Declaration of Trust - paying a landlord

We are managing a property on behalf of an individual Landlord/owner. Usually we would only pay the legal owner of the property / Landlord, but in this instance the Landlord has requested we split the income in line with a Declaration of Trust they have provided (which has been executed as a deed). The declaration splits the rental income between him and his wife as Tenants in Common on a 99:1 split in favour of this wife (who is a beneficiary but not an owner of the property). The declaration further states that the onus on keeping the property in repair is solely the responsibility of the owner and not the beneficiary. The Landlord lives overseas and is registered with the NRL scheme and therefore we have to submit the statutory notice return to HMRC. The beneficiary is a UK resident. In this instance, is the onus on us as a Letting Agent to distribute the income / expenditure and pay the beneficiary, or is the onus on the owner to distribute the income accordingly?

Hi

You are classed as a Letting agent as you are acting on behalf of a non resident landlord in connection with the management of their UK rental business.

Your responsibilities are to register for the non-resident landlord scheme, provide a quarterly return and payment and if you need to account for tax, provide the non resident landlord with the corresponding certificate.

Further guidance is available at:

What the Non-resident Landlords Scheme is and

Which agents should operate the Non-resident Landlords Scheme

The onus , in the case you mention, is on the owner to distribute the income under the terms of the Declaration Of Trust

Thank you