Property ownership questions?

When the ownership was transferred to your children you should have served notice under the Landlord and Tenant Act. This should have been done at the time - did your solicitors not advice it? The onus is on the buyer to deal with this.

Your children should serve the notice asap.

There is no requirement for a new tenancy; the exsiting on that is in place simply continues.

Your tenant cannot dictate who serves them notice, but I can se their point if they believe you own it. You need to resolve this as soon as possible.

Your situation calls into question what you (or your children) have been doing about paying tax and generally being responsible for the property.

You can serve a notice for a rent review (s13), but you may want to tidy up the ownership issue first of all.

A split answer really. You can manage the property as their day to day representative/agent eg you can instruct tenants, trades with your childrens authorisation. Solicitors too, but the solicitors need the authorisation in writing.
But legal documents from the owner must name the children eg lease and notices, Id say.
we have got around that by keeping the address at our Dads house, but we are named on letters. He still opens the documents, deals with it, runs the property etc.
But your children have to learn some time. I suggest they start shadowing you for a year. Have a monthly meeting a least. Then when you retire, your children can manage the property, or will know how to manage a letting agent.
We set up a Ltd company to manage the property. All the family are directors. Anyone of the family can be the representative/agent. Just another idea. Obviously personal tax and business tax are different.

The change in ownership was in 2010, before the tenancy was entered into in 2015, so a s47 notice wouldn't have been appropriate. There's probably a tenancy "by estoppel" as between the OP and the tenants, but if that's the case then the s13 notice should have gone from the OP not the actual owners. There should either be a new s13 notice from the OP (the "landlord by estoppel") OR a s47 notice of change of ownership coupled with a new s13 notice given by the actual owners/children. If I were advising the tenant I'd say the current s13 is probably invalid. See a decent solicitor?

Reply to the comment left by Julesgflawyer at 19/06/2023 - 10:08
Thanks Jules, I hadn't spotted that the tenancy started after the OP had purchased it. I assumed it was in place before the transfer.

Note to self - READ THE QUESTION!

Reply to the comment left by Graham Bowcock at 19/06/2023 - 10:30
Is it not Section 3 LTA 87 for change of ownership?

Reply to the comment left by Kizzie at 19/06/2023 - 11:04
S3 is about the definition of "qualifying tenants". S47 is about the need to include LL's details in a demand for rent etc. Point is that unpaid rent isn't "lawfully due" unless T given notice of "new" LL after a "change" of LL.

Reply to the comment left by Julesgflawyer at 19/06/2023 - 11:49
The tenants know I menage and my children I landlords and the property transfer was 2010, which was before the tenancy started in 2015. Still there is no dispute in paying currently agreed rent, but of course it is far less then it should be. Basically, I know I need to put things right before any legal changes come our way i.e. not paying rent or ignore section 13 next time or anything for that matter. As soon as I realized, I have started to ask, but everyone seem to talk about different notices, which makes it little difficult to understand.

However, the main issue is that legal landlord, my children needs to give notice for their ownership of the property. So which notice would that be I wonder.....

Reply to the comment left by aga smart at 19/06/2023 - 13:33
There is a suggestion in one answer above to see a solicitor. I would agree with that, or maybe suggest a decent agent. A good chartered surveyor with management experience ought to be able to help you.

Basically, for whatever reason, things have not been done 100% correctly and need unravelling. Hence the recommendation for some expert advice before you do anything else and potentially compound the problems.

I dont see any reason to change the current situation. A landlord doesnt have to own a property, they can be nominated as landlord by the owners. You can carry on as the landlord of the property in exactly the way you are now.

If your children are receiving the rent, then they would both need to pay for all property expenses and submit a tax return each year for the income.

When I look at your question I don't just think about the ownership issue on the document but how the HMRC will view the property in relation to inheritance tax--as if the rental documents are in your name then HMRC could assume that you are receiving the income and therefore the gift of the property to your children would not remove it from your estate as you are still getting a benefit from the property.