Landlord using our address (his address)

Nothingisvalid

We live in a private rented flat for now, our landlord lives abroad but is still using our address as his own, he says medical bills are too expensive and he brings his children here to the doctor and dentist he asked me to lie to yhe doctor surgery to say we all live in the same house, he still gets all his mail to our house tax bills, bank letters etc and asks me to take them to his sisters house who stays round from us, is this legal what hes doing were hopefully moving out soon b and i dont want to be doing anything i can get in trouble for

princeofpounds

This is the main reason you personally might get in trouble under the current arrangement:


https://www.gov.uk/guidance/paying-tax-on-rent-to-landlords-abroad


The LL is probably also committing a form of mortgage fraud without consent to let, and may have tax issues and in theory NHS issues (not that they tend to pry into such things).

theartfullodger

Post post back in post-box with "Not known at this address, return to sender".


Never lie:



I 'ates crooks & cheats.


Spend £3 with land registry & get copy of deeds:

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry



- check owner's name is same as your landlord (not always!).


Deeds will tell you who is lender: write to lender and explain reality.


Quite likely not declaring rent income to tax man (? how do you pay - please tell us not cash-no-receipt). Report possible tax fraud to HMRC - if he's innocent no harm done.

https://www.gov.uk/report-an-unregistered-trader-or-business



I'm confident everyone on MSE declares all their income etc...

Nothingisvalid

He doesn't claim he lives abroad tho, the address on our tenancy agreement is his sisters address, his wife works abroad and lives there full time and he travels for work i think his base is in the uk tho, i dont know what to do now? Never knew anything about me paying tax on our rent ive always gave them the full amount asked, can i be given a big tax bill now?

Nothingisvalid

We pay rent via bank transfer every month.

theartfullodger

Nothingisvalid wrote: »

...........Never knew anything about me paying tax on our rent ive always gave them the full amount asked, can i be given a big tax bill now?

If HMRC decide he lives abroad under HMRC rules and landlord does not have written approval from them then yes, 20% of rent ever paid:



In the circumstances I'd be withholding 20% of tax from now on until all paperwork sorted.


Appreciate LL will be "unhappy".

Mrs_pbradley936

I don't know why he has to involve you at all he can just keep everything in his name and address and ask the Royal Mail to redirect to his sister.

Nothingisvalid

Its been over a year since we moved in, i dont knkw if royal mail do it that long? Plus i think to save him money

buggy_boy

theartfullodger wrote: »

If HMRC decide he lives abroad under HMRC rules and landlord does not have written approval from them then yes, 20% of rent ever paid:



In the circumstances I'd be withholding 20% of tax from now on until all paperwork sorted.


Appreciate LL will be "unhappy".

That's probably not the smartest move until you actually know whats going on... Ask him if he is living abroad, if he comes back with yes then I would contact HMRC and if need be withhold 100% of the rent until the tax bill arrears is paid, if he says no then you have proof he does not(If it later turns out he does then thats fraud on his side and you are covered).

I agree with asking the landlord to redirect mail so its nothing to do with you.. Not sure why the landlord does not just use his sisters address. Either way it sounds dodgy and I would not want to be involved in any sort of fraud so cover your !!!..

diggingdude

Landlord won't pay to redirect because he has a free person living in the property to do it for him. I would wait till a few bank letters come through and then send them back "no longer at this address".....but then I am pretty

Hillwalker11

My son is a landlord(only 1 property) and he lives abroad.My husband has POA so that he can deal with any issues with the property through the managing agents.All correspondence comes to our address. Being a LL abroad everything has to be set up properly and there should be someone in England who can deal with affairs to do with the letting.At the very least he should have his mail directed to his sister's address.
Very difficult to be a good landlord living abroad if you do not have everything legally covered in England.