I don't have a UK address for my landlord

zukias

So, my landlord has stopped responding to emails, despite being very responsive during my tenancy whenever an email was sent. I found out today that tthe letting agent dissolved 7 months ago which means I no longer have an address in England and Wales where I can serve notices, etc to, as required by section 48 [can't link ]. So instead I must spend £6.10 for recorded delivery to send a letter to Austria to make sure he has received it, in order for him to tell me his new UK address to which I must send correspondence. And that's *if* he complies and gives me an address first time. Surely this can't be acceptable to be expected to do this?

I understand I can withhold rent but I only owe him 1 more months rent before the tenancy ends, but he holds more than that in deposit, plus I am claiming many times more that in compensation due to him not protecting my deposit for the whole tenancy (he's a complete !!!! of a landlord so don't feel bad for him), so what else can I do if I can't contact him apart from witholding rent?

Any advice is much appreciated

G_M

1) when the tenancy started, it seems he complied with section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 by giving you an address in Eng/Wales for serving notices. Yes?

2) There is no obligation on the LL to update this. The onus is on him to do so if he wishes or needs to.

3) Any legal notice you serve on him at the address provided by him for this purpose (see 1 above) will be deemed 'served' on him. If, for example, you sued him and used that address, and he failed to receive the court papers and hence failed to enter a defence or turn up in court, you would win by default.

4) You therefore do still owe him the rent (under S48). Having said that, given the circumstances, and imminent end of tenancy, I would be inclined not to pay the final months rent. I do not often recommend this. However, if he comes out of the woodwork demanding the rent, you will have established communication!

5) It sounds like you've been paying rent to the agent despite their dissolution 7 months ago, yes? Quite likely the agent has not been passing it on to the landlord. But given that the LL has taken no action to recover what he must perceive to be rent arrears (though it is not!), it also seems likely you will not hear from him regarding the final month's rent.

6) whether you choose to also write to him in Australia ( or email/text /whatever you have) is up to you. I recommend doing so though.

7) I assume from what you've said that you have checked each deposit protection scheme yourself yes?
See
* Deposits: payment, protection and return

8) Assuming you have checked (and no protection), yes you can claim the penalty. Who did you pay? The landlord or the (now dissolved) agent? Do you have proof of payment? If the agent, I would make the claim against both, jointly, using the address provided (see 3 above). Belt & braces and can do no harm to sue both.

9) If/when you win and are awarded a penalty (1-3 times the deposit) (in addition to claiming the deposit itself back), you will then have the issue of enforcing judgement. There are various ways to do this, but given the LL is apparantly resident overseas (is this permanent do you know?), the best might be to place a Charge against the property. It's a long-term strategy since it means he cannot sell the property without first discharging the Charge by paying you - which may take years.

edit:
10) just read your earlier posts:

I have just been made redundant at the same time as being given notice by my landlord

* So this is the same landlord who served you notice in November 2018?
* What happened with that notice? Was it a s21? S8? Was it ever actioned? How?


11)

My current tenancy of 18 months ends on 3rd June.

Or is this a new landlord?

12) What happened with your financial difficulties? Have you been paying the rent for 7 months or are there greater arrears than you suggest here?

AdrianC

I'd pay the last month's rent to the same place you've paid the previous seven months...

Then simply request your deposit back via the protection scheme.

00ec25

AdrianC wrote: »

I'd pay the last month's rent to the same place you've paid the previous seven months...

Then simply request your deposit back via the protection scheme.

err , try reading the OP again. It is already known that the deposit is not protected.

unclear from the OP how long ago the LL stopped responding to e mails in relation to the 7 month old end of the agent.

- who has OP been paying rent to ? agent? direct to LL?
- if direct to LL then obviously there are no arrears, if to agent, and as appears LL has not chased for arrears, then it appears LL made arrangements for the money to still get to him after agent's end.

overall, as suggested by G-M, with the LL now living in Austria, suing him will come down to ensuring you can enforce the judgement through a charging order on the property because it is extremely unlikely the bailiff will have any other assets to seize and sell from which to raise the cash to pay the court award.

AdrianC

00ec25 wrote: »

err , try reading the OP again. It is already known that the deposit is not protected.

Ah, yes...!

zukias

G_M wrote: »

1) .... 12)

1) Correct, we used an agent, so by default, that would be the address we send mail to? However, we sent an email to the landlord which shows we are completely aware that the company is dissolved and that sending mail to this address will not get to him... Does this matter?

5) No, we've always paid it direct to the landlord, except for the initial fees and deposit, which were paid to Parkers.

7) Correct. I have checked all the deposit protection schemes. Further to this, the contract says it has been protected with the Deposit Protection Service, but I called them and they have no record of a deposit being protected at my address. So not only have they not protected it but they have given the false impression that they have done so for the entire term of the tenancy.

8) So I can sue the dissolved letting agent too for an overall 2-6x penalty? How would this work? I would like to do this as the letting agent were beyond terrible to us; long story short, we were burgled and lost £4k shortly after moving in, and there was no sign of a break in so the burglers likely had keys to the flat (keys which went missing just before we moved in). So I will absolutely sue them for anything I can get.

10), 11), 12) All the issues I had with redundancy + S21 notice were at my previous flat, which was in November 2017 (not 2018).

Thanks for taking the time to write a very detailed response, very much appreciated.

AdrianC

You claim against the landlord, using his agent's address.

Claiming against the agent is pointless - they don't exist any more - and your contract was always with the landlord, whose legal responsibility protection is.


Whether it's worth the hassle is another question. But at least you definitely know the landlord has UK assets...

zukias

What would be the implications of overstaying our tenancy? Could we use our situation as an 'excuse' or is this just a bad idea to begin with? As we are becoming increasingly concerned the landlord will not return our deposit altogether.

AdrianC

zukias wrote: »

What would be the implications of overstaying our tenancy?

The landlord can take possession proceedings against you. You will be liable for all costs incurred, and he can enforce that via a court claim. Of course, you can counter-claim for the deposit etc. But...

Could we use our situation as an 'excuse' or is this just a bad idea to begin with?

What did your mother tell you about the exchange rate between wrongs and rights...?

zukias

There is one more thing, in the notices part of the contract, it says:

The Landlord and the Tenant have the right to terminate the Tenancy by giving no less than 60 days advance written notice. The notice is not to be given before 31st March 2019.

the landlord gave us notice on 1st April. Does this count as a section 21? Is he allowed to give us this notice if he hasn't protected our deposit?

I have been reading an article on tenancyagreementservice (can't post links ) and I read this bit:

If the agreement is for a fixed term, a tenant has the right to leave on the last day of the fixed term without giving any notice. If they stay even one day over the fixed term, they will automatically become a periodic tenant and will have to give proper notice unless the landlord agrees to them leaving.

A landlord can end a tenancy at the end of the fixed term (usually 6 months) provided that the tenant has been given two months written notice in the form of a section 21 notice to quit. Download Here.

Which suggests my landlord has given us a Section 21. But he isn't legally allowed to do this because he hasn't protected our deposit.

G_M

zukias wrote: »

1) Correct, we used an agent, so by default, that would be the address we send mail to?
No.
As I said,

he complied with section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 by giving you an address in Eng/Wales for serving notices.

That is the address you use.It may or may not be the agent. It could be his mum. Or me. As I cannot read the address he gave you from here,I do not know.

However, we sent an email to the landlord which shows we are completely aware that the company is dissolved and that sending mail to this address will not get to him... Does this matter?
Please read my points 1 - 3 above.

5) No, we've always paid it direct to the landlord, except for the initial fees and deposit, which were paid to Parkers.
If the agent were not managing the property, but were simply employed to find a tenant and set up the tenancy, that increases the likelihood of the address to be used not being the agent. But as said above, you must read the paperwork!

Note: if no address was given you in writing for serving notices, you do not need to pay rent.

Note also: if you have been paying rent directly to an overseas landlord (as opposed to a UK agent), then you should be deducting 20% tax unless you have received evidence from HMRC that you do not need to do so. Read:
HMRC (Non Resident [= overseas] Landlord Scheme)

7) Correct. I have checked all the deposit protection schemes. Further to this, the contract says it has been protected with the Deposit Protection Service, but I called them and they have no record of a deposit being protected at my address. So not only have they not protected it but they have given the false impression that they have done so for the entire term of the tenancy. Irrelevant. You claim the penalty for non protection.

8) So I can sue the dissolved letting agent too for an overall 2-6x penalty? How would this work?
with difficulty. Unlikely to get anywhere. But you sue both jointly. As I said 'belt & braces'. Better sue too many relevant people than too few!

I would like to do this as the letting agent were beyond terrible to us; long story short, we were burgled and lost £4k shortly after moving in, and there was no sign of a break in so the burglers likely had keys to the flat (keys which went missing just before we moved in). So I will absolutely sue them for anything I can get.
What makes you think the agent was responsible. Not the last tenats? Or the last tenants' weekly cleaner? Or th last tenants daughter's drug-addict boyfriend? Or the gas engineer?Or anyone else eho has ever been given a key.....?

10), 11), 12) All the issues I had with redundancy + S21 notice were at my previous flat, which was in November 2017 (not 2018).
Sorry.Misread the date.

Thanks for taking the time to write a very detailed response, very much appreciated.

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