Landlord insists to pay rent In Cash

saajan_12

It might be ok as far as youre concerned IF and only if:
1) You get a receipt for EACH time you hand over cash, stating the amount, who received it, what its for (ie rent)
2) You can commit to a specific meeting to handover cash every month (a bank transfer can be done in advance & needs less prearranging with another person)
3a) You don't mind travelling to handover rent every month; or
3b) You don't mind LL coming to you home every month (will they want to inspect or further invade your quiet enjoyment so regularly?)

It won't directly affect you, but the LL could want cash to avoid detection and get more benefits / pay less tax / pay less money to a partner / launder dirty money..

Cakeguts

A good landlord running the letting properly would not expect the tenant to pay in cash so something is going on here. It sounds as if you have got a rogue landlord. To be safe either refuse and continue to pay through your bank or move to a property where you can pay through the bank.



Your landlord is up to something as this is not a normal way to run a business. No one here can tell you if this will affect you in some way.


You could find out from the land registry who owns the property you are renting. What you want to avoid is renting a council house that has been illegally let or you could find yourself evicted at short notice.

Margot123

Spend £3 with the Land Registry online and find out who the owner of the property is: https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

This could be an illegal sublet as there is a demand for cash

need_an_answer

Margot123 wrote: »

Spend £3 with the Land Registry online and find out who the owner of the property is: https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

This could be an illegal sublet as there is a demand for cash

A very fair and valid point

OP for £3 and your peace of mind that the LL is the owner I would probably do as Margot suggests

Clearly there is something not quite right with the situation


A Genuine LL would be happy for rent to be paid to an account.

Cash is not the king it used to be.

coffeehound

I had an intimidating LL who insisted on cash and never provided receipts. He made a habit of not returning tenants' deposits, too. Avoid.

kinger101

alanobrien wrote: »

Sounds like the landlord may be doing a spot of tax avoidance

No - tax evasion.

jonnygee2

In theory, it's fine for a Landord to stipulate a certain payment method.

In reality, demanding cash absolutely is a pretty big indicator that something dodgy is happening. Illegal landlords often target people who just moved to the country, because they don't know the laws.

- What is the property like?
-Are you the only occupant?
-Has the landlord been okay so far and is everything normal?
-Has your deposit been protected?
-Is there a gas safety certificate?

steampowered

Should be fine as long as you agree with the landlord that he must provide a signed and dated receipt for each payment.

Then report him to HMRC for tax evasion when you leave the property.

thelem

While it could all be fine, I wouldn't be at all happy. Partly for the reasons stated by other above, and partly because rent is a large amount of money so I'd want a definite record to say I had paid it. Even if you demand receipts, in six months time he could pretend you'd never paid him anything and the receipts are all forged. Are you dealing with the landlord directly, or via an agent? It could be the agent scamming both of you. Much safer when you've got an independent third party keeping a record of the transactions (i.e. your banks).


I can't think of any legitimate reason that the landlord would only accept money in cash.

lookstraightahead

There is no reason to expect cash so no I would be very wary.