Landlord and Tenants Act vs Data Protection Act

spooky69

I thought so - thanks for the confirmation.

olly300

spooky69 wrote: »

Thoughts?

1. Get that exact information from the letting agent in writing - email will do. Make sure they mention the DPA.

2. Phone up the Information Commissioners Helpline and be prepared to put in a formal complaint.

From the ICO website:

ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745. It's open between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

I'm sure your letting agent will enjoy receiving a letter from the ICO as now they are under the ICO's scrutiny.

The ICO can and does investigate businesses with no warning.

Edited to say: In this instance your landlord who is hiding behind the agent is operating as a business. Businesses can be a self-employed person, a limited company or a LLP and are exempt from the DPA in this regards.

propertyman

spooky69 wrote: »

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.

Well you have misread it hence my earlier reply

The reasonable excuse is about failing to do so and avoiding prosecution, but that does not alter remove or change the absolute requirement to provide it.

propertyman

G_M wrote: »

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 is via
1:the local authority, normally the tenancy relations officer or similar, or a
2: private prosecution in the magistrates court, via the online civil procedure rules and wander into the magistrates court and ask for the form.

braun_2

Can't you get the LLs name/address from the land registry for £3?

I find it hard to believe the LL can remain anonymous as he is renting out a house/has certain legal responsibilities/maintenance etc. etc.

I mean even if you deal with someone solicitor, you still know who that solicitor is representing.

propertyman

braun wrote: »

Can't you get the LLs name/address from the land registry for £3?

I find it hard to believe the LL can remain anonymous as he is renting out a house/has certain legal responsibilities/maintenance etc. etc.

I mean even if you deal with someone solicitor, you still know who that solicitor is representing.

See my earlier post.

G_M

braun wrote: »

Can't you get the LLs name/address from the land registry for £3?

I find it hard to believe the LL can remain anonymous as he is renting out a house/has certain legal responsibilities/maintenance etc. etc.

I mean even if you deal with someone solicitor, you still know who that solicitor is representing.

The Land Reg may have the LL's actual address, or may not. There is no legal requirement for the LL to give his address to the LR. The address there may be the let property.

A LL can comply with all his "legal responsibilities/maintenance etc." via his appointed agent.

(of course, the agent must also comply with all his "legal responsibilities/maintenance etc", one of which is to provide the LL's address within 21 days of a written request by a tenant).

spooky69

braun wrote: »

Can't you get the LLs name/address from the land registry for £3?

I find it hard to believe the LL can remain anonymous as he is renting out a house/has certain legal responsibilities/maintenance etc. etc.

I mean even if you deal with someone solicitor, you still know who that solicitor is representing.

As I said earlier, I already have the details (took me a few minutes and no cost). I expect that the landlord has no knowledge of the agents attempts to increase rent and create an annual chargeable event by trying to bully me into a new contract. The agent was taking the position that if I want to renew then I can enter into a new contract otherwise they will start showing people around - after 6 years on SPT (7 years in total with no problems) and within a month or two of them buying out the old agent. Quite a well-known agent as well, so I was a bit surprised at this.