Problems tracing Owner of Rented House next door?

[soberton]

Hi, I wonder if any of you can advise on this potential problem. We're on the brink of starting the ball rolling for a loft conversion on our mid terraced house and obviously we will need to organise Party Wall paperwork with the two adjoining owners. On one side it is owner occupied so getting hold of them won't be a problem. However the other side was sold in Aug 2011 and went straight on the rental market - we never met/saw the new owner and only know her first name via a previous tenant. We don't see the present tenants in there because we work full time and they work different shifts. I have contacted three estate agents who handled the sale/rent of the property (it has had different tenants in each year - the present ones have been there since last Sept). The estate agents have taken my details to see if they have the landlandy's details on record - I fully appreciate that they're governed by the Data Protection Act and wouldn't expect them to give out her details, but I had hoped that one way round it was to give them my details to pass on to her (hope that makes sense!). I popped into the last agents (who sold the house) on Tues morning, explained the situation, showed him my driving licence as ID. He checked the PC, said that he'd found her, confirmed that the first name I had for her was correct, phoned while I waited left a message for her to contact him. In the meantime I found the number of the previous tenant to see if she still had details - she didn't but said she was friendly with new people and would get hold of them. This morning she text me back to say that the new tenants wouldn't give out details without a written request! The present tenants moved in under a bit of a cloud/police protection following the break-up of a domestic violence situation that they were escaping.
Just wondered if any of you can think of how I can get hold of landlady, or why she might not be getting back to us (it's been a few weeks since the first enquiry?)
TIA

Have you looked it up on the land registry?

Do a land registry search (google land registry UK). It'll cost you a couple of pounds (£7 I think) but will save you a load of running around.

If it was me I would put the party wall stuff letter in an envelope and put a stamp on it, put your address on the back and hand it to the letting agent.

Then all they have to do is write her address on the envelope and post it to her. Job done.

I used to work in council tax and we would forward stuff onto owners as per above. It meant we kept to the data protection act but also helped people out.

Yy to land registry. Two quid. Not sure it'll have contact details tho...??? Prob just name.

I would also suggest letter forwarding. The tenants must know to whom they pay rent, so ask if they would mind putting an address on a stamped envelope for you. In writing, if they prefer. Just put it through their door.

the letter inside can explain who you are and what you are asking.

the land registry may not have the right details - landlords SHOULD make sure that the LR has contact info for them (property fraud prevention) but not everyone does.

Specialsubject - the land registry may not have correct details of the owner?! Err yes it will, as land registry records are conclusive proof of legal ownership of the property.

I think what specialsubject means is that the contact details may not be up-to-date or may be the property itself. You certainly will be able to find out who the owner is and whatever address for service they provided at the time.

Info here. £7 as LadySybil says.

Or £3 to download a copy, I think.