There are two main statutory rights that tenants have relating to their landlords address, one under the civil law and one under the criminal law (see the difference between the two here).
- The civil law right is under s48 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987, and
- The criminal law right is under s1 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985
Lets take a look at these.
Section 48 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987
The reason behind this section is that there will sometimes be circumstances under which a tenant will need to sue his landlord. However in order to sue someone you need to have an address for them, in this country (ie in England / Wales) so the court paperwork can be served on them.
If a landlord fails to provide his address to his tenants, or lives outside ‘the jurisdiction’ (as we lawyers call it), then this puts the tenant at a disadvantage. He will not be able to bring a claim.
So Parliament has helped the tenant by making it a legal requirement for all landlords to provide their tenants with details of an address, in England and Wales, where their tenants can serve notices on them, including notices in Court proceedings.
The section is given ‘teeth’ as the tenant is legally entitled to withhold his rent until such time as the address is provided.
Mind you, tenants should not spend the money because as soon as the address is provided (in what is generally known as a s48 notice although it does not have to be in any particular form – a letter will do) then the tenant’s right to withhold the rent is lost and all the back rent immediately falls due.
However s48 is a powerful right for tenants, and landlords have lost claims for possession based on rent arrears when they have issued proceedings before serving a s48 notice on the their tenants.
Section 1 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985
Under this section, where a tenant does not know his landlords name and address, he can request this in writing from the landlord’s agent or the person who collects the rent.
Once the request is made, this person must provide the information, in writing, within 21 days.
If he fails to provide the information ‘without reasonable excuse’ then this is a criminal offence punishable by a fine.
The problem is that, for the person to be punished, they must first be prosecuted in the Magistrates Court. And most tenants don’t know how to do that. I have to confess that I don’t know how to do it either, never having done any Magistrates Court work when I was in practice.
If at all possible though you will want to persuade someone else to bring the prosecution for you – or at least threaten to do so.
Most people will think of the Police when something is a criminal offence, but the Police are generally unwilling to get in involved in housing issues, which they will usually dismiss as being a ‘civil matter’ (even when it concerns a criminal offence).
The majority of housing related prosecutions are brought by Local Authorities.
However Local Authorities nowadays are so short of staff that they often find it difficult to bring all the prosecutions they should for more serious matters and are unlikely to want to use up their valuable time for something relatively minor such as this.
Although if you have a friendly Tenancy Relations Officer, you may be able to persuade him to write a letter for you.
The best course of action
The best course of action will really depend on why you want to know the address in the first place. If it is because you want to sue, then use s48.
Just be careful not to spend the money, as it will all fall due once the address has been provided (best to just put it in an interest bearing bank account and leave it there).
However be aware that under s48 a landlord does not have to give his OWN address. It just needs to be somewhere you can serve notices. So often the address given is the letting agents address.
There is nothing wrong with this – and if the agents address is given then, if you issue proceedings, that is where you should serve the paperwork.
But maybe you want the landlords address for another reason? Maybe, for example, you want to inform the landlord about the bad practices of his agent. In which case, the agent will have a vested interest in not telling you.
However, here your Local Authority TRO may be willing to help you (under the L&T1985 s1). There’s no harm in asking anyway. Most agents will not want to risk a prosecution as it will affect their credibility.
Finally, if you want to know the landlords address so you can go and throw stones through his window and embarrass him by standing outside his house telling everyone what a rotten landlord he is – well you are unlikely to get much help here, It might even be considered a ‘reasonable excuse’ for the agents to withhold it.
The Land Registry
Alternatively, you can always do a search at the Land Registry to find out who the owner of the property is. Bear in mind though that the owner of the property may not necessarily be your landlord. The property could have been sublet, and your landlord’s tenancy may not be registered.
However its somewhere to start if the other methods are not getting you anywhere.
Chris says
May 29, 2014 at 8:19 AMAs an alternative:
If the property suffers from any sort of disrepair (quite likely if the landlord is avoiding disclosing their name and address) a complaint to the local authority Environmental Health Officer (or Private Sector Housing) should result in a HHSRS property inspection.
As part of the inspection process the local authority should write to the landlord – and will usually be happy to send a copy of their letters to the tenant.
Ben Reeve Lewis says
May 29, 2014 at 9:20 AMI was having an interesting debate with one of our EHOs about this the other day Tessa. I have always taken the view you espouse here that it doesnt have to be the landlords actual address just ‘An address’will suffice but the debate forced me to look again at the legislation for the first time in years and i have to say I agree with his interpretation.
Section 47 (1) a: says “The name and address of the landlord”. the term ‘An address’ only comes up in Section 47 (1) b where it reads “if that address is not in England and Wales, an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on the landlord by the tenant”.
Which suggests to me that if the landlord lives in England or Wales then the address must be “The landlord’s address”, ‘An address’ only seems to apply if the landlord doesnt live in England or Wales.
I may be completely wrong, I’d be interested in your thoughts on this. It’s a very common thing to see landlords put their agents address on a contract to fulfill Section 47. I know my contract has that.
Also I would add there is also another provision for getting a landlords details, Section 7 of the Protection from Eviction act 1977 allows a prosecuting authority to serve notice on an agent to reveal a landlord’s name and address. This reads “If for the purpose of any proceedings (whether civil or criminal) brought or intended to be brought under this Act, any person serves upon—
(a)any agent of the landlord named as such in the rent book or other similar document, or
(b)the person who receives the rent of the dwelling,a notice in writing requiring the agent or other person to disclose to him the full name and place of abode or place of business of the landlord, that agent or other person shall forthwith comply with the notice.”
Tessa Shepperson says
May 29, 2014 at 9:39 AMRe section 47 – That may be Ben, but in here I was talking about s48. Here it HAS to be just ‘an address’ because it is specifically requiring an address in England and Wales – and if the landlord lives in Brazil, he won’t have one.
It is actually the ‘landlord living in Brazil’ situation the section is aimed at, as the tenant needs to have somewhere in England & Wales to serve court proceedings otherwise he can’t sue the landlord.
Section 47 is also significant but I think less so. In an AST, payment of the rent is not dependent on a written demand being made. Section 47 specifically refers to service charges rather than actual rent and it is therefore aimed more at long leases where service charges are important.
Tessa Shepperson says
May 29, 2014 at 9:47 AMQuick addendum to my reply before people start pointing out that you can get leave of the court to serve proceedings out of the jurisdiction – yes you can but it will make things more difficult for the tenant.
Thanks for pointing out the s7 PFEA77 but that is again a criminal offence which may be difficult for tenants to enforce. Most tenants will not want to start their civil claim against the landlord by bringing a prosecution in the Magistrates courts.
The easiest way to get ‘an address’ is the s48 route as the tenant can just withhold rent and does not have to apply to court. But this may not bring forth the landlords home address.
Colin Lunt says
May 29, 2014 at 9:57 AMIf memory serves correct there is a difference between what is required under two LTA sections one of which specifies that it must be a place or abode and not a business address. I will double check when I have a moment.
I have used the failure to supply residential address as a defence to a rent claim successfully.
Tessa Shepperson says
May 29, 2014 at 10:03 AMS47 says the name and address of the landlord (s47(1)(a)
s48 says an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on him by the tenant
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/31/part/VI
I think there was a case recently about s47 which said that it had to be the landlords actual address.
But s47 goes on to say (s47(2))
any part of the amount demanded which consists of a service charge (“the relevant amount”) shall be treated for all purposes as not being due from the tenant to the landlord at any time before that information is furnished by the landlord by notice given to the tenant
As we are here talking about ASTs (well I am anyway) service charges are not normal.
The definition of a service charge is set out in s18(1) of the LTA85 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/70/section/18
Ben Reeve Lewis says
May 29, 2014 at 10:11 AMPerfect, I stand corrected Tessa.
This kind of stuff is to my mind very instructive for landlords who I usually find arent familiar at all with not only the laws that govern what they do but also the astonishing but meaningful minutia of it all that can embroil them in all manner of red tape and annoyances.
A good reason to up knowledge levels with one of your courses.
N_R_M says
May 29, 2014 at 10:47 AMIf the Tenant-L/L relationship has so deteriorated, then by withholding rent and demanding the address (presuming no agent),and if the L/L refused to give their address, then eventually this would prob result in the L/L issuing Court proceedings for rent or possession….this, would have the L/L’s address.
A tad final of course, but if for the purposes of suing the L/L, it may be the only course of action left to the tenant.
HB Welcome says
May 29, 2014 at 12:24 PMLiverpool council seem to have a solution to overseas landlords in their citywide landlord licensing consultation.
https://www.ors.org.uk/web/index.php/survey/index
“THE LICENSE HOLDER MUST…
Live in the United Kingdom”
If you don’t like the current laws, just make your own new ones up.
Colin Lunt says
May 29, 2014 at 1:19 PMI have remembered that the reference to a residential address was in a footnote commentary in Sweet & Maxwell Encyclopedia of Housing Law in the LTA. Maybe Tessa may have access.
HBW
Liverpool Council reference to living in the UK is for the Licence holder not the landlord and is fairly common for licensing schemes.
HB Welcome says
May 29, 2014 at 1:52 PM“Liverpool Council reference to living in the UK… is fairly common for licensing schemes.”
I didn’t know that, can you give a couple of examples?
Ian says
May 29, 2014 at 5:07 PMA search at the Land Registry only costs £3! So I would start there and write to the owner.
If a mortgage company is shown, it may also be worth writing to the managing director of the mortgage company saying you are considering withholding rent due to the agent not giving you the landlords address, asking that they contact the landlord.
just saying says
May 29, 2014 at 6:59 PMChris, can you explain, how wd the local authority EHO or PRO know the landlord’s address?
Ben Reeve-Lewis says
May 29, 2014 at 9:31 PMTrue Ian but I must do 20 or 30 land reg checks each week on landlords and the landlord’s address is often simply given as the owned property, although it can admittedly give you something else.
The mortgage company couldnt reveal the details to someone who isnt requesting that information for the detection and prevention of crime. I can get it for that very reason but a tenant wouldnt.
In fact if the property isnt a buy to let then alerting the lender to the fact that there is a tenancy in place could be counter-productive. Despite sub-letting covenants in standard mortgage contracts I have never know a lender take possession for breaches, they just whack up the interest rate a bit, from residential to business rate but in my experience this usually results in retaliatory eviction from dropping the landlord in the crapper.
Industry Observer says
June 2, 2014 at 2:57 PM@Ian
Land Reg enquiries now free have been since April (if not earlier this year)
s48 address MUST be the Landlord’s personal surface, land direct contact address. No other details, just the address.
Any agent not complying with a s1 request for the LL address is a fool as if prosectuted they will lose and if they do will lose fit and proper person status.
That means no more holding HMO licences (esecially for oversead Landlords) and above all no more ASTs as you cannot hold deposits and so will be kicked out of your own scheme and not taken on by any others apart from, possibly, DPS as the default scheme.
Tessa Shepperson says
June 2, 2014 at 3:18 PMIO – I sorry but s48 (L&T 1987)is specifically for an address for the service of documents in England and Wales. So it CANNOT be the landlords personal home address – because they may not HAVE one in England & Wales.
Many people own and rent out property in England and Wales but live abroad. If s48 specifically required their home address in England & Wales, it would be impossible for them to comply.
So a letting agent address is fine for s48. In fact that is a good reason for an ex pat landlord to HAVE a letting agent.
S47 may be different. But as I say above, that section seems mainly concerned about service charges which are not normally payable by short let tenants.
Industry Observer says
June 2, 2014 at 4:27 PMApols ignore reference to s48 dunno why I even mentioned it as agent is obviously OK for that and have also already said s47 is a non event in 99.9% of residential lettings. For certain where it is freehold.
Focus on the s1 of 85 Act obligations and that it is the Landlords personal address that needs to be given out.
Apologies.
Mark Alexander says
June 3, 2014 at 9:34 PMIs it just me or does anybody else find s48 of L&T act 1987 about as clear as mud on whether a landlord must disclose his private home address or whether a registered office address will suffice?
I’ve recently had a landlord ask the Property118 community whether a council officer can demand the home address of a landlord for HMO licensing purposes and refuse to accept a business address and I’m finding that question equally difficult to answer too – see >>> http://www.property118.com/private-address-required-hmo-licence/66102/
.
Tessa Shepperson says
June 4, 2014 at 8:06 AMAs discussed above Mark, a s48 address does not have to be the landlords residential address – see the comments.
Landlords HMO licensing obligations are a bit off topic here, but you would need to look at the relevant legislation and see exactly what it says.
Industry Observer says
June 4, 2014 at 9:18 AMMark (and all)
The s48 being the agent’s address is long tested as acceptable. Don’t ask me to quote cases but it is to do with business address and the fact HMRC can view a Landlord with only one property as being a business especially if it is let for 12 months or longer and/or has never been his main residence.
S47 has always had to be the Landlord’s address but it just doesn’t apply in residential lettings. Arrears letters are not treated as rent demands for this purpose because as Tessa rightly said earlier, the rent is automatically demanded in residential tenancies. S47 is all about demands for ground rent and service charge.
Demand for Landlord address to an agent under s1 of L&T 1985 has always been a personal surface address for the Landlord. When you think about it and the reasons for the provision being there, it could never be anything else. Or if it was could be useless.