[newbie_tentant]

HI,

Hope you can help..

we are living in a private rented place at the moment..

but we are sure the landlord pretends to live there?! - we get all his bills, mortgage statements, gas, electric all to his name delivered to our house.

Our bills are included in our rent including council tax.. but recently we had his council tax bill for that property come through made out to his name.

i have been looking in to it and surely we should be paying our own council tax?
Also, the above appears to suggest that he doesn't have a buy-to-let mortgage?

Can anyone help in this matter? if they have experienced similar or what we should do?

[emilyjAMES]

hi,
i lived in somewhere exactly like this.
the landlord even kept a room free at the back of the house so that if anyone questioned why all the bills came there he would say he lived there (he didnt)
he also claimed fuel allowance from the government and used it for our property.
it is usually their way of not declaring the income they receive from the house and so all of your rent is tax free to him.

[weeowen]

[Penant The Tenant]

Can you not just be happy with where you're living? whatever is happening you're not going to live for free.

[Bluey]

I'd side with the original poster - the landlord perhaps doesn't have permission from his lender to let - conversion from residential to buy to let mortgages usually incurs a fee and higher mortgage interest rate.

Also, he may be trying to conceal the letting income from the tax authorities. Finally, if he successfully gives the impression of living there, he will get away with paying Capital Gains Tax when he sells up which starts to kick in 3 years after it is deemed to be an investment rather than a personal asset.

Not many landlords who live out include bills in their rentals in case, for example, the tenants put the heating on 24/7.

Your choices are to either accept he's not a regular landlord but that you are happy with the arrangement and property or contact Shelter to ask for advise.

If your contract was issued after 01 April 2007 and the property is in England/Wales, then your landlord was required by law to protect the deposit in a Tenancy Deposit scheme. Does this apply and did he?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/index.htm

By law rental property that has gas appliances/gas boiler, the landlord is obliged to get the gas equipment checked on an annual basis and give the tenants a copy of the Corgi gas safety certificate. 30 people each year in the UK die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Does this apply and did he?

As for bills/council tax, it's pretty much whatever is in your contract that's been agreed between you and the landlord.

[king_tut]

If you do go through with your course of action the only rexsult I can see is your rent being raised at best or eviction at worst. Are you being charged an extortionate rent? Is the place neglected/dirty? Is the fact tha your Landlord's mail is coming to your address realy bothering you that much? After all someone elses mail is not your business. I suggest that if you don't like it, move elsewhere!

[weeowen]

[king_tut]

[Bluey]

king tut - obviously people will take different stances around taxes - but i think this type of activity can be potentially riskier for tenants.

Firstly, the landlordunlikely to register deposits in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme in case they think the inland revenue will use this as a data source. However, tenants can seek redress for this in the courts.

Secondly, if they are evading their responsibilities in general, they are unlikely to bother with a gas safety check - each year tenants die from this basic failure. Again, tenants can escalate this to the local environmental health.

Thirdly, if the mortage lender finds out that the property is let, they can cancel the arrangement. Also, I think that in the event the property is repossessed and the landlord did not have permission to let, there is no protection from eviction whatsoever.

lastly, if a landlord is shifty in this respect, what are the chances of them respecting housing law, such as undertaking repairs and following the rules around eviction, harassment/entitlement to quiet enjoyment of the property, etc?

[king_tut]

I agree in principal with what your saying Bluey. It just sounds to me that the person who started this thread is being v petty, I mean if all they have to worry about is the landlords mail coming to the property & whether its a buy-to-let mortage or not, thenthey musn't have to many problems in life. Also sounds to me that the only upshot of being a whistle-blower in this situation is gona be a steep increase in rent or eviction. If the rent is fair & the accomodation decent then why kick-up such a fuss over anal pettyness? Sometimes its just best to let sleeping dogs lie...

[Bluey]

Yes, unfortunately, sometimes it's better for tenants not to make a fuss (or to serve their revenge cold, after they've left) than antagonise a dodgy landlord.

For example, some landlords will simply evict tenants that are chasing them to do arrears rather than attend to them despite their legal obligations. If a landlord serves notice correctly, they are no required to give a reason to evict a tenant - the tenant must leave. So there is an unfortunate risk that in asking for their basic rights (landlord to do repairs) some tenants will just be asked to leave.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/risk_of_eviction

However, my understanding is that if a landlord hasn't protected a deposit in the Tenancy Deposit Scheme if required, the notice that they serve is regarded as invalid by the court and the court can order the landlord to pay x3 the sum of the deposit back to the tenant as compensation.

[Penant The Tenant]

[newbie_tentant]

firstly..

its not being petty.

secondly..
in ref to gas.. no certificate! (its an ongoing issue!)

thirdly,
property is in good nick.. mainly because we decorated it! purchased our own lawn mower, hedge trimmers and keep the property very nice - so much in fact that our neighbours often comment on this!.

All of this is done at our expense.

the reason i want to find out about the other stuff is that i dont want a big council tax bill coming through at one point! (as he includes in rent)

its getting a joke now!

[newbie_tentant]

oh.. and anyone who is trying to fraud the tax man is a Scum bag that deserves all the hardships they get in life!!

No one likes paying tax and if you can get around it legally then fine but blatant theft is just annoying as its the rest of us that end up paying it!

[king_tut]

newbie_tennant, you are a sucker and a fool for buying a lawnmower and spending money re-decorating the place. If I was your landlord I would do my utmost to kick your whinging, whining, petty & anal butt out of where you are. I am sure other tennants(less bitchy) could be got in at v short notice.

But lets be fair here, have you voiced your concerns to the landlord? I am sure that a little bit of dialouge could sort many things out.

Thirdly, people will always have to subsidise things through tax, its just the way life is. People will cheat the taxman, if they have the balls to do it then good luck to them.

[Bagus]

[color=red]

king_tut wrote:

newbie_tennant, you are a sucker and a fool for buying a lawnmower and spending money re-decorating the place. If I was your landlord I would do my utmost to kick your whinging, whining, petty & anal butt out of where you are. I am sure other tennants(less bitchy) could be got in at v short notice. But lets be fair here, have you voiced your concerns to the landlord? I am sure that a little bit of dialouge could sort many things out. Thirdly, people will always have to subsidise things through tax, its just the way life is. People will cheat the taxman, if they have the balls to do it then good luck to them.

[/color]

I agree with King_tut and Penant the tenant, some years ago I had a dodgy tenant cost me around £10,000 to evict him out of my property, he dodged a housing benefit, claiming rent while he was working in restaurant, I came around oneday to collect the rent he didnt pay for 2 months, and he gets violent, he throw a TV stand to us, luckly missed, instead of all this he sue me for bodily harm that we didn't do, he injured himself, can you believe it!! Apparantley I found out from his previous employer he does this to make money, I hope the bastard got around his Karma. Luckly whilst he was there my property gone up by £10,000 in just six months. I was so stressed out because of this bastard "Dodgy Tenant" beware!! He thinks he wants to live for free and get benefits aswell !! Complete sucker... he was...

[Penant The Tenant]

[king_tut]

I agree totaly with Pennant & Bagus here. All questions/enquiries etc need to be laid down before moving in by both parties. Its no use bitching about it when you have moved in. Sorry there Newbie_tennant but if you don't like your current living arrangement then move on. Its a free world. Its true also that you certainly get what you pay for.

I am a tennant myself, but I certainly belive that you get what you pay for. If I was in your position I would be delighted as it sounds like you are getting a property at below market value. Who cares if the Landlord is not on a buy-to-let mortage? Who cars if he is diddling the taxman? If he says council tax is all-inclusive, then I would take his word for it or ask him for it in writing. If you want a property that fits your "moral beliefs" then get it but prepare to pay more for it!

Incedentily Penant, sounds like you run a good property, what area your firm based in??

[newbie_tentant]

hi all, why does everyone assume that because i am complaining.. i have cheap rent.

I pay well over a grand a month for a 1 bed flat!.. i pay for the area.

at the end of the day, it was my first time renting. it was offered to me through a friend of a friend.. i didnt know all the facts and i came here for some advice. instead i get abuse from a load of landlords who think we are being 'whiny'.

at the end of the day king tut.. you come across as a twat who thinks that the landlord is always right.

Yes i have an issue when the gas man comes around and condems the boiler... yes i have an issue with the amount we pay.. do i constantly complain.. no..
does my landlord kick me out.. no.. why? because i pay on time and he knows that tenants are his bread and butter and to get someone who puts up with his crap will be hard... i do not moan about it as some may suggest, this post for me to find information .. sorry if that comes across as moany!..


so i will go ask some people who actually know what they are talking about.. and not some dodgy landlords who think they are some sort of property mogul!

Remember Tenants are who pay YOUR mortgages..

i really hope the credit crunch takes hold and you lose your properties.

Post closed.

[emilyjAMES]

I totally agree with your last post.
Landlords are out for all they can get and anyone that dares to complain is labelled as a bad tenant.
Why should they be able to dodge paying taxes etc when normal people like us who rent the places are struggling?
Its why they are so rich.

[Cov]

newbie_tentant ... yeah, it would be a good idea to check ...

1. whether your landlord pays income tax for the place he rents out, by calling the free tax fraud hotline of your borough, easily found via google.
2. whether your landlord get's the "one-occupancy-discount" of 25% as pointed out by weeown.
3. whether your landlord has secured your deposit money at all, if you have moved in after 6th April 2007 though.
4. ... what Shelter says to that, as Bluey has suggested.


Penant The Tenant and king_tut ... ccould you cancel your membership with gumtree and save us from your vomit please ? It would be nice if we could get rid of the dumb fucks here, thank you.

Incredible what Zombies we have to put up with. They must be Zombies because a human being would have at least some brain, while Zombies have none.

Are you still wondering for why we have so many problems in our world ?
Because there are too many dumb fucks around ... just look at the two Zombies mentioned above.

[king_tut]

Cov - why don't you cancel your membership? You are scum - encouraging someone to be a grass. A cowardly, whistle-blowing squealer. You sound to me like a real "curtain twitcher", the type that views Crimewatch UK as "a monthly chance to grass up your neighbours". I would realy love to bump into you down a dark alleyway, thats for sure.

To Nexbie_Tennant, well if you don't like your living arrangement, then piss-off and live elsewhere.

Furthermore I would like to point out that I am not pro-landlord. I just do not like the whiny, petty, anal bitching that that Newbie_tennatn is doing. I don't like cry-babies. Either move out or get on with making the best of your situation & shut up with the moaning.

As for posts about tax etc, there are far bigger fish out there screwing every one of us out of taxes every yr. This landlord is v small fry. Why not put energy into going after the bigger fish?

[Cov]

[weeowen]

[king_tut]