Renting a property which has been reposessed

M

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Hi all,

I've been renting a property for the past few months.

In the last few days, I've recieved a letter telling me that the property has been reposessed by the bank.

The letter was from a chartered accountants, who claims to now be acting as reciever and manager of the property, and includes a deed of appointment.

They state that all further rental payments should be made to them.


Now, I'm taken by surprise be all this.

First off, everything is legit on the property - I have a copy of the lease with the previous owner, and its registered with the PRTB (afaik).
But I had heard nothing about any repossession before hand, and have had no contact from my (previous) landlord.

So, assuming I look into it and find out its not some sort of postal scam, Im wondering what usually happens in these circumstances?
I've googled, but turned up nothing.


I'm going to contact my (previous) landlord asap to ask them to confirm this, but I was wondering if anyone here had experience with similar situations.
I've cancelled my standing order to my previous landlord as a precaution - the letter said that any further monies paid to my previous landlord would not be counted as discharging my obligations under the lease.


Some things I am wondering:

Do I have any lease relationship with the new Manager of the property, considering my lease was just with the previous owner?
What are my obligations here?

And what are my protections, if any?
Do I have any sort of rights to notice, as was in my lease, or can I be summarily evicted (from the letter it doesn't sound like they want to just evict me, but it'd be nice to know).


Are the accountants correct and within their rights to tell me not to pay rent to the previous landlord, and to pay them instead?


Given I had a deposit with the previous landlord, who would be liable for it? (I imagine theres a chance I won't see it again...)


I'd love to hear if anyone has been in this situation, or knows what should happen, and any pitfalls to watch out for.
I'm pretty poor (no debt, but not a huge income) so I want to avoid hiring soliticors or getting involved in any legal messing around - if possible. I like where I'm living; I'm a good tenant and don't want the hassle of moving unless its necessary - although I can move if needs be...
I also want to avoid paying one party, and having the other party pursue me for the rent I've paid!!

I'm disappointed I wasn't contacted about this before now - the tone of the letter I've recieved from the accountants was brisk rather than helpful, and I heard nothing at any stage that this was underway.


Be really grateful for any replies on this,
Thanks.
 
I can't give you legal advice, but I can give you some common sense advice.

For a start, why don't you contact your landlord and get his side of the story?
Next, check golden pages for the accountant and then give them a call!
If your landlord agrees, pay the money directly to the accountant. Maybe ask the landlord to agree to this arrangement in writing.

If I were you, I'd probably temporarily stop making payments until you have better information on the situation with the deposit and rent.
 
Thanks for the reply.


I'd just like to emphasise that I'm not looking for legal advice on this.
I just wondering if anyone thats familiar with situations like this in general might be aware of any pitfalls to watch out for in general, or how situations like this work in general.

I'll definitely be trying to get in touch with both landlord and accountant asap - I'm also wondering if anyone else has had experience of situations like this in the past, and how they were resolved - and whether leases transfer in a situation like this - as there doesn't seem much written about it online.
 
If the rental property (your house) was repossessed, the bank can collect the rent directly from the tenant. It is called assignment of rent.

Hopefully someone here can tell you their experience.
 
It's becoming a more frequent occurrence.

The landlord no longer owns the property, so you no longer owe them money.

Whatever the legal situation, it's likely that the bank who now owns the property will respect the deposit. Legally, I suspect that you are owed it by the old landlord.

Ask the PRTB.
 
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