Name on AST and DPS Certificate Spelt Incorrectly?

Name on AST and DPS Certificate Spelt Incorrectly?

11:45 AM, 7th June 2022, About 2 years ago 14

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I have a tenant who is subletting his room and is refusing to quit his tenancy and return keys. He pays his rent on time and in full every month. Its a single room with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.

We have tried since 2020 to work with him on this and get him to either leave or move back into the room. He keeps making promises of leaving and then doesn’t and refuses entry. The person who he is subletting to is an extreme hoarder and you can barely open the room door. She has also taken over most of the storage in the communal areas.

Its clear now that the only way forward is to evict.

I took over this case in March 2022.

We issued a section 21 notice which has now expired, he hasn’t left, so we will be going to court.

I am about to do the court application (N5B form) and have realized that the tenant’s name on the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement has been misspelt by a colleague who is no longer at the company. The tenancy start date which was typed onto the tenancy agreement has also been crossed out in pen and a new date of a month later has been added, it has not been initialled by either party. The new date written in pen is the correct date and the date rent has since been charged from which we can prove.

The tenancy agreement has been signed by the tenant and the previous colleague.

In addition, his name on the Deposit Certificate has also been spelt incorrectly(set up by the same colleague).

I suspect the colleague who completed the tenancy had dyslexia as most of their letters were littered with spelling and grammar mistakes.

We do not have any photo ID for the tenant (Tenancy was set up in 2013, a time when the company did not request this at the start of the tenancy)

Aside from the spelling mistakes, the Section 21 Form 6a has been served correctly, with the correct name spelling (When I say correct, the spelling matches the name of which he signs off all his emails and the name of the bank details he gave us).

Example of spelling mistake(not real name)

Tenants Name:
John Surendram

Tenancy Agreement Misspelling:
Mr J Surednrm

Deposit Misspelling:
Mr J Suredrm

My question is, will this cause an issue when I send the N5B application to court? If so, how can I mitigate this? Should I include a covering letter acknowledging the spelling mistakes? If so, should I include anything specific in the letter?

Any other suggestions of how to reduce the risk of this being thrown out due to the spelling mistake?

Many thanks

Meks


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Comments

Simon F

20:26 PM, 9th June 2022, About 2 years ago

Charles has hit the nail on the head. But I would add that if there's a chance of having a civil conversation with the occupant on her own before you issue the notices to quit: Try find out everything you can of her understanding - how does he describe the arrangement to her? has she been paying rent to him? how much? since when? is that from UC or wages? Frame your position as "it isn't her fault, but the boyfriend did not have the right to...and it can't go on as it is" explaining that the situation puts you in breach of your mortgage terms and invalidates your insurance for instance. Also, it is lawful to secretly record any conversation that you are a part of. If you record you'll be able to counter any attempt on their part if they try to backtrack later.

CMS

4:43 AM, 11th June 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Simon F at 09/06/2022 - 20:26
Thanks Simon. I must admit though...the fact that the OP has an occupier claiming to be the real tenant's girlfriend living there without him does make me think that even if the real tenant were able to argue its an AST (which he wont), if the OP visited the property at night, they may find there is another ground under section 8 that the OP may be able to use to force eviction!

quiteaneexpert

8:47 AM, 11th June 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by CMS at 08/06/2022 - 12:11All court actions begin in magistrates courts. A substantial portion of magistrates fulfil this voluntary role because they believe life to have been good to them and they want to pay something back. They are guided, in the interests of justice by legally qualified paid staff. If everyone bore this in mind, the chances of justice become clearer. Can an illegal tenant be allowed to continue to make lives of others unsafe/miserable, etc. etc. because, inter alia, of errors in paperwork/alleged disabilities of the tenant? You are, presumably being paid. Most likely to be effective in the court process is proof that this sub-letter has let to someone who is causing harm to others - photographic evidence of blocked firedoors,/risks of fire/flood damaged possessions/at risk from vermin etc etc. Evidence can so easily be produced these days. Then, the argument that the sub-letter is making money out of it. In other words the landlord is trying to do his duty to other tenants and is being ripped off by an unscrupulous money maker. If this is the case good luck. Of course you could come across nit picking magistrates whose aim in the role is to look important, rather than do his/her best to ensure justice...

David

13:01 PM, 12th June 2022, About 2 years ago

The landlord/agent has no legal relationship with the occupant and no formal notice is required although a heads up might be helpful.
If the tenant is not living there and this can be evidenced, then the tenancy is no longer Assured. You should serve a common law Notice To Quit alongside the s21. This, of course would be defeated if the tenant moved back in.
If the contract forbids sub-letting then the occupant would have no rights to remain once the tenancy ends and could be excluded from the property. However, they might argue that the length of time that the situation has persisted means the landlord/agent accepted the sub-letting arrangement. If the argument was successful then the occupant would become the landlords direct tenant when the current tenancy expires.

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