To think our landlord shouldn't use our home as their business address?

[tulippa]

We moved into a rented house in August. We go through a letting agent and have no direct contact with landlord in for repairs etc (we've had to report quite a few things).
Since we moved in, there has been some post arriving in the name of the landlord. Some things from American Express and Tesco Clubcard and some others for (Landlord Name) Properties and (Landlord Name) Investments. I have returned all items to sender unopened.
I get a call from the letting agent saying the landlord is requesting we don't return post to sender and that the landlord will come round and collect any post. I asked if the landlord could change her address instead as this seems the obvious solution. The letting agent said they would suggest this to the landlord and come back to us.
I'm not sure how I feel about the landlord seeming to run two businesses from an address which is our home. Is it allowed? I've tried to google but could not find any definite answers to this. I don't want the landlord coming round as we specifically chose this property as it's run through the letting agency. Just wondering if there are any guidelines around this which could back us up.

All possible options. I'm still unsure why it's so hard for the landlord to change the address though. It's easy to forget the odd one in the moving process but I thought returning them would prompt an address change.

If the letting agent gets back in contact, I'll suggest forwarding the post to them.

You are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of your home.

If the landlord is going to be frequently dropping round to collect mail, this will interfere with with your enjoyment. It will also open the way for the landlord to ask to just pop in for a minute for xyz reason, without the proper notice.

This situation has the real possibility to interfere with your quiet enjoyment, and the landlord needs to find a better solution for the post.

I would bin and say you didn't see them

It wouldn’t impact OP or any other residents credit rating, these things are no longer linked

This is a good idea tbh. Easiest for you OP

Absolutely not OK for the LL to pop round and collect post she's chosen to have send there instead of her own address. It's your home and you're paying good money to have exclusive use of it - 'quiet enjoyment' as the law puts it.
Returning the post to sender is the right thing to do.
I hope that the agency has the guts to support you on this - they should know the law if anyone does.

It would be very easy to change the address. LL prefers to have it believed that she and/or her business is resident at your address, for some reason.
We had a neighbour last year whose post kept arriving at our house. We took it round a few times and eventually asked him to get it redirected, but he said he 'preferred' it to come to us and he didn't mind popping in to collect it!
We said no and he redirected it immediately, goodness knows who to.
He was a local councillor, which didn't inspire much confidence...

The OP shouldn't bin them as they will keep coming.

Legally she's in the right returning to the sender as that's currently her address and she has the right of quiet enjoyment.

It's ashame the OP didn't open a few letters and contact the bank or whoever sent them to tell them that she currently lives at the property and not the name of the business so they have the wrong address.

That isn't defrauding anyone but giving them the correct information.

Btw OP businesses can have a registered address and another address for correspondence.

Some businesses use their accountant or a mailing company as their registered address, which is recorded on Companies House if they are a limited company or partnership. They then use their own address for correspondence.

There is absolutely no reason for the landlord to use your address at all.

They likely don't have a BTL mortgage for the property and therefore need to use the address 🤦🏻‍♀️

My sister visited a place where the landlord wanted to be able to stay at the weekends as he worked elsewhere! Some landlords are something else!

That’s batshit! I can’t imagine that! Mad.

Mmmmmm, he may find that that is called a house share and the rent is very much lower.

This is not true and perpetuates the notion that people must put up and shut up. No tenant wants the landlord to pop round collecting post on a regular basis nor do tenants wish to act as unpaid admin assistants.

OP, I’d continue to to return to sender. Ask the agent via email to ask the landlord to change their address.

@SoNiceToComeHomeTo you would think so, but it wasn't advertised as that. They went looking for a private home through an agent. This was a long time ago though.

This. It isn’t sensible to be seen to be an awkward tenant when the competition for rentals is so high.

Extraordinary what people think being a private landlord means!!!

Take the clubcard vouchers and get yourself a bottle of wine and some chocolates (pay any remainder cash and use a further away tesco if you can)

I rented many years ago through an agent. The landlord popped round a couple of times to get some things from the cellar. I hadn't rented before, so being polite I let him get his stuff.

When I mentioned it to the agent in passing they stated it shouldn't have happened. He wasn't allowed to do just pop by like that and they would be talking to him about it.

Any visits to your house must be in connection with agreed inspection dates or repair visits. They must always be prearranged with you.

As others have said you have paid to use your home. If your landlord continues to have their post sent to your home, you have a right to return to sender. If you don't, the landlord will continue to think your home is their home and can do what they want with it, rather than a home for the exclusive use of their rent paying tenant.

Quite likely. Probably aren't declaring the income to the taxman either.

When I asked why the landlord couldn't just change the address they did say they'd go back to them and ask. The letting agent seems pretty efficient and fair so far.

Yes, I'm suspecting that kind of thing. I'm just wondering what that issue is and anyway it's not my problem and don't see why I should have have my quiet enjoyment of the property disturbed because of it.

Don't know if I would dare do that and I've already sent those back. It does show that she's placing a lot of trust in me. I could be doing anything with the post and then pretending I hadn't received it.
Which shows her naivety about a few things. The outdoor shed had no lock on it when we moved in and it took a lot of explaining that we were concerned any possessions we stored in it were at risk of theft to get her to arrange to put a lock on it.

This sounds likely as they were living here before we moved in.

Not quite. You have to have legitimate access to and proof of recent residency at the old address eg utility bills, council tax. You couldn't just decide that you want to have your post sent to 68 Acacia Avenue and set up a redirect because the setup requires you to receive and sign off a form sent to the old address.

You are quite correct to return the post to sender @tulippa. The phrase to use to the letting agent is that "we have the right to quiet enjoyment of our home".

Acting as an unpaid Poste Restante service for your landlord and having him call around to collect post, as well as risking your own credit history if he is chalking up debt associated with that address, is definitely not within reasonable expectations of being allowedquiet enjoyment of your home.