Landlords Must Provide Current Postal Address

Tenants in England and Wales have a right to be informed of their Landlord’s postal address.

This is so that if the tenant wishes to serve a notice on their landlord, they have a valid address to send it to. For example, if the tenant wishes to bring their tenancy to an end.

In most circumstances where there is a written tenancy agreement, the Landlord’s address will be included as part of that document. However, there can be many circumstances whereby the Landlord’s address needs to be provided or updated. For example, where there is no written tenancy agreement in place or the landlord’s address has changed since the tenancy began and requires updating.

In a situation where a landlord needs to provide their tenant with a postal address, this should be provided in a Section 48 Notice served on the tenant at their address. This should be a written document sent by post containing the landlord’s postal address whether this be their actual address, agent’s address or solicitor’s address etc. This should be provided to a tenant within two months of the transfer if the landlord has a change of address.

There are also situations whereby the tenant may make a written request for an address for the landlord. In this situation, the landlord should provide the Section 48 notice confirming their address within 21 days.

If the requirement to provide a valid address is not complied with, there are a number of possible consequences. These could include a penalty of up to £2,500, the tenant withholding rent until they are provided a valid address and the landlord being unable to enforce payment of rent and/or service charge through the Courts while no address has been provided.