Paying rent in cash...

gazter

ihatemyhouse wrote: »

sounds dodgy to me,

It isnt dodgy, he just isnt declaring it. Or, no declaring all of it. Think of any small organisation that you interact with, when you pay them cash, it almost always never is accounted for.

You think those takeaways and restaurants declare the cash going into their till? How else would they be able to pay their 'undocumented workers'? You think the plumber and builder kindly tells the taxman of that £200 you gave him for an hours work?

No chance.

That's the real reason we have the paperwork around electrical, gas, window installations, and a large element of building control. Tax enforcement. Safety is just a coincidence.

pinkpiglit

Many years ago I rented a flat and wasn't made aware the landlord wanted to be paid in cash. When we found out, we offered to give him a cheque but that wasn't good enough. The rent was £850 a month and I was not happy carrying that sort of cash home from the cash point.

We then offered to find new tenants to replace us (we had six months to the first break) but the landlord refused and wrote a letter to state he would be taking us to court.

We went to a solicitor for advice who thought the landlord was a complete nut job. Again we offered to pay him via cheque or directly to his bank account and again he refused and a few days later we were issued with a court summons.

Our court date arrived and he represented himself and of course his case was dismissed and he was ordered to pay our court costs and we were free to break the tenancy agreement.

It was a stressful time and I wouldn't want to repeat it. However, both the solicitor and the judge said that there was nothing in the contract that stated we had to pay cash and that without this, we would have expected to pay by a more standard means such as standing order.

Funnily enough a few months later I happened to bump into a completely different letting agent when a friend was viewing flats and I was accompanying her. I mentioned the nightmare we'd had and it turns out the landlord had put his flat on with this agent and the very same thing had happened again and he was due to take new tenants to court shortly. You think he'd have learnt his lesson the first time around!

orangeslimes

gazter wrote: »

There is no 'may'. They are.

Not necessarily - the landlord might just be one of these odd people that doesn't trust banks. If they refuse to give a proper receipt etc when they collect the cash then that might be a sign.

I certainly wouldn't like to pay rent that way myself...mostly because it would be inconvenient having to get out that amount of cash and having to be in on a certain date at a reasonable time would be a pain.

gazter

orangeslimes wrote: »

Not necessarily - the landlord might just be one of these odd people that doesn't trust banks. If they refuse to give a proper receipt etc when they collect the cash then that might be a sign.

I certainly wouldn't like to pay rent that way myself...mostly because it would be inconvenient having to get out that amount of cash and having to be in on a certain date at a reasonable time would be a pain.

Lots of cash = lots of undeclared income.

demorules

Just wanted to drop a note of thanks to all in here who have replied to this topic. I'll definitely be putting the advice into practice - a cheque at the very least would be preferable to carrying around large amounts of cash. From speaking to other tenants it seems that he has relented lately and has started accepting cheques.

ACG

I would refuse to pay by cash.

Firstly, if he knows your going to have cash in the premises on the 1st what is to stop there being 3 6ft lads knocking on your door one morning? Thats not to say your landlord would do this but he may mention how he has to collect the rent in the pub to someone - someone may overhear etc.

Secondly, its inconvenient having someone knocking on the door each month. You can ask for a receipt on payment which is fine but i would hate to have someone knocking on. You cant relax until he has been.

Not one for me. I would offer to do bank transfer, Standing order or post a cheque but i would not be paying cash.