LTA 1985 s. 1

21 days to get landlord name and address (LTA 1985 s. 1)

A written request for landlord name and address must be supplied within 21 days by the rent collector or agent. Failure is an offence with fine up to level 4.

Official text LTA 1985 s. 1 — United Kingdom

If the tenant of premises occupied as a dwelling makes a written request for the landlord’s name and address to— any person who demands, or the last person who received, rent payable under the tenancy, or any other person for the time being acting as agent for the landlord, in relation to the tenancy, that person shall supply the tenant with a written statement of the landlord’s name and address within the period of 21 days beginning with the day on which he receives the request. A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (1) commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale. In this section and section 2— “ tenant ” includes a statutory tenant; and “ landlord ” means the immediate landlord.

Text in force at .

Source: legislation.gov.uk — The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), reproduced under licence Open Government Licence v3.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Section 1 exists because a tenant can pay rent for years to an agent and have no idea who owns the building. It gives a tenant of premises occupied as a dwelling the right to make a written request for the landlord's name and address, and it puts the obligation on the people who are actually in front of the tenant: any person who demands the rent, the last person who received it, or any other person for the time being acting as agent for the landlord. That person must supply a written statement of the landlord's name and address within twenty-one days beginning with the day the request is received.

The duty is on the rent collector or agent, not on the landlord. That is the point of the section - the tenant who cannot find the landlord is precisely the tenant who needs it. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse is a summary offence carrying a fine of up to level 4 on the standard scale, so the sanction is criminal rather than a civil claim.

The request must be in writing and it must ask for the name and address. "Tenant" here includes a statutory tenant, and "landlord" means the immediate landlord - so where there is a chain of superior landlords, this section gets you the one directly above you, not the freeholder at the top. Knowing the landlord's identity is usually the first step towards anything else: serving a repair notice, naming a defendant, or checking who is registered at the Land Registry.

When it applies

  • You have rented for years through an agent and have never been told who owns the property.
  • You want to bring a disrepair claim and need a name and address for the defendant.
  • The building has changed hands and the new owner is unknown to you.
  • You want to check the tenancy deposit was protected and need the landlord's details to do it.
  • A managing agent will not tell you who instructs them.

What this section does not say

  • It does not get you the freeholder. "Landlord" is defined as the immediate landlord, so in a chain of leases this reaches the person directly above you.
  • It is not a right to the landlord's other details - no phone number, no email, no company accounts. The section names two things: the name and the address.
  • It is not an address for service of notices in the technical sense. That is a separate obligation on the landlord under section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.
  • It does not work on an oral request. Subsection (1) requires a written request, and the 21 days run from receipt of that written request.
  • It gives you no money. The consequence of non-compliance is a criminal fine, not compensation to the tenant.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

A tenant has rented the same flat through the same agent for six years. They want to bring a disrepair claim and have asked the agent three times who owns the building; each time they are told the agent is not permitted to say.

How the wording applies

The duty in section 1 falls on the person in front of the tenant - whoever demands the rent, last received it, or acts as agent - and not on the landlord, which is the whole point of the provision. The fact that decides whether the clock has started is whether the request was in writing: the twenty-one days run from receipt of a written request, and three phone calls do not begin them.

How the parties settled it

The tenant sends a short written request by email and post; the agent supplies the landlord's name and address within a fortnight and the tenant agrees to route the disrepair correspondence through the agent as before.

Illustrative example

A block changes hands and the new owner is unknown to the residents. Rent demands now come from a different company name, and one tenant wants to check the deposit was protected and re-registered.

How the wording applies

The section gets the tenant a name and an address for the immediate landlord, in writing, within twenty-one days of a written request. The fact worth being clear about before starting is which landlord is wanted: where there is a chain of leases this reaches the person directly above the tenant, not the freeholder at the top, and non-compliance produces a criminal fine rather than any payment to the tenant.

How the parties settled it

The company collecting rent supplies the landlord's name and registered address and confirms in writing which deposit scheme holds the deposit; the tenant accepts that as closing the point.

Related sections

LTA 1985 s. 2 Requesting directors of company landlord | LTA 1985 s. 2 LTA 1985 s. 3 Duty to inform tenant of assignment - LTA 1985 s. 3 LTA 1985 s. 11 Repair structure, exterior, installations – LTA 1985 s.11

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We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of LTA 1985 s. 1 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in England and Wales.

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