Landlord wants to cut out the rental agency

[JellyBellies]

Hi, We rented a property last July and we found it through a rental agency. We signed a contract with them, paid a deposit etc.

Now the landlord wants us to start paying the rent directly to him. He says the rental agency has been bought over by another company and he no longer wants to deal with them.

Our tenancy agreement has the landlord's name on it but it is followed by 'C/o agency name'

And our deposit is in a deposit scheme put in by the agency.

My question is what do we need to do to make it so that we have all legal agreements with landlord? Do we need a new tenancy agreement? Or will it be enough to have a letter signed by the landlord saying that he is taking over the running of the property and we are to pay rent directly to him?

Also, how do we get our deposit back? I am going to ring the deposit scheme and the agency tomorrow. However if you have any experience is this area please could you share?

Thanks.

I rent happily and directly from a landlord but the rental agreement originally came via an agent.

We do have a contract with his name on it though.

It sounds like your LL wants to pretend that he is living in the house so when he comes to sell it he can claim dispensation from paying capital gains tax to HMRC. Unlike a person who lives in their own home and does not pay capital gains tax when they sell a landlord normally would pay capital gains tax when selling a rental property as it was not their residence.

However, a council tax bill with his name on would be very helpful in proving he lived in the property.

I rang the council and checked. He is definitely not listed at the property.

He probably wouldn't need landlords insurance if he was alledgedly living there. But it could be as Morebeta says too re capital gains tax.

If you have a new contract and deposit in a new scheme there shouldn't be any issues. I wouldn't want his name on CT as I think you would have less rights if you were alledgedly renting rooms in his home.