House Owners Post Received at Rented Property

Jana83

My BF & I have been renting a house through a lettings agent since Sept 2011. The people who actually own the house live abroad and so we do not have an address for them. When we moved in, they left us a note asking us to forward any of their post to a relative who doesn't live too far from us. In the beginning this was fine as, to be expected, there were bound to be companies that they had missed contacting ref their change of address & of course the perennial junk mail.
However, it then gets a bit weird. We have also had post for another TWO people, who are far as we are aware, are NOT related to the house owners (possible previous tenants?). This goes straight back the sender obviously as we have NO idea who they are.
But nearly TWO years on, we get post for the owners from HM Revenue & Customs. The first letter, delivered last year, was addressed to a company, which after a bit of digging turned out to be linked to the house owners. We sent this off to the contact address as requested. Now this year we've had another TWO letters from HM Revenus & Customs addressed directly to the owners (using their full name). Surely they would've notified HM R & C by now that they live abroad? Should we still forward this on (costing us money in both fuel & stamps) after nearly two years or should we return it to sender? I'm a bit worried about doing that though as it is a Gov't agency?

Thanks for your help

froupie

You've been forking out postage £ for 2 years to forward their post?!

If it was me I would bung it all in a big envelope and send it on without postage so the recipient has to pay. I think it's a bit cheeky of them to expect you to do it.

Werdnal

Don't bother sending anything on to them at all. Mark everything "return to sender - addressee moved away xx (date)" and drop it back in the post box, or if the letting agents are local, hand it in to them on your way past their door!

HMRC could be following up back tax, and should be made aware that the owners are no longer there.

Do not go to the expense and hassle of forwarding the owners any more post at all.

Cissi

That sounds dodgy all right!

Do you pay rent to the letting agent or directly to an account in your Landlord's name? If the latter, then I think you're supposed to deduct tax from the payments since they're abroad. If you don't do this then you could end up having to pay the tax due yourself :eek:

Also, if HMRC think the LL still lives at the address, then who else does? What about the bank - has the LL got permission to let?

Have you been given an address in the UK to serve notices to (not just to forward mail to)? If not, then I believe you don't have to pay the rent...

indsty

I never use more stamps to redirect mail. Just score out the address and write REDIRECT .. and the new address. Put it back in a postbox and it gets delivered. As far as I know this is perfectly OK so long as it has not been opened first.

ghosti

its a bit cheeky from the owners but either you agree to do it or you tell your landlord that you'll stop doing this.

i dont think you need to worry yourself to much about the owners business, all you're doing is forwarding mail. this should not cause any black marks against your own name. you shouldnt stress yourself out over this or you'll worry yourself to death..

aldredd

Cissi wrote: »

If you don't do this then you could end up having to pay the tax due yourself :eek:

Sure about that? Not sure someone can be help accountable for someone else's tax bill! And tax due is paid through tax return - not deducted at source.

May not be as dodgy as it seems - when you fill out a lot of the HMRC paperwork etc, they'll ask which UK address you want to use - I this because I live overseas myself, and still maintain my UK address for such things. Couldn't tell you the complexities of tax liability, as this is mostly handled by my company, but whilst tax may well be due (not always the case!), I don't see the liability falling with the tenant.

franklee

As above I hope you pay rent to a lettings agent in England (if you are living in England that is). Also I hope that you asked the agent that they saw proof of consent to let. Plus that you checked your deposit is registered in a scheme. I'd recommend you write to the letting agent asking for the landlord's address.

Why hasn't the landlord given out his new address or his relative's address to everyone who writes to him?

Presumably you are honest but some tenants do commit fraud in the landlord's name. If it's done from your home how will you prove you weren't involved. For example what if he's opening credit cards and not paying them off, or what if his relative is, yet you are the one who got the letters. I would not want anyone else to operate from my home.

It's only polite to send on the post for the first few months to give everything a chance to swap but after that I'd write not living at this address and put back in the post.

wannahouse

franklee wrote: »

As above I hope you pay rent to a lettings agent in England (if you are living in England that is). . I'd recommend you write to the letting agent asking for the landlord's address.

Why hasn't the landlord given out his new address or his relative's address to everyone who writes to him?

he said he's renting via a letting agent, and therefore THAT is the only address he needs to know!
his landlords live overeas, and the lettings agent is acting on THEIR behalf, therefore there address to contact suffices!

just drop the mail off at the agents every now and then..thats what we do..and they can forward it on.

olly300

Werdnal wrote: »

Don't bother sending anything on to them at all. Mark everything "return to sender - addressee moved away xx (date)" and drop it back in the post box, or if the letting agents are local, hand it in to them on your way past their door!

Don't hand it into the letting agent as the mail will not stop coming.

Mark everything "return to sender" for the next 6 months so the majority of companies will stop sending mail to that address for these people.

After 6 months dump all mail that is still coming in the bin unopened. This is not illegal as the mail has been delivered by law.

franklee

aldredd wrote: »

Sure about that? Not sure someone can be help accountable for someone else's tax bill! And tax due is paid through tax return - not deducted at source.

May not be as dodgy as it seems - when you fill out a lot of the HMRC paperwork etc, they'll ask which UK address you want to use - I this because I live overseas myself, and still maintain my UK address for such things. Couldn't tell you the complexities of tax liability, as this is mostly handled by my company, but whilst tax may well be due (not always the case!), I don't see the liability falling with the tenant.

If you let a property here and live abroad you should know all about the non resident landlord scheme. Either the letting agent or tenant deducts the tax or you register with HMRC that you will do so. As HMRC are writing to the OP's landlord using rental address so I would not bet they've been told.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm
"If you have rental property in the UK but your usual home is outside the UK, your tenants or the letting agents you use will need to operate the Non-resident Landlord (NRL) Scheme. They need to deduct basic rate tax from rental income before they pass it onto you. You can set this tax off against your own tax bill at the end of the year."