Agent won't share landlord details due to GDPR

Jemma01

theartfullodger said:

Who is named as landlord on your tenancy agreement please, the owner of the property you live in or the agency?

To find out name & address of property owner spend £3 online with land registry & get them within 5 minutes.

But to be Landlord you don't have to own property.

Have you written to agency and named landlord using Shelter's draft letter reporting these various defects please? If not do so today.

No rent is due if there is no address given for named landlord (England & Wales) !!!!

Thanks for your help. I have done that two years ago when the agent frustrated me again for refusing to share his details. But the name on my contract, and the address I found via the land registry don't match. The name on the land registry seems to belong to a company rather than an individual, and when i looked up the names of the directors, none of them matched. I need to fetch that out again.

I will look up the letter. I have everything in writing via emails, and I told them that they have 21 days to respond back to me. 

Grumpy_chap

Jemma01 said:

Thanks for your help. I have done that two years ago when the agent frustrated me again for refusing to share his details. But the name on my contract, and the address I found via the land registry don't match. The name on the land registry seems to belong to a company rather than an individual, and when i looked up the names of the directors, none of them matched. I need to fetch that out again.

Is the property you live in owned by the LL leasehold or freehold?  You may not always know but, if it is a flat, then leasehold is most likely.  It is possible that you looked up the details for the freehold and there is a second entry for the leasehold, which could be your LL.

theartfullodger

Thanks, interesting!  As I said to be landlord you don't have to be owner so it could be legit, but probably isn't. There could be an agreement between owner, company, to human granting human the right to rent the place out.

Write to named Landlord, at address given on tenancy, copy agent, keep copy with draft letter from Shelter.  Then you've done what necessary for you to then go on to take further steps outlined bon shelter page where draft letter is.

Addresses may be different for valid reasons, eg when I lived in Scotland the address for me on English tenancy was c/o agent, as if it had been my Scottish address no rent would have been due.

'Phine Shelter free helpline 0808 800 4444 for more advice for keep asking here.

Good luck.  Artful, landlord since 2000

Jemma01

Grumpy_chap said:

Jemma01 said:

Thanks for your help. I have done that two years ago when the agent frustrated me again for refusing to share his details. But the name on my contract, and the address I found via the land registry don't match. The name on the land registry seems to belong to a company rather than an individual, and when i looked up the names of the directors, none of them matched. I need to fetch that out again.

Is the property you live in owned by the LL leasehold or freehold?  You may not always know but, if it is a flat, then leasehold is most likely.  It is possible that you looked up the details for the freehold and there is a second entry for the leasehold, which could be your LL.

Ah, you're absolutely right, I did come to that conclusion at the time that it was obviously the freehold details that I had.

You say "and there is a second entry for the leasehold"... and is that also part of the land registry record? I'm not sure I'll be able to find the old record (and it might be out of date), I'll get another copy and see what i find.

user1977

Jemma01 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Jemma01 said:

Thanks for your help. I have done that two years ago when the agent frustrated me again for refusing to share his details. But the name on my contract, and the address I found via the land registry don't match. The name on the land registry seems to belong to a company rather than an individual, and when i looked up the names of the directors, none of them matched. I need to fetch that out again.

Is the property you live in owned by the LL leasehold or freehold?  You may not always know but, if it is a flat, then leasehold is most likely.  It is possible that you looked up the details for the freehold and there is a second entry for the leasehold, which could be your LL.

Ah, you're absolutely right, I did come to that conclusion at the time that it was obviously the freehold details that I had.

You say "and there is a second entry for the leasehold"... and is that also part of the land registry record? I'm not sure I'll be able to find the old record (and it might be out of date), I'll get another copy and see what i find.

The leasehold would be a separate title. Note it may not necessarily have up to date contact details for the landlord anyway.

Grumpy_chap

Jemma01 said:

Ah, you're absolutely right, I did come to that conclusion at the time that it was obviously the freehold details that I had.

You say "and there is a second entry for the leasehold"... and is that also part of the land registry record? 

I just did a search for our property and it returns two titles:


That came up straight away.  If you don't see all the titles, you may need to adjust the search criteria slightly, fo example if you live at Flat 6b, post code XXX 123, try around:

6b, XXX 123
6, XXX 123
6-b, XXX 123
6 B, XXX 123
flat b, 6, XXX 123
Flat 2, number 6, XXX 123

Etc.

Jemma01

@user1977

@Grumpy_chap
@theartfullodger

Thank you guys, very much appreciated. I found it, and the name does match. I must've cluelessly picked up the wrong one [not very educated when it comes to properties 😣]. I'm so relieved. I will write him a letter and attach pictures of the property. At least I would have cleared my conscious.

Grumpy_chap

Good luck @Jemma01

Keep the letter short, polite and factual.  Don't put anything in about failure to respond or criticising the agent as you don't want to damage the relationship with the agent who you will be dealing with a first port of call going forwards.

In fact, you may wish to consider either writing to the agent and cc landlord, or vice-versa.  Depends who the normal first contact is with.

If the LL has simply been "playing" you, being the "good cop" versus the agent "bad cop" nothing will actually change.

theartfullodger

Jemma01 said:

Thank you guys, very much appreciated. I found it, and the name does match. I must've cluelessly picked up the wrong one [not very educated when it comes to properties 😣]. I'm so relieved. I will write him a letter and attach pictures of the property. At least I would have cleared my conscious.

& in your shoes I'd copy it , calm & polite, to agent, keep copy.

Here is Shelter letter etc etc page I've been referring to, with draft
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_to_report_repairs_to_a_private_landlord
- and what else you can do.  

Shelter are the experts on all matters landlord/tenant, 0808 800 4444 for free helpline (expect a wait on the 'phone..)

Good luck, keep us informed!

canaldumidi

london21 said:

The tenancy agreement usually contains the landlord's details such as contact number and address. 

This is often (usually?), quite legally, the address/contact details of the letting agent. Indeed, it could be the landlord's best mate, or his mum. As long as there is AN address in Eng/Wales, then the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 S48 is complied with.

But as I explained earlier, the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 S1 is an entirely different piece of leglislation and requires the agent to provide the LL's actual address if asked for it in writing.