I recently purchased a tenanted property with a leasehold of 125 years. As there are 3 other flats and a commercial premises as part of the building there is a managing agent in charge. It is a first floor premises and the agent recently requested access to the property for a bi annual inspection. The tenant was unhappy about this (as there had been a historical bad relationship between tenant and agent - which I inherited) so instead photographs were supplied. The agent is now insisting that going forward they are allowed access to the premises for such inspections. My tenant is still refusing access, I am happy to support this (for the sake of positive relations) but wonder where we stand legally on the matter? Do I have to allow access considering I own the property?

Blood pressure back to normal now Live in Northern Ireland under housing authority accommodation. Just had them phone me (Customer service unit) saying that my gas and electric metre need their annual safety check. Fair enough it is a legal requirement. She then started dictating to me time and date for the engineer to visit (Contractor) Between nine and four Monday to Friday. Like most people, I have to work for a living and single. After much arguing, it was decided a Saturday afternoon and that was like pulling teeth after being threatened with disconnection etc. She then said if I had no money in the Gas/Electric meters the engineer would cut me off. Can they do that?? Wish to submit a complaint about this treatment and inflexibility, any suggestions. Being an ex-trade union rep it is water off a duck back but say it was someone with mental health issues etc, totally unacceptable behaviour

Hi Sorry about the length of this post. I've rented the house I live in for over 36 years. When my first wife and I first moved in, 1976, I asked the landlord for an agreement/contract. He said "we won't bother with that". We did get a proper rent book. So I have a Protected Tenancy. The years passed and I always kept the property in an excellent state of decoration and have promptly reported any structural/repair problems. It's a large house with large garden, was built in 1825 and I've always been happy living here. The original landlord died over 25 years ago and his son took over. He lives in another part of the country. Everything was OK, no problems, we paid the rent and considered ourselves to be first rate tenants, who looked after the property and kept it in a good state. In 1995 when my first marriage broke down and I got into short term financial difficulties, the landlord was understanding. In July 2011 a woman knocked at the door and said she was from the landlords agents, a local estate agent, that she was with the owner of the agents and they were inspecting the property next door as it was vacant. They were looking at what renovations/repairs were needed there. The same landlord owns that house as well. She asked whether we had any work that needed doing and I said no. She went away, then returned about 20 minutes later with a man and asked if they could come in to look around so they could "understand the layout of the property next door." I said OK and showed them round. They were very pleasant and went on their way. Then the work started next door. To say we were driven nearly to desperation by the noise is an understatement. It went on for over seven months, finally ending in March this year. I complained many times but the agents told me to complain directly to the company doing the work. I complained to the local council who were useless. In September 2011 we were a couple of days late paying the rent, no more than that, we'd had a family upset and had been away and been otherwise occupied. The agents sent a man round who literally jumped over the front gate and started peering in through the windows. When I opened the door he said he was from the agents, handed me a mobile phone and said they had been trying to contact me. I spoke to them and when they explained what it was about I explained the situation and said the payment had been made, which it had. I asked why they had sent this man round to harrass us about this when they could have written a letter. They ignored me. Then last October, 2011, we got a letter from the landlords agent saying that under the terms of our contract we had to allow them to inspect the property. We were confused at this, I called them and said we'd never had an inspection before and didn't have a contact. They said they'd made a mistake about that, but the landlord had asked them to start these inspections. That they would take place annually in our case. We felt that we were being treated as though we were untrustworthy, but I agreed to the inspection. There were no problems. In May this year the agents called us and said they needed to measure the property as the landlord was distributing some of his property between his children. After the upsets of the last eight months we were getting fed up of these intrusions and I told them so. However I agreed to the visit. The owner of the agents arrived and was pleasant and civil while he carried out his measurements. Now they've sent an email telling us our "three monthly inspection" is due. I sent them an email saying that the inspections are annual and offered a day/time for the inspection. I am prepared to accept that the amail may be a standard one and they've made another mistake. It is almost a year since the last inspection. So far I haven't had a response as they sent the email on Friday tea time. We've nothing hide or be worried about, but I would like to know whether they can just decide to start these inspections out of the blue after so many years without doing any. We haven't received any letters or proper confirmation that these inspections will be required or their frequency. I could seek professional advice but don't want to create any problems unless necessary. I feel torn between thinking there's a hidden agenda to all this and that there's nothing to worry about. After the last 14 months we no longer feel secure or safe here and are making plans to move in April 2013. Are we over reacting?

I live with my mum in a rented apartment and suffer from severe agoraphobia and anxiety. I can barely leave the house and when it's time for inspections i get terrible panic attacks that it takes me days to recover from. I've just heard that the owner wants to sell the apartment and wants to arrange viewings. Is there anyway i can stop the viewings from happening as i know its going to cause me a lot of distress to have strangers coming into my only safe place in the world and looking at my things.

Hey guys, I'd appreciate some advice here, basically ive had two compliance inspections, one covering a year of my SA (as a self employed person) and the other a limited company that im a director of (for approximately the same period.) As a self employed person my income was only about 9k (with expenses of about 4k). All my figures in thsi respect are legitimate and if anything are probably understated. Same goes for the company, it made about 22k in a year, and for various commissions i did through the company I invoiced it (for approximately 8k.) Other monies that were paid in went out in expenses for things like events budgets that i managed. Ive been told that its possible that the x2 amount spent in the company (with my SA wage saying staying the same in that year) may be what attracted HMRCs attention. I was looking at some articles about self employed or employee, as that particular year saw most of my income come from invoices to that company - though (agreements for half that income in work i did were with me and not the company - though it was channelled through the account for practical reasons.) Other monies I have made (and more so since the year of inspection) have been from a more diverse set of clients. I work an enormous amount of hours (60+ a week) its in the (er not too profitable artistic industries). I decide myself when i work (not the company) I can also decide to hire other people, and have sometimes paid them and their expenses (and always pay my own expenses from my own commission work) from my personal account. I also work with my own equipment (personally owned) and not just company property etc. There are other directors of the company though they dont draw any money from it. I reckon during the inspection there might be some argument about whether I should be employed, but if i was i couldnt work the hours necessary to do survive? (as I'd have to be paid NMW right as a PAYE working director?) I also would presumably have lost WTC and other benefits. So any advice on these matters regarding possible issues would be appreciated. In the compliance they've asked straight off the bat to look into company and personal bank accounts, receipts, invoices, computer records and to inspect the premises.