Divorced Landlords - dispute over rent

thesaint

If your landlord/landlady changes the bank that they want the rent to go into, then you are obliged to do so.

I am sure you have an address for your landlady, so do not withold the rent.

At most, I would tell "Mr" that you need a letter from his solicitor stating that you must pay into the old account.

If the solicitor does not write that(no wishy washy subsitute), then you will follow the instruction from your landlady.

ali_hire

Your Landlord is Mrs X, you've taken all reasonable steps to prove this. She is, therefore, the person with whom you still have a legally binding contract, all be it not a written one.

Whether or not to decide to withhold the rent from her until she provides you with an address is up to you and largely depends on your relationship with her. I probably would withhold it, but I'd politely point out why in a letter to her.

As for Mr X, I'd write to him explaining that your contract is not with him and that you've conducted the Land Registry search to satisf yourself that you should be dealing with his wife.

Who ends up getting what once they've finalised their divorce is not your concern or problem. It won't come back to bite you.

jjlandlord

ali_hire wrote: »

Whether or not to decide to withhold the rent from her until she provides you with an address is up to you and largely depends on your relationship with her. I probably would withhold it, but I'd politely point out why in a letter to her.

If he has no address he cannot send a letter.

ali_hire

He's been communicating with her until now. Presumably he has somewhere to write to, but has never been officially notified in writing of it.

Such things are usually written into the tenancy agreement, which hasn't been given.

booksurr

ziziban wrote: »

I know I have never had nor signed a tenancy agreement (whether AST or otherwise). ....


As my rent is paid weekly, ,

so you do not have a written tenancy agreement stipulating the frequency with which rent is to be paid however, the established practice has been and remains that you pay it weekly

therefore by law the LL is required to provide you with a rent book: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70
section 4 L&T Act 1985

section 5 requires that the rent book lists the name and address of the LL

failure to provide a rent book is a criminal offence

ziziban

Thanks again everyone.

Just to confirm, I do not have an address for Mrs X at all. I have the address for Mr X as he is a few doors down the street - and I understand that Mrs X lives close by (as she mentioned the suburb in conversation when I moved in), but I have never been provided with her address either in writing or by any other means. All communication has been by text message and telephone.

I'm going to give Shelter a call as suggested earlier, but having identified Mrs X as my lawful landlady for all intents and purposes at this stage, I think I am going to change the payments as she has requested and notify both of them of that (once I have an address for her to write to). If and when I have sight of a court document, or clearly written Solicitor's letter to the contrary then I will reconsider my position and probably seek further advice.

Thanks again, will post back with what Shelter have said.

Nobbie1967

Tell her you'll start paying into her account as soon as the new tenancy agreement is signed. I can't see why she wouldn't do this immediately. This should give you security of tenure for at least 6 months while they sort themselves out. If you paid a deposit you may want to discuss with her how this is going to be returned or transferred to the new AST. Do you have any paper trail of paying this?

specialboy

You have her contact number so call her and ask for her address, it's in her interests to provide it

TBagpuss

I agree that you need an address for her - I'd text back saying can she please provide a letter confirming her istructions for payment and also confirming her address for future correspondence.

Is your deposit protected?

Once she has given you the letter, write to the husband and say that on the basis that you understand that the house is in her name and all of your dealings have been with her, you believe that she is your landlord and so are doing as she has directed, and that how that is resolved between the two of them within their divorce is a matter for them.

(while not down to you, in the divorce, he will be able to make claims in relation to the properties and the rent regardless of where the money is paid to, he needs to be making any claim for a share against her, not against you. )

ziziban

Have just called Shelter, and their advice was basically to tell the landlords to agree in writing who is to receive the rent - easier said than done!

Mrs X has offered a new written AST which I can sign this week, before any payments are made to her new account.

Having done all that I reasonably can to assure that she is the lawful owner/landlord at this point, it does seem that the correct course of action is to meet with her to sign the AST (making sure the deposit - which isn't currently protected - is correctly transferred) and then pay the rent as instructed in that AST agreement.

As I already have an address for Mr X, I will then notify him in writing to that address that I have taken this action.

How does that sound?