Landlord stole from us then just dissolved company he used to rent to us...

gaz457

tacpot12 said:

You can try to stop the company being struck off. 

Already done that, Companies House have said they won't allow it until at least November.

gaz457

user1977 said:

Who actually owns the property? The same company who owes you money or somebody else?

The house is owned by the company director's wife (they are separated)

gaz457

pinkshoes said:

gaz457 said:

Hi everyone,

We rented a house for a few months in Scotland and then moved out when our landlord started demanding payment for wear and tear in the roof. Anyway, after a long tribunal (1,5 years), it was decided that he should pay us quite a large sum of money as our deposit wasn't stored in a deposit scheme and I also had no right to charge us for the things he did. We have contacted the local sheriff's office who can enforce the debt but they say that Companies House is showing that there is an active proposal to strike off the company, which means there is very little chance of recovering our money.

My question is, has anyone had experience with this, do we have any options? Is it really that simple in UK/Scottish law to scam people? I also have property in Scotland so can I just use a limited company to take a deposit from someone, not give it back and then close the company and repeat. Obviously I don't want to do that but I'm struggling to believe that the possibility is there.

Thanks for any help!

So this sounds like the LL set up a COMPANY to rent out houses, rather than just himself renting out a property?

Surely the property belongs to the LL? Or is he trying to state that you rented from the company, but the company doesn't own the house - he does, so therefore no assets to chase as they are separate entities??

What does your original paperwork say about who you are renting from? 

I *think* that if the landlord sets themselves up as a limited company, then the property they're renting also needs to belong to the limited company too, so I can't see why you shouldn't be able to put a charge on the property. 

Or perhaps the property has no mortgage??

The house is owned by the company director's wife (they are separated). The tenancy agreement mentions only the company name. He has multiple companies and is currently building 6 more houses at a cost of 3 million GBP.

RHemmings

First, I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. 

I was curious about this concept of a landlord (or someone else) continuing to own a home when it is rented out through a limited company. As presented in this thread, this looks like a huge loophole by which landlords can get away with all sorts of things. 

Most sources I can find seem to assume that on using a limited company to let out a property, that the property is transferred to the limited company. E.g. here: https://www.landlordvision.co.uk/blog/forming-limited-company-right-move-landlords/ 

I've not been able to find out (and I would like to know) how not transferring the property is seen legally. Is this a legal requirement, or does a landlord have a legal choice not to do so? I've no idea. https://www.landlordvision.co.uk/blog/forming-limited-company-right-move-landlords/

There are some circumstances whereby a director can be sued, but they are complicated and it's way beyond me to know whether this situations qualifies or not. E.g. is this wrongful trading or not? I have no idea. https://www.girlings.com/latest/when-does-a-director-assume-individual-liability  

Anybody can report a director as 'unfit'. https://www.gov.uk/company-director-disqualification  It seems that having a director struck off is usually initiated by the insolvency service or the court. https://www.higgsllp.co.uk/guides/disqualification-as-a-director-everything-you-need-to-know   The OP has already won a court case if my reading is correct. But, I have no idea the process. While it will not get the OP back their money, this would prevent a landlord simply moving from company to company leaving debts behind.

A lot of it comes down to questions that an actual lawyer is needed for. E.g. if the company has no assets, then what happened to the deposits? They should be an asset, at least. If the deposits weren't protected, and the landlord (the person, not the company) just banked them, then this might qualify under wrongful trading, etc. But, I'm just a non-lawyer having a look around.

And, of course, even if legally you can follow these routes, that doesn't mean that it's practically a good idea.