New Owners of my Rented Flat

Linzie789 · 11 May 2018 at 11:36AM

I have rented my flat for the past 3 years but it has recently been sold with me still in as the tenant. When the survey was done a couple of months ago, the letting agents told me to say I was a friend of the family if the surveyor asked. He didn’t ask but I was not going to lie for them anyway. The sale completed yesterday and I have this morning received a letter for the new owners from their mortgage company. Do you think this means they have obtained a mortgage under false pretences, ie, the mortgage company think they are living here?

If so, where does this leave me legally? I am due to sign a contract for another year’s tenancy today but feel very uneasy about the new owners.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

TonyMMM · 11 May 2018 at 11:45AM

return it as "not at this address"

Their problem, not yours.

mrginge · 11 May 2018 at 11:48AM

Personally I would ring the mortgage company up and tell them.

davidmcn · 11 May 2018 at 11:56AM

Linzie789 wrote: »

Do you think this means they have obtained a mortgage under false pretences, ie, the mortgage company think they are living here?

Probably.

But if you become awkward about it they might choose not to sign you up for another year's lease. Chances are that they'd have trouble quickly turning it into a BTL mortgage even if they wanted to.

need_an_answer · 11 May 2018 at 12:08PM

There are many reasons why the letter may have come to your address,at this stage don't assume a fraudulent activity,but I would make the owners aware that you wont tolerate their mail being delivered going forward.

A few years back we bought an additional BTL property and our address was not correctly linked into the new mortgage which actually resulted in a few letters being sent to our tenant in error. We later both received an apology from the company. Administration errors can happen.

In this instance I would take the letter to the LA and ask them to pass it on to the owner for them to rectify with the provision that any further mail you receive for them will be returned to sender.

Linzie789 · 11 May 2018 at 12:12PM

Thanks very much for your responses. I can accept that the letter may have been wrongly addressed but the request to lie to the surveyor has made me very suspicious. I have just done a bit more research and if the landlord does not have a BTL mortgage or Consent to Let from their mortgage company, it appears that I would have an unauthorised tenancy. That is quite worrying.

need_an_answer · 11 May 2018 at 12:23PM

So you now have 2 choices

confront the LL with your suspicion and possibly get off on a very wrong footing with them

or politely hand in the letter with the request that they amend the correspondence details at the earliest opportunity to ensure you are not sent any further correspondence.

of course you also have the third option of start to look for somewhere else to live as you may not be the correct match of tenant for the new owner going forward.

HampshireH · 11 May 2018 at 12:53PM

If you want to stay I would get the tenancy signed and then sort this out afterwards.

Once the tenancy is signed (depending on any break clauses) you at least have some security behind you. If it all goes wrong for whatever reason you can use your tenancy as supporting evidence for any costs etc at a later date to be covered.

Assuming you will go onto a periodic if you don't sign it and notice could be served (by either)

No idea if that's the correct advice from a legal point of view

davidmcn · 11 May 2018 at 1:04PM

Linzie789 wrote: »

it appears that I would have an unauthorised tenancy.

It's still a valid tenancy, just one which the lender doesn't know about.

I would be more concerned about what else your new landlord can't be bothered dealing with properly.

eddddy · 11 May 2018 at 2:12PM

I guess your concern is about the property being repossessed by the lender... and your tenancy not being binding on the lender, because they didn't agree to it. So you get evicted.

However, Citizens advice say:

Repossession by your landlord's mortgage lender

You may have some rights if your tenancy is binding on the landlord's mortgage lender.

Your tenancy may be binding if any of these things apply to you:
the landlord's lender agreed to the tenancy

you were living in the property when your landlord's mortgage was granted

the landlord's lender has recognised your tenancy in some way, for example, by asking you to pay them rent

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-a-home/repossession-by-your-landlord-s-mortgage-lender/#do_you_have_a_right_to_stay

Looking at point 2 above - you were living in the property when the mortgage was granted, so it sounds like the tenancy might be binding on the lender in your case.

silvercar · 11 May 2018 at 2:17PM

HampshireH wrote: »

If you want to stay I would get the tenancy signed and then sort this out afterwards.

Once the tenancy is signed (depending on any break clauses) you at least have some security behind you. If it all goes wrong for whatever reason you can use your tenancy as supporting evidence for any costs etc at a later date to be covered.

Assuming you will go onto a periodic if you don't sign it and notice could be served (by either)

No idea if that's the correct advice from a legal point of view

No need to sign a new tenancy, the original one is valid.

The mortgage act 2010 Protection of Tenants gives you rights.

If the new buyer obtained a residential mortgage on the property, then this is fraud, obtaining money by deception, he would be in serious trouble (as opposed to someone letting out their property without telling the lender which would "merely" be a breach of mortgage terms).

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New Owners of my Rented Flat

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