Agency asking to open letters to landlord and end them pictures

Mimi123456

saajan_12 said:

- The post has been correctly delivered to your address
- You have been specifically asked to open the mail
- The request comes from the agent of the person the mail is addressed to
- You don't intend to commit any fraud with the mail

Those facts mean that there are ZERO legal or ethical implications - you are actually helping them by opening it!

You don't have to however, reason would be because its time consuming rather than any legal worry!

Thank you. Makes sense. I guess I am just overthinking this.

After all it’s probably just some council tax letter. And I just checked my tenancy agreement I have a clause in it to notify and forward correspondence to landlord/agent should I receive some addressed to the landlord

theartfullodger

He's on the fiddle one way or another...eg wrong sort of mortgage, not declaring rent income to tax man, not told taxman he's living abroad.

Such a shame you'd put all his post straight back in a post box marked "not known at this address" : And (I sincerely hope) will continue to do so...

Artful: Landlord since 2000

PS Terrible the quality of glue these days and how so many letters just "fall open" on the door mat....

PPS Does your tenancy agreement require you to do this? If not, you don;t have to!

TripleH

Overseas landlord! Are the necessary documents in place taking tax off the income?

dimbo61

So many different replies !
However if a bailiff comes knocking at your door would you be happy ?
I am a Landlord and it was 5 years before we received a ground rent demand from a company who had bought a number of old ground rents from a closed down Lettings Agents.
Our wonderful Tenants opened the letter and WhatsApp a photo of the " Demand " for prompt payment.
We paid the back Ground Rent and bought out the Rent charge !
Had we missed this Very Very important document we could have lost the house and our Tenants could have been HOMELESS.
This is not a Massive request.
Letters are often sent to the address about planning applications, 
Council Tax demands, Water bills, Energy bills 

eddddy

theartfullodger said:

He's on the fiddle one way or another...eg wrong sort of mortgage, not declaring rent income to tax man, not told taxman he's living abroad.

Such a shame you'd put all his post straight back in a post box marked "not known at this address" : And (I sincerely hope) will continue to do so...

If he was on the fiddle, I think the last thing he would do is ask his tenants to open his post and take a photo of it.

Not only would the tenant have the opportunity to read the letters, they'd have the original letter, plus a copy on their phone, perhaps plus a copy in their email sent folder. I doubt that a landlord on the fiddle would want that much evidence floating around.

TBH, it suggests the opposite to me. The landlord is so sure that he/she is 'squeaky clean', that they don't mind the tenant seeing the content of any letters that arrive.

eddddy

TripleH said:

Overseas landlord! Are the necessary documents in place taking tax off the income?

The landlord is using a letting agent - so the letting agent deals with that, not the tenant.



(Also, FWIW an overseas landlord told me it was really easy for him to get approval from HMRC to receive rental income with no tax deducted. But perhaps there are strict criteria, and that landlord was just lucky and happened to fit the criteria.)

macman

Mimi123456 said:

saajan_12 said:

- The post has been correctly delivered to your address
- You have been specifically asked to open the mail
- The request comes from the agent of the person the mail is addressed to
- You don't intend to commit any fraud with the mail

Those facts mean that there are ZERO legal or ethical implications - you are actually helping them by opening it!

You don't have to however, reason would be because its time consuming rather than any legal worry!

Thank you. Makes sense. I guess I am just overthinking this.

After all it’s probably just some council tax letter. And I just checked my tenancy agreement I have a clause in it to notify and forward correspondence to landlord/agent should I receive some addressed to the landlord

If so, it should be addressed to you: you are the occupier and responsible for CT-not the LL. Unless the property is an HMO.

user1977

macman said:

Mimi123456 said:

saajan_12 said:

- The post has been correctly delivered to your address
- You have been specifically asked to open the mail
- The request comes from the agent of the person the mail is addressed to
- You don't intend to commit any fraud with the mail

Those facts mean that there are ZERO legal or ethical implications - you are actually helping them by opening it!

You don't have to however, reason would be because its time consuming rather than any legal worry!

Thank you. Makes sense. I guess I am just overthinking this.

After all it’s probably just some council tax letter. And I just checked my tenancy agreement I have a clause in it to notify and forward correspondence to landlord/agent should I receive some addressed to the landlord

If so, it should be addressed to you: you are the occupier and responsible for CT-not the LL. 

Only if it relates to the council tax for the period of the OP's tenancy! I presume we're talking about mail relating to the period prior to then.

canaldumidi

theartfullodger said:

He's on the fiddle one way or another...eg wrong sort of mortgage, not declaring rent income to tax man, not told taxman he's living abroad.
....

That's an unfair assumption. As was posited earlier (no pun, yes that's a word!) the LL or his agent may have (rightly) informed the council tax dept that the previous tenant had moved out and the LL was therefore liable for CT pending a new tenancy. This may be his final bill now that OP has moved in.

TripleH said:

Overseas landlord! Are the necessary documents in place taking tax off the income?

Not the OP's business or problem, assuming rent is being paid to (a UK based) agent.

The agent may have some of the LL's tax liabilities, but that's irrelevant here.

Mimi123456

Thank you everyone. 

I opened the letters and sent them the photos and offered to post originals to agency office if needed. 

Haven’t heard back so assuming they are happy with what they got. 

It was a letter from council and indeed nothing for LL to worry about as I will be the CT payer. It’s just the council are slow to register me at the new address.