Flat address does not exist

aestivus

Hi everyone,

Last year, I moved into a studio flat above a shop. There are (I think) four flats in the building, two that have two bedrooms (A and , mine, and what I think is a fourth, but which does not have a number on the door. My understanding is that everything is owned by the one landlord.

All bills are included in my rent, so I did not need to worry about council tax, electricity, etc when I moved in. Some time ago, however, I did attempt to change my electoral roll address to my new flat. The council eventually wrote back to me to tell me that my address did not exist.

My research now seems to suggest that my flat does not officially exist - it isn't in the council tax search, nor in the Royal Mail search, etc, etc. I was also unable to get a phone contract with the provider I was looking at because, again, my address did not come up.

This all suggests to me that my landlord is being sneaky and hasn't actually had my flat registered as a separate property. Council's last word to me was that they were going to investigate my property; does that mean my landlord is likely to end up getting caught out, or is it likely to slip on by? I'm not thrilled about upsetting him, because I'd ideally like to stay another year before I buy a property... but I'm also conscious that not being on the electoral roll may well count against me in trying to get a mortgage which all rather defeats the purpose.

I suppose my question is: is there anything else I should/can do? Am I likely better off moving elsewhere?

Thank you in advance!

CIS

All bills are included in my rent, so I did not need to worry about council tax, electricity, etc when I moved in. Some time ago, however, I did attempt to change my electoral roll address to my new flat. The council eventually wrote back to me to tell me that my address did not exist.

Stating that council tax is included in the rent, and finding out that there is no apparent address, is a clear indicator that the landlord has not registered the property correctly.

Unless the property falls in to one of a few specific situations then council tax is always due from the tenant of the property and the tenancy agreement cannot alter this. You will receive a backdated council tax demand once the valuation office band the property.

It would be likely that the property is part of the non-domestic assessment at the moment and that he has illegally created a residential property from that. It would not be uncommon to find that it does not meet the relevant statutory building regulations or meet the legal requirements for a rented property.

You may well find that the action by the council removes the option of you continuing to remain resident.

aestivus

Joy.

Thanks for that. I guess I will see what happens (and be prepared to have to move).

theartfullodger

If he's fiddling with planning & building regs he's probably fiddling his taxes.


Inform landlord you feel duty bound to inform HMRC of the arrangement: And do so.

HampshireH

How do you get post? Where is your driving licence registered to (if you drive) as this has to be your current address. How have you got contemts insurance? Where do your payslips and HMRC write to you at. How will you vote if your not registered and have no address to register at.

Life can be very challenging without a postal address.

aestivus

I have a postal address that works for most things - my driver's licence lists this address, HMRC has sent things to me here, that all works. That's how it hasn't been an issue up until now! But it is now starting to concern me, hence why I'm now looking into it.

HampshireH

Sorry when you said it isnt in a royal mail search i assume that meant they didnt deliver you mail

davidmcn

HampshireH wrote: »

How will you vote if your not registered and have no address to register at.

Even the homeless can register to vote - not having a "proper" residential address shouldn't prevent registration.

HampshireH

Davidmcn I did not know this! Thankyou i always assumed you had to be registered with an address.

CarrieVS

I spent six months living at an address that didn't officially exist, and I got post delivered fine (not pizzas, but that was a fault of a certain takeaway company's website.) Some things were a right pain to get sorted, and some things I never did manage to do before I moved out anyway.

In my case I don't think there was any intent to deceive: just incompetence and/or apathy. I lived in the ground floor flat of a pair that had been:
- built as flats
- converted to a single dwelling, properly registered as such, gas and electric meters combined, etc, etc
- converted back to separate flats, and not properly registered.

This sounds a lot dodgier.

pramsay13

When I built a new property in my existing grounds I had to register the address with the local council and the Royal Mail.
Why not just start that process and see what happens?
Any other websites take their addresses from Royal Mail so a weeks / months after Royal Mail upload the address it will start appearing on the drop down menu of other websites when you put in the postcode.