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The statutory duties discussed below remain important. Section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 still requires a qualifying written request for the landlord’s name and address to be answered within 21 days. References below to the Data Protection Act 1998 are now outdated: the relevant data-protection framework is the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, and processing that is necessary to comply with a statutory legal obligation can have a lawful basis under UK GDPR Article 6(1)(c). Companies House basic company and officer information can now be searched online free of charge.

In most cases, the landlord’s identity and address will be on the tenancy agreement. However, this isn’t always the case where landlords use agents or where the landlord is a company and only the registered office address is given.

Not many people are aware of the provisions of S.1 and S.2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 . These clauses provide that, where a tenant occupies premises as a dwelling they can make a written request for the landlord’s name and address. The demand can be made to anyone who the rent is payable to or an agent acting on behalf the landlord.

Once the request is made, it must be responded to with the landlord’s name and address and, if the agent fails to supply the information within 21 days, they commit a criminal offence (liable to a fine up to level 4 on the standard scale – £2,500).

If the landlord is a company then s.2 requires the agent to provide the name and address of every director and the secretary of the landlord within 21 days, again, it being a criminal offence to fail to do so without reasonable excuse.

Agents may understandably be nervous about giving this information out but it is already in the public domain because, under the Companies Act 2006 that information has to be filed at Companies House and is part of the public record accessible to all (basic company and officer information can be searched online free of charge).

The Companies Act allows directors to provide an address for service which can be different from their usual residential address so, if directors have an issue over privacy and don’t want their residential address disclosed, they should already have dealt with that issue by providing Companies House with a separate address for service.

Because the information is required to be disclosed by statute, data-protection law does not prevent a landlord or agent from complying with that legal obligation. Under the UK GDPR, processing that is necessary to comply with a legal obligation can rely on Article 6(1)(c), alongside the Data Protection Act 2018.

Landlords and agents should also be aware of s.48 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 which provides that a landlord must notify tenants of an address in England and Wales for service of notices on him. If the landlord fails to do so, no rent or service charges are due until the landlord does comply. As with the Companies Act requirement, it doesn’t have to be a residential address so, if privacy is an issue, landlords can give an address other than their home address (e.g. of an agent).

However, there is a sting in the tail of all these provisions contained in s.47 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. That states that where any written demand for rent is given to a tenant the demand must contain certain information including the name and address of the landlord. The court considered this issue in Beitov Properties Ltd v Elliston Bentley Martin 2011 and found that the section required of the landlord’s own interests and not a “care of” address or agent’s address to be given so landlords cannot hide anonymously behind agents and care of addresses where tenants fall into arrears and a demand has to be made.

These provisions can apply to private assured tenancies as well as long leases so agents should ensure that the rules have been complied with when dealing with problem tenants and making any demands for rent and any other charges due.

Useful UK legal and solicitor links

• Legislation.gov.uk: Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 1
• Legislation.gov.uk: Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, section 47
• Companies House: Find and update company information
• Osbornes Law: Landlord and tenant solicitors

This article provides general information only and is not a substitute for legal or tax advice on a specific case.