This is day 7 of my 31 days of tips on tenancy agreements series. To see the rest of the series click here.
Putting the landlords and tenants address in tenancy agreements
Landlords:
There needs to be a contact address for the landlord. If the landlord is living outside England and Wales, note that there also needs to be an address which is in England or Wales.
The reason for this is section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. This provides that a landlord must give his tenant notice of an address in England and Wales for the service of documents.
Until this is done, any rent will be treated as not being due from the tenant. Which means that the landlord will not be entitled to sue or evict for non payment of rent, if the s48 information has not been provided. This is not as bad as it sounds though, as once the information has been given, all the back rent will fall due.
The notice giving the information is generally known as a Section 48 Notice. Although it can be given to the tenant separately, it is normally included as part of the tenancy agreement. A case in the 1980′s confirmed that provided the address is given somewhere in the tenancy agreement this would suffice – it does not have to specifically say that it is being provided under s48.
It does not have to be the landlords’ home address. It can be his business, and often it will be his managing agents. However it must be somewhere in England and Wales.
It is particularly important to remember to check the s48 notice where the landlord lives in Scotland or abroad. In these cases, if the landlord is not using a local agent, he will have to arrange for a friend or relative to agree to have their details given as the address for service of notices. If you arranging for this, make sure that they realize that any documents served must be forwarded on to you promptly. You will be deemed to have had notice of any paperwork severed on you there, even if you actually have never seen it.
Note that if the landlord is a limited company, the address for the service of documents will normally be the companies registered office.
Tenants:
For new tenants, landlords sometimes like to include their previous address, e.g. where they were living if they signed the tenancy in advance. Otherwise they will be living at the property. Note that if they are not living at the property (e.g. if they have sub let it) then they will have lost the protection of the Rent Act or the Housing Act and will be a common law tenancy – see day 4.
However if the tenant is a company, again, the registered office should be given. I also like to include the company registration number as well – you can usually find both of these from Companies House.
Do you have any comments on this section? Have you been ever caught out by not having a section 48 notice? Do you include a tenants address?
Tomorrow I will be discussing guarantors.
NB Read about my tenancy agreements service here.
Related posts:
Thanks for this series. Although some of the law-specifics don’t apply here, you give many good tips and suggestions for our agreements. Thanks again for the info.
Many thanks for the information. Is it acceptable for the Landlord’s address to be a P.O. Box (in England)? I am a private landlord and would prefer not to be telling tenants my home address.
Many thanks
I can understand that. The legislation says “an address in England and Wales at which notices (including notices in proceedings) may be served on him by the tenant”.
I have had a quick look at the court rules and I cannot find anything which says legal proceedings should not be served via a PO Box. However it may be better to use an accommodation address.
I was under the impression that any rental agreements I issue to be legally binding the address given for the company must be the registered company address. Your advice seems to indicate otherwise??
So far as I am aware, using an address other than the registered office address will not invalidate the tenancy, no. However it is best to use the RO.
Is it acceptable for a landlord to provide an address of an empty home, meaning nobody lives at the address.
it depends on the circumstances. For example if he had an office there it would be all right. I have done a post on addresses here http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2010/09/22/do-landlords-need-to-disclose-their-home-address/
I am currently taking advice for not having a section 48 notice in my rent agreement and not having a further address supplied by any means for my landlord. I was told that if I delberately withold rent to then be in arrears I am breaking the law, but if I don’t have a section 48 where do I pay the rent to anyway?
I actually paid up to date less £20 and it is that I am being harassed for but surely without my section 48 my landlord can’t now demand it or serve a 8 notice on me.
My landlord uses an agent who supplied no details either, she has stopped coming. The landlord has now phoned and wants the HB in the bank but the council won’t do that, he doesn’t want it in his bank and wants this woman to come back but she won’t, so what do I do now?
Your landlord is not entitled to the rent if he has not complied with section 48.
However as soon as he does comply, then the rent will become payable immediately.
£20 is not much, but it you withhold a larger sum the general advice is to put it in a separate bank account and just keep it there, so you can pay it over quickly if necessary. DON’T spend it!