legal requirements of the letting agent .
Even if the landlord has left total control of the property with an agent I think it's still worth sending a letter asking the questions to see if what the agent is telling you is correct,it is also worth asking if he/she would consider dealing direct and create a private tenancy to save you both some money.
If you don't ask you don't get and a lot of landlords get the wool pulled over their eyes

G_M

Answer is clear: On receipt of a written request the agent must provide the LL's address (1985 Act).

Since you have a contractual relationship with the LL, the Data Protection Act is irrelevant.

The difficulty is enforcement. Agents often ignore the Act and do as here - ignore the request or refuse to comply. They do this either through ignorance, or .... because they can!

Enforcement has to be done via police (who will not be interested), Trading Standards or similar. They are grossly overworked and only see this as worthy of their time if there are other compounding factors: landlord and/or agent is ignoring serious repairing issues; harassment etc

A private prosecution is possible I suppose, but difficult. I've never heard of one!

As for the new contract, you are underno obligation to sign:

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)