I was wondering whether anyone can share their advice or experience on a situation I am going through at the moment.
Basically, I received a letter from IRAS this week stating that I should pay future rent to them until I hear otherwise as our landlord has unpaid taxes. My first thought was 'SCAM!', but having spoken with IRAS this morning, they confirmed it is legit.
Having done a bit more digging, it turns out that my landlord was made bankrupt two weeks ago. My agent has been trying to get in touch with him, but has discovered from a colleague of his that he has absconded. So who knows where he is!
I am now unsure what to do next. Obviously I am keen to keep IRAS happy and not have them on my back, and the amount they have requested is just below what we pay monthly anyway, so that isn't an issue at this stage. They also mentioned that this payment would settle his debt in full, which would put an end to this particular IRAS problem.
My main concern now is that if he is bankrupt, and has bunked it, do I continue paying rent to him once the IRAS bill has been settled? If I don't, will I breach my contract? I checked my tenancy agreement, and bankruptcy is only mentioned in relation to the tenant, not the landlord. I expect he has also chucked our 2 months deposit up the wall, so I don't expect to be seeing that when our tenancy ends in July. So could I potentially offset the deposit against future rents, if I am still liable for them?
Finally, I guess if he is officially bankrupt he will also be defaulting on the mortgage he has on our condo, so won't be long until the bank come knocking on the door. Hopefully this will tie in with the end of our tenancy in a few months, but that is going to throw another spanner in the works if they rock up sooner... Anyone know what the process is here? THe document online states he was declared bankrupt on 13th April.
I appreciate this is getting into a lot of legalities, and have started to engage professionals for their input. I was just wondering whether anyone had any personal experiences similar to the above and could add their thoughts.
Thanks in advance, MB25
