unauthorised let?

jjlandlord

Not clear if your uncle is your landlord, below assumes he is:
Don't call the lender to discuss with them, forward the letters to your landlords and discuss with him.
Your landlord's tax are also of no interest to you and you would gain anything by reporting him (assuming he is not disclosing income of course) apart from starting a family feud.

Your main concern is that, if he has no permission to let and if the property is repossessed then you tenancy will not be binding on the lender and they will be able to evict you within 2 months whatever fixed term tenancy you might have.

Below assumes he is not:
Same basically, do not contact lender, HMRC or whomever. Only result is trouble for them and family feud for everyone.
Talk to him and explain the situation to him. This is his business, he decides and you advise the best you can.

*Diva*

jjlandlord wrote: »

Not clear if your uncle is your landlord, below assumes he is:
Don't call the lender to discuss with them, forward the letters to your landlords and discuss with him.
Your landlord's tax are also of no interest to you and you would gain anything by reporting him (assuming he is not disclosing income of course) apart from starting a family feud.

Your main concern is that, if he has no permission to let and if the property is repossessed then you tenancy will not be binding on the lender and they will be able to evict you within 2 months whatever fixed term tenancy you might have.

Below assumes he is not:
Same basically, do not contact lender, HMRC or whomever. Only result is trouble for them and family feud for everyone.
Talk to him and explain the situation to him. This is his business, he decides and you advise the best you can.

Hi
No I am his tenant you have assumed incorrectly. I am actually just finalising my first home. The only reason he asks me if because I work in the financial industry but not for his mortgage company and do not have alot of knowledge behind the letting side of it.


I do not wish to get involved in his tax affairs thats his issue, however I do think he has got that all in order.


I am not sure what that means or if he is protecting the deposit. He is a gas engineer so he regularly checks the property/ appliances/ gas work etc.


I think the moral thing for him to do would be to admit he has been letting the property out, he doesnt have any malicious intent as he did reside in the property but due to being taken ill etc he is not living there and had to let it out. He isnt making any financial gains as I mentioned previously (he has to make up a shortfall).

*Diva*

Would it then be wise to write he is now letting the property out or state the date from when he let it out over 2years ago?

jjlandlord

*Diva* wrote: »

I think the moral thing for him to do would be to admit he has been letting the property out, he doesnt have any malicious intent as he did reside in the property but due to being taken ill etc he is not living there and had to let it out

That's interesting.
Depending on how long has he been away and the circumstances, he could argue that the property is still is principal home so that the tenant is in fact a lodger: No permission to let required.
IMHO being in hospital for a few months probably would do.

I don't think there is any "moral" thing for him to do. This is not about moral, and the lender certainly is not after moral: This is business, and as said if he lets without permission it will cost him.

Edit:
Ah '2 years ago' is not a few months in hospital, so forget about what I said.

In any case, he should contact his lender. Currently it seems that if he doesn't his mortgage's rate will increase by 1.5%. It might be the same if does contact them, but it might be less.

brit1234

Yorkie1 wrote: »

There is no criminal offence of fraud here IF, at the time of obtaining the residential mortgage, the person obtaining the mortgage intended to - and did - live in it personally. Subsequently changing the status of the property to 'let' rather than 'residential' does not create the offence of fraud nor make the mortgage fraudulent in the criminal sense.

He has however breached his contract with them and others have advised of the possible consequences.

If the intention from the outset was to rent the property out, then yes it is mortgage fraud at that point.

Yorkie1 I can see you haven't got a legal background, I'm sorry to say you are wrong and it is criminal fraud.

Fraud by failing to disclose information (Section 3) Fraud Act 2006

The defendant:

• failed to disclose information to another person
• when he was under a legal duty to disclose that information
• dishonestly intending, by that failure, to make a gain or cause a loss.

Like Section 2 (and Section 4) this offence is entirely offender focussed. It is complete as soon as the Defendant fails to disclose information provided he was under a legal duty to do so, and that it was done with the necessary dishonest intent. It differs from the deception offences in that it is immaterial whether or not any one is deceived or any property actually gained or lost.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/fraud_act/#a08

jjlandlord

I think the important term above is "legal duty". Is there one?
A clause in the mortgage T&Cs is not a legal duty, IMO, as only contractual.

Of course, condition of third bullet must also be met, which is in any case straightforward to prove.

Pixie5740

It's time your uncle grew a pair and stopped hounding a pregnant woman. Not having consent to let could just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of other landlord responsibilities your aunt and uncle are ignoring.

Yorkie1

jjlandlord wrote: »

I think the important term above is "legal duty". Is there one?
A clause in the mortgage T&Cs is not a legal duty, IMO, as only contractual.

Of course, condition of third bullet must also be met, which is in any case straightforward to prove.

Precisely.

But then Brit1234 is often talking rubbish.

xylophone

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/10418580/Lenders-crack-down-on-accidental-landlords.html
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4884401
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-2462805/Can-I-let-new-house-telling-lender.html

Might be worth a look.

SerialRenter

jjlandlord wrote: »

Your landlord's tax are also of no interest to you and you would gain anything by reporting him (assuming he is not disclosing income of course) apart from starting a family feud.

Well, speak for yourself, but it would be of interest to me if I found someone tax dodging. I don't work hard and pay my tax's so other people can illegally avoid doing it.