Landlord rents from local council....HELP

hugh_jass_2

Hi, I hope someone can help me.
My daughter has been renting a flat for the last 6 months, paying her rent regularly etc.
Today she has discovered the landlord has been renting the property from the local council whilst abroad and claiming benefits himself and had no right to sub let it.
A deposit was paid and rent was paid regularly to the 'landlord' but now she could be homeless.
Could anyone tell me where my daughter stands.

maginot

The Landlord has committed benefit fraud so is likely to face jail.
Your daughter needs to start looking for another property.
It is also unlikely that she will get her deposit back unless it is protected (does it state whether it was protected in the tenancy)she could try suing in the courts but if he is overseas I wouldn't hold out hope and may just cost your daughter more money.

If he has committed benefit fraud I doubt he has done things properly with the deposit.

If he does have funds he is going to want to use this to pay back the benefits to reduce his/her sentence rather than pay your daughter, which is a civil matter.

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

What has the council said to you?

RAS

Does she have the name and address of a UK contact to whom she is paying the rent? Or a copy of the landlord's HMRC certificate of compliance?

hugh_jass_2

The council haven't said anything thing to her as yet per se, someone came to the door from Council and asked for her landlord. Daughter explained she was tenant and was informed the flat was rented to her landlord etc.
The workman will obviously now report back.
My daughter has the landlords bank details that she pays rent into, so she can prove she has been paying. The landlord is currently still out of the country at present as far as my daughter knows.
He is however expected to return in the next couple of months.

Mallotum_X

Find out if the deposit is protected. If not then thats likely to be lost, in that situation id pay over no more rent, and start looking for somewhere new. Hes unlikely to be in any position to chase after missing rent.

Werdnal

You daughter must not sit back and wait to hear from the council. Tell her to ring them today whilst they are still open (weekend is a long time to wait). Ask to speak to the Tenancy Relations Officer or someone in Housing Department and explain what has happened. She must act on this herself as it is not going to go away by ingoring it.

The deposit is likely lost, but she can sue for the return of this later (up to 6 years), and lack of protection too. Landlord is in deep trouble, not only for benefit fraud and illegal subletting, but I suspect he hasn't been declaring his rental income to HMRC either. I would also suggest she stops paying rent NOW!

The council will advise her on her position and how long she will have to find somewhere else - I am fairly sure they will not kick her out overnight, but the clock is ticking and she will be evicted through the correct route. She must get advice. Tell her to also contact Shelter as they will be able to tell her the position and next steps she should take to secure a roof over her head.

PasturesNew

This is one case, probably the only one, where she needs to protect her money/4rse and stop paying the rent. She should save it/keep it .... but not pay the LL any more until things are clearer.

It's obvious he is a fraudster and she will have to leave at some point, so she needs to start looking into that.

As the LL is abroad, she should have been keeping back X% of the rent and passing it directly to the HMRC too.... which isn't something many people know about because "if you don't know, you can't go looking for everything you might not know in life".

RAS

If she is paying the rent direct to the LL, he needs to provide an HMRC certificate of compliance (proving he is paying tax on the money) or your daughter needs to withold 25% of the rent and pay that to the HMRC.

Stop paying rent now and hope she can get 2-3 months to put aside the 25% incase the HMRC come after her and to recover her deposit.

BitterAndTwisted

It's not guaranteed that a "workman" would report any of this back to the housing dept.

In any case, I'd stop paying any more rent and make plans for an onward move asap. This person won't be in any position to pursue for unpaid rent, what with being a benefit fraudster and all.

G_M

As suggested above - STOP PAYING RENT.

1) if she has no address in Eng/Wales given to her "for the serving of notices" on the landlord, then by law she does not need to pay rent. Landlord and Tenant Act 1987

2) if the LL is abroad, and she pays him direct (rather ythan to a UK agent), then she is liable to HMRC for his tax on the rent. HMRC

Once it is clear whether she can stay or not etc, she may need to pay the rent, so keep it safely to one side.

Additionally, if she paid a deposit, contact each of the 5 schemes to check if the LL registered it as required, or not. Deposits