Calling up notice arrived from landlord's lender.

pinklady21

Hello all
Well this week's unexpected drama is the arrival of a calling up notice from my landlord's mortgage lender requesting full repayment of his loan within 2 months.

Scotland - we are tenants on a PRT, now in 5th month. We intend to leave early in 2019 anyway, as this tenancy is temporary until the house we have bought is ready to move into.

I have always adhered to the terms of my mortgage..... so have not ever seen such a notice. Can anyone more knowledgeable than me please advise:

1. Am I correct to assume this has been issued as the landlord is behind with the mortgage payments?
Could there be any other reason?

2. Should I send the notice (keeping a copy) to the landlord's agent? (landlord lives abroad) Should I ask for an explanation of where this leaves us as his tenants?

3. The notice was sent by recorded delivery, but we did not sign for it, it was simply posted through the letterbox. Does this affect the validity of it?

4. As the landlord has 2 months to remedy matters with the mortgage co, (assuming we send the notice to him as point 2 above), what should we do in the meantime?

5. Should we contact the lender? or their solicitors? (there are no contact details on the letter) What should we say to them?

6. Should we withhold payment of rent - ie keep it in a separate account, but not pay to landlord for now and offer it to lender at some future point instead? I cannot see any evidence that our deposit has been protected, should I advise him that I wish to use this to pay the next month's rent?

7. What is the mechanism for the lender to apply to repossess the property? I assume that at the expiry of the 2 months in the calling up notice, the lender then has to apply (I assume to the Sheriff court) for a possession / ejection order?
How long is this likely to take?

8. If we were to serve notice on our landlord now, giving more than the required 28 days under the PRT, and taking us to say February 2019, would this still be valid if the lender proceeds with repossession proceedings?

9. If we served a longer period of notice per point 8, and then decided to leave earlier than we stated on the notice to leave, would be remain liable for payment of rent until the end of the notice period we gave?

10. The property is a farm, of which we rent the farmhouse under a PRT. Is there any chance this might count as a non residential property?

Sorry for so many questions! Thank you in advance.

xylophone

This letter was addressed to your landlord?

If so, you didn't have the right to open it?

pinklady21

xylophone wrote: »

This letter was addressed to your landlord?

If so, you didn't have the right to open it?

No - addressed to The Occupier, with a copy of the calling up notice with my landlord's name on it. I can see why the subject line in my o/p appeared ambiguous and have now edited it to make it clearer, I hope.

lookstraightahead

xylophone wrote: »

This letter was addressed to your landlord?

If so, you didn't have the right to open it?

I think the prequel was a different thread where it was debated that you actually can open it.

Feel for you op x

silvercar

1. Am I correct to assume this has been issued as the landlord is behind with the mortgage payments?
Could there be any other reason?

End of mortgage term.

Breach of mortgage conditions eg letting a property on a residential mortgage.

Mortgage arrears.

G_M

pinklady21 wrote: »

1. Am I correct to assume this has been issued as the landlord is behind with the mortgage payments?
Could there be any other reason? yes

2. Should I send the notice (keeping a copy) to the landlord's agent? (landlord lives abroad) Should I ask for an explanation of where this leaves us as his tenants? yes and yes (but don't necessarily believe the answer)

3. The notice was sent by recorded delivery, but we did not sign for it, it was simply posted through the letterbox. Does this affect the validity of it?
Scotland? I don't know. In England - no.

4. As the landlord has 2 months to remedy matters with the mortgage co, (assuming we send the notice to him as point 2 above), what should we do in the meantime? shop for christmas if you celebrate it) and plan for your new home.

5. Should we contact the lender? or their solicitors? (there are no contact details on the letter) What should we say to them? so who is the letter from? No contact details at all? I find that hard to believe.
Respond briefly making yourself known to them along with your tenancy position.

6. Should we withhold payment of rent - ie keep it in a separate account, but not pay to landlord for now and offer it to lender at some future point instead? I cannot see any evidence that our deposit has been protected, should I advise him that I wish to use this to pay the next month's rent? No. You have a valid tenancy. Pay the rent you owe to your landlord!
No, but check with the deposit schemes.


7. What is the mechanism for the lender to apply to repossess the property? I assume that at the expiry of the 2 months in the calling up notice, the lender then has to apply (I assume to the Sheriff court) for a possession / ejection order?
How long is this likely to take?
Scotland so.. no idea and no idea.

8. If we were to serve notice on our landlord now, giving more than the required 28 days under the PRT, and taking us to say February 2019, would this still be valid if the lender proceeds with repossession proceedings?
I imagine so. In England yes. In Scotland ....?

9. If we served a longer period of notice per point 8, and then decided to leave earlier than we stated on the notice to leave, would be remain liable for payment of rent until the end of the notice period we gave?
I imagine so. In England yes. In Scotland ....?

10. The property is a farm, of which we rent the farmhouse under a PRT. Is there any chance this might count as a non residential property?
I imagine not. In England yes. In Scotland ....?
Sorry for so many questions! Thank you in advance.

...................................................................................................

davidmcn

pinklady21 wrote: »

1. Am I correct to assume this has been issued as the landlord is behind with the mortgage payments?
Could there be any other reason?

There could be other reasons but it's almost certainly because of a default in payment.

2. Should I send the notice (keeping a copy) to the landlord's agent? (landlord lives abroad)

If you like, but the landlord will almost certainly know they're in default as these notices aren't served instantly they miss a payment.

Should I ask for an explanation of where this leaves us as his tenants?

If you like, but they don't need to discuss it with you.

3. The notice was sent by recorded delivery, but we did not sign for it, it was simply posted through the letterbox. Does this affect the validity of it?

Not in the slightest. Just needs to be sent by recorded delivery.

4. As the landlord has 2 months to remedy matters with the mortgage co, (assuming we send the notice to him as point 2 above)

You don't need to send him a copy, he'll have been sent one to his own address.

what should we do in the meantime?

Normal procedures apply, from your point of view. Carry on paying the rent. These things will often be sorted out by the borrower finding the cash to settle the arrears.

5. Should we contact the lender? or their solicitors? (there are no contact details on the letter)

Surely the notice has come from the solicitors, and their contact details are on the letter?

What should we say to them?

"Hello, we are living in the property and are tenants". Or something along those lines.

6. Should we withhold payment of rent - ie keep it in a separate account, but not pay to landlord for now and offer it to lender at some future point instead?

No.

I cannot see any evidence that our deposit has been protected, should I advise him that I wish to use this to pay the next month's rent?

No, but you have alternative remedies if he has failed to protect your deposit (have you actually checked?).

7. What is the mechanism for the lender to apply to repossess the property? I assume that at the expiry of the 2 months in the calling up notice, the lender then has to apply (I assume to the Sheriff court) for a possession / ejection order?
How long is this likely to take?

Yes, and months. Sounds like you'll probably be away before that happens.

8. If we were to serve notice on our landlord now, giving more than the required 28 days under the PRT, and taking us to say February 2019, would this still be valid if the lender proceeds with repossession proceedings?

Yes

9. If we served a longer period of notice per point 8, and then decided to leave earlier than we stated on the notice to leave, would be remain liable for payment of rent until the end of the notice period we gave?

Yes (unless you in the meantime serve a valid alternative period of notice).

10. The property is a farm, of which we rent the farmhouse under a PRT. Is there any chance this might count as a non residential property?

The farmhouse on its own? That's a residential property. The fact you have a view of somebody else's cows doesn't change that.

marliepanda

xylophone wrote: »

This letter was addressed to your landlord?

If so, you didn't have the right to open it?

You’re not telling me after all the years on the board you still think this is true.

Post is sent to addresses, not people.

The OP is not intending to use the info to the landlords detriment.

She had every right to open it.

AnotherJoe

Re the comments about continuing to pay the rent, given the LL is likely in deficit to their mortgage lender, is abroad, and hasn't protected the deposit, I suggest it would be much more pragmatic to ensure that by whatever date the OP leaves, they've recovered their deposit by not paying their rent for whatever period works to accomplish that.
Because otherwise even though in theory they can recover it, get 3x etc, in practice the LL may not have the money and may be unreachable even if they do.

davidmcn

marliepanda wrote: »

You’re not telling me after all the years on the board you still think this is true.

Post is sent to addresses, not people.

The OP is not intending to use the info to the landlords detriment.

She had every right to open it.

Besides, as noted above it's addressed to the occupier - the whole point of it is to give notice to whoever is at the property that it's at risk of being repossessed. The landlord gets their own copy sent to them.

Comms69

xylophone wrote: »

This letter was addressed to your landlord?

If so, you didn't have the right to open it?

As long as the OP wasn't intending to act maliciously with the contents - they were perfectly ok to open it