The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 gives tenants the right to know who their landlords are and where to serve either notices or proceedings on them. Failure to comply with these requirement means that rent and service charges are not lawfully due: sections 47 and 48 Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.
In Beitov Properties Ltd v Martin [2012] UKUT 133 (LC), the landlord’s service charge demands included the name of the landlord – but gave the address of its managing agents. The landlord argued that it had complied with the requirements because the legislation does not prescribe or limit the particular address to be used by the landlord.
It claimed that it was enough to provide an address with which it had a sufficient connection and at which it could receive communications. It relied on the fact that its mail went to its managing agents and that its records, files and accounts for the property were held at their address, which was the address at which tenants could inspect invoices.
The tribunal disagreed. It reviewed sections 47 and 48, which contain similar provisions, but are subtly different. It noted that section 48 deals with the provision of an address for service and decided that section 47 must have a wider purpose. Consequently, it concluded that section 47 must require landlords to state their actual address, to help their tenants to identify them.
The address given in this case was not the landlord’s address because it was not the registered office of the company or an address from which it carried on business. Therefore, the landlord’s service charge demands were invalid.
The decision makes it clear that landlords must be visible to their tenants. This means that they must provide them with their own address – and not just an address at which they can be contacted via a third party. In the case of an individual, this will be his place of residence or the place from which he carries on business. In the case of a company, it will be the company’s registered office or the place from which it carries on business. If the landlord is a foreign company, it must give its address abroad and provide a further address for service in England and Wales as well.
Landlords who use a managing agent’s address in rent and service charge demands will need to change their practice going forwards. This will not cure the problem in respect of demands that have already been served. However, landlords may be able to serve fresh demands that do trigger liability for payment (but not for interest in the interim).
What of section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which prevents landlords from recovering service charges for items of expenditure that are more than 18 months old? Will landlords be able to rely on section 20(B)(2) and claim that they notified their tenants, within 18 months of incurring the expenditure, that they would be called upon to make such payments at a later date? We shall have to wait and see.
Allyson Colby, Property Law Consultant
