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My landlord might be non-resident

tim124
tim124 Posts: 10 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
We moved into a flat just over a month ago where the the landlord "manages" the property but has been a pain and barely contactable.

When we collected the keys I spoke to him briefly on the phone and I questioned his residency as I really didn't want a landlord who was not contactable. He asked "why I thought it would be a problem" but never confirmed or denied it. He's given me an address in France to forward post to although I'm waiting for confirmation that he's ok with me deducting the cost of this from the rent!

I've read about the Non-resident Landlords Scheme and I'm worried that if I don't deduct tax from his rent payments, I might be liable for the money in the future.

The relationship has been strained already by his lack of putting our deposit in a scheme within 30 days. He seems crazily disorganised but has promised yet again to do this today. His lack of following all the landlord legal norms and nearly all communications being email put us in a very good position legally. I'm not too worried yet as he's owned the house for 25+ years so there's plenty of equity to go around if things go tits up! I don't want to worsen the relationship so we get evicted immediately when our fixed tenancy is up.

So, how are we meant to know if our landlord is non-resident and can I be held liable for not reporting him while we are living here?
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Comments

  • sal_III
    sal_III Posts: 1,953 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    tim124 wrote: »
    So, how are we meant to know if our landlord is non-resident and can I be held liable for not reporting him while we are living here?
    What is the LL correspondence address in the AST? This should be a pointer.

    I would also ask the LL point blank in an e-mail whether he resides more than 6m per year abroad.

    No way in hell I would agree to pay for mail forwarding to France. I would only agree to do it in the first place if the LL is extra nice/helpful, otherwise just point him to the Royal Mail redirection service which works abroad too
  • tim124
    tim124 Posts: 10 Forumite
    sal_III wrote: »
    What is the LL correspondence address in the AST? This should be a pointer.

    The correspondence address is a UK address but as far as I understood that is a legal requirement for AST as you need to be able to serve legal documents there. It could easily be a friends address so that doesn't help.
    sal_III wrote: »
    I would also ask the LL point blank in an e-mail whether he resides more than 6m per year abroad.

    I can do that and I will but does that stop me from getting fined for not deducting his tax?
    sal_III wrote: »
    No way in hell I would agree to pay for mail forwarding to France.

    I wouldn't normally either but I'm often at the post office, lots of the letters look very angry and urgent and if he covers the cost I don't see any point in being purposefully difficult... just yet.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,405 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    tim124 wrote: »
    So, how are we meant to know if our landlord is non-resident and can I be held liable for not reporting him while we are living here?

    As long as he spends at least 6 months a year in the UK (so that could mean up to 6 months a year in France), he'll be classed as a UK resident.
    • If you're really concerned, write or email your LL and ask him to confirm he's resident in the UK - and keep a copy of the correspondence. (Realistically, HMRC won't expect you to 'play detective', interrogate him, etc)

    But if he's 'innocent', and you trigger an HMRC investigation, and he guesses it was you - he may not be too happy with you.

    (I guess he wouldn't be too happy with you if he was 'guilty' either - but that's another matter.)

    And I guess you've read this: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/paying-tax-on-rent-to-landlords-abroad
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    I don't think you get "fined" for not deducting his tax, you just get billed for the tax. I would deduct it anyway and point out to him he needs to sort it out if he's unhappy.
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 14,584 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Grass him up to HMRC...
    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-tax-evasion


    Bet he's fiddling his benefits also..


    Wonder what else he's not got quite right: Correct mortgage (check Land reg deeds, only £3..), correct insurance (it will matter if the place burns down..) Gas safety cert, safe electrics etc etc etc

    https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,405 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    Grass him up to HMRC...
    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-tax-evasion


    Bet he's fiddling his benefits also..


    Wonder what else he's not got quite right: Correct mortgage (check Land reg deeds, only £3..), correct insurance (it will matter if the place burns down..) Gas safety cert, safe electrics etc etc etc

    https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud


    And he probably beats his wife as well.
  • tim124
    tim124 Posts: 10 Forumite
    He has a French mobile number so it's I don't think it's a long casual holiday.
    davidmcn wrote: »
    I don't think you get "fined" for not deducting his tax, you just get billed for the tax. I would deduct it anyway and point out to him he needs to sort it out if he's unhappy.

    There's a £300 fine for late filing every quarter plus the tax also?

    All great suggestions that I'll certainly do when I move out, but as I said, I'd prefer not to be evicted at the end of the tenancy.

    I will email him to start and ask him to confirm.

    It's just seems crazy that it's the tenants liability to sort out collecting tax for a landlord!
  • tim124
    tim124 Posts: 10 Forumite
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    Correct mortgage (check Land reg deeds, only £3..)

    I already have the deeds. How do I know if he has the correct mortgage?
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 14,584 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    tim124 wrote: »
    I already have the deeds. How do I know if he has the correct mortgage?


    Tricky: Deeds should tell you who mortgage (and 2nd mortgages & charges etc) are with. Lender won't respond to you directly but if you write to the chief exec explaining your concerns etc they might check then if there is something wrong (eg a normal residential mortgage not buy2let..) they might repossess .. ahh.. oh b*m...
  • tim124
    tim124 Posts: 10 Forumite
    edited 17 September 2019 at 2:37PM
    theartfullodger wrote: »
    Tricky: Deeds should tell you who mortgage (and 2nd mortgages & charges etc) are with. Lender won't respond to you directly but if you write to the chief exec explaining your concerns etc they might check then if there is something wrong (eg a normal residential mortgage not buy2let..) they might repossess .. ahh.. oh b*m...

    Yeah, not going to do that. That kind of effort is reserved for if he properly messes us around.
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