Letter addressed to landlord from land registry to rented property

chrysalis79

Hi Moneysavers,

This morning I received a letter addressed to the landlady at my property from the land registry (its on the outside of the envelope). It's in my tenancy agreement to pass on post via the letting agent and in the 3 years we have rented the property the volume of post had declined so I assumed she had changed all important addresses (mortgage, buildings insurance etc) and we were just getting a few odd ones she had forgotten. However this letter concerns me as it suggests to me that she may be letting to us illegally without having informed her mortgage company. Is this the case or is it impossible to tell?

I have paid the £3 to check the land registry website and she does own the property but her address is still given as the property and has not been changed. I appreciate that if she doesn't have a buy to let mortgage or cover note on a residential mortgage that our rights as tenants in case of sale or default are very limited despite our letting contract. Could there be another reason other than imminent sale for this letter and am I worrying unecessarily? I don't have her current address to contact her and ask (I was told that she moved away hence letting the house). I could ask the letting agents to check the status of the mortgage when I hand over the letter but if I do so and she doesn't have technical permission to let but is paying her mortgage anyway then it could cause more trouble than leaving well alone.

Some advice would be welcome. Regards

Worried from Leeds

p.s. the house was let to a variety of unsavoury characters before we moved in and we have sorted out disconnected gas meters, baliffs pursuing the last tenants' council tax, a women whose guitar was stolen by a former resident (who we suspect was the landlady's son) and various visits from the police (who had us on a list of suspected drug dens despite it being a fairly nice residential area!). This sort of thing happens every time we let a house and we don't want to just leave because frankly having gotten it all sorted we don't want to have to do it all over again moving in after yet another batch of shifty so and sos. Also in recognition of us being decent tenants we haven't had a rent rise in 3 years.

LEJC

Just pass the letter on to the LA....trying to make an assumption of what the letter is about is fruitless really.

davidmcn

chrysalis79 wrote: »

However this letter concerns me as it suggests to me that she may be letting to us illegally without having informed her mortgage company.

If that were the case then you'd probably still be receiving at least occasional statements etc from the mortgage company. And if they wanted to contact your landlord they wouldn't be doing it via the Land Registry.

G_M

Updating the address with the Land Registry is sensible, but frankly many many LLs either forget or don't bother. I've never in my life received a letter from the LR, so it tends not to be on the list of people to tell.

As david says above, letters from the mortgage lender (if there is one) would be a better indicator of whether it's a BTL?CTL mortgage - though even that is not a guaranteed test.

jjlandlord

chrysalis79 wrote: »

I appreciate that if she doesn't have a buy to let mortgage or cover note on a residential mortgage that our rights as tenants in case of sale or default are very limited despite our letting contract.

In case of default. Sale is irrelevant.

Pete9501

What makes you think she has a mortgage? surely there would be a charge on the land registry if she did?

Pete