Hi,
I’ve gained a house as part of divorce settlement. The house has been rented out for a number of years, and the sitting tenant is staying on.
The ownership of the house is confirmed as mine in the court approved financial settlement order which was stamped on 6th April. But, the actual process of changing the title name is, of course, going to take some weeks.
I’ve issued the tenant a “Section 3 Notice” already.
But, at what point do I take responsibility for the property, and the tenant? My first thought is 6th April (which was some weeks ago). But, my ex-wife believes that it’s when the title is officially changed.
Any advice on this is welcomed please.
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It could take the Land Registry 6 months to update their records and when they do it will be back dated to 6th April.
Surely the solicitor doing your conveyancing would be able to answer this question definitively for you, no?
If the current LL is your ex-wife then the rent she’s currently collecting is yours by rights and should be handed to you in a lump sum when the transfer is finalised.
If you’ve served a s3 notice then you have stated that you are the landlord of the tenancy at least from that point and I believe that a court would hold you to that. A landlord does not have to be the property owner. However, there is something called the registration gap which I suggest you google. Its the gap between taking legal ownership and having that title registered at HMLR. During that period you may be limited in what you can do, for example serving other notices on the tenant. I would suggest you get a proper legal opinion from a specialist housing solicitor.