NRL advice please

furbabyrehomer

The owner of the house I rent is registered with the local authority, but the landlord named on my tenancy agreement is her son and it is to him that I pay my rent by dd.
The landlord lives in Spain and I have no contact, dealing only with the relative. It has come to my attention that perhaps there is a tax issue here. Any advice gratefully received.

phill99

And if you start making assumptions. And telling HMRC, you'll soon find yourself homeless.

sandsni

If the owner's son is the named LL on the tenancy agreement and it's him you pay rent to there is no tax issue for you. Any money paid by him to the property owner is between them and any issues with HMRC are between your LL, the property owner and HMRC. There would only be an issue for you if there was no UK address for the LL, but as the LL is the son and your OP suggests he is UK-based then that is not the case.


The person named on the tenancy agreement as your LL is the person legally responsible for all issues relating to your tenancy. If there is an issue between the LL and the property owner (in this case his mother) then that is for them to sort out.


If you believe there is a case of possible tax fraud here and your conscience is prompting you, then you can probably inform HMRC in a number of ways (try their website for advice). It does mean you might have to find somewhere else to live, but if you feel strongly enough then you should follow your conscience.

furbabyrehomer

phill99 wrote: »

And if you start making assumptions. And telling HMRC, you'll soon find yourself homeless.

No assumptions at all, just asking for advice, but thank you for your imput.

furbabyrehomer

sandsni wrote: »

If the owner's son is the named LL on the tenancy agreement and it's him you pay rent to there is no tax issue for you. Any money paid by him to the property owner is between them and any issues with HMRC are between your LL, the property owner and HMRC. There would only be an issue for you if there was no UK address for the LL, but as the LL is the son and your OP suggests he is UK-based then that is not the case.


The person named on the tenancy agreement as your LL is the person legally responsible for all issues relating to your tenancy. If there is an issue between the LL and the property owner (in this case his mother) then that is for them to sort out.


If you believe there is a case of possible tax fraud here and your conscience is prompting you, then you can probably inform HMRC in a number of ways (try their website for advice). It does mean you might have to find somewhere else to live, but if you feel strongly enough then you should follow your conscience.

Thank you. I was just concerned that there might be tax repercussions for me.

G_M

But surely there is another issue here.

I am assuming this is Scotland:

The owner of the house I rent is registered with the local authority

since England does not require LA registration.

But I also assume (I am no Scottish expert!) that it is the landlord who must be registered, not the owner.

furbabyrehomer

G_M wrote: »

But surely there is another issue here.

I am assuming this is Scotland:
since England does not require LA registration.

But I also assume (I am no Scottish expert!) that it is the landlord who must be registered, not the owner.

Indeed, hence my original concerns.

Kynthia

In England you would be fine as long as the person you paid rent to, even if it wasn't the owner or landlord but someone on their behalf, lived in the UK. The problem is if you pay the Non Resident Landlord direct, and even then it's only a problem if they don't have an exemption certificate. However I don't know if that's the same for Scotland but the HMRC advice doesn't usually differ. Have you looked at Shelter's Scotish site?

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

But surely there is another issue here.

I am assuming this is Scotland:
since England does not require LA registration.

But I also assume (I am no Scottish expert!) that it is the landlord who must be registered, not the owner.

No "Scottish expert" either but, AFAIAA, unless covered under one of the registration exemptions the owner must be registered as s/he has ultimate control of the property.

OP - if you have concerns about your own liability re potential tax due on rent then why not simply talk direct to HMRC?

Everything may turn out to be "above board" but its worth noting that in 2012 HMRC launched a taskforce to specifically address LL tax evasion north of the border.

Unfortunately, you may need to be prepared for a retaliatory eviction at the earliest possible point in time if the LL realises that you have been checking out his/her tax affairs etc