Landlord gaining entry to the property

[karin]

Hi Nightmare4banks

 

Thank you very much for your fast reply and friendly welcome.

 

 

4.The landlord and or any any of the handymen (which are classed as the landlord's contractors) should give you 24 hours notice at least if they want to come into the flat.

I have told him several times that I would like to receive 24 hours notice, but he just keeps ignoring this request.

 

Further to him, UK law says emergency repairs can be done by the landlord without giving prior 24 hours notice to the tenant.

For this reason he declared all those unannounced visits as 'emergency repairs' (which they definitely weren't).

 

Is this correct, does a law like this really exist?

If yes, is there somewhere outlined what is the definition of an emergency?

 

I am thinking about sending him a formal, polite letter to remind him of the legal situation, but:

 

A. I am worried he will end my tenancy.

 

B. I don't know what I really should state in this letter to be effective – and I am also not sure if I have to copy in the letter the real landlord (owner of the property) or if it just should be sent to this 'senior handyman'.

 

C. The owner of this property, as I was told, owns a law firm. (The properties are only some investments for him, for this reason he is not dealing with the tenants and delegates everything to the handymen.)

I feel intimated to 'take on' the mentioned handyman, since I have no knowledge about the legal situation here in the UK and fear to be walked over by one of the lawyers of the owner.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Karin

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi Karin!

You are more than welcome!

 

You are amongst friends here,so we will see how to properly help you!

 

I would suggest:

 

1.DO NOT confront anybod or write any letters now,contact the Private Tenants Officer that is employed by your local council.

 

2.No lawyer will ever bully you if you contact the Private Tenants Officer because this department of any council has the powers to punish landlords and agents.So,if a lawyer firm owns the property that is better for you.

 

3.No lawyer would want to make enemies with council officials from this department.

 

So,please do not worry and do as I have suggested!

 

If you need any more help,please just ask.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Al the best!

[karin]

Hi Karin!

 

1.DO NOT confront anybod or write any letters now,contact the Private Tenants Officer that is employed by your local council.

 

2.No lawyer will ever bully you if you contact the Private Tenants Officer because this department of any council has the powers to punish landlords and agents.So,if a lawyer firm owns the property that is better for you.

 

Great - that's what I am going to do...

 

Beside of the unnanounced regular visits around the clock, he is also extremely slow (I am talking here about months, and even up to more than one year) in doing outstanding, necessary repairs.

 

I hope this all can now be sorted out in the near future.

 

Btw, it might be interesting for other tenants who are in a similar situation - I found some information regarding the 'emergency legislation' to enter the flat without prior consent/in the absence of the tenant.

 

"In the event of an emergency the landlord has the right to enter without notice, but the

leaseholder’s consent is still required. It is important to remember that the power to enter

without notice in an emergency does not allow the landlord to force entry to the premises if

the leaseholder is not there or refuses to allow access.

 

If the landlord were to force entry in these circumstances it would be in breach of its covenant in

the lease to allow the leaseholder to “peaceably enjoy the premises”. This would leave the landlord

open to potential legal action by the leaseholder on the basis that it had breached the terms of the

lease and could result in liability for trespass or even, potentially, criminal liability.

 

 

What happens in an emergency?

Forcing entry represents a risk even where it is an emergency. Although most leases dispense with

the requirement to give the leaseholder reasonable prior written notice in an emergency, the

leaseholder must still authorise access otherwise the landlord will be in breach of its covenants to

allow the leaseholder quiet enjoyment of his or her home. Following unauthorised entry, the

leaseholder could take legal action, which could result in the landlord being found civilly and/or

criminally liable as a result.

 

A situation is likely to be considered an emergency where:

• there is immediate threat from the disrepair to the health and safety of other residents, or

other people such as residents and occupiers of other properties in the locality (for example

a gas leak);

 

•there is an immediate threat from the disrepair to the structure of the building in which the premises are located or a neighbouring building (for example a gas leak or burst water tank)."

 

 

 

Source: wslaw.co.uk

 

 

Kind regards

Karin

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi Karin!

 

In reply to your last post and in my view:

 

1.Now if there essential repairs in your property - the council Environmental Health Department can get involved.Again this service is totally free.

 

2.The Council can serve a notice to order the landlord to do the repairs and he does not do them the council can do the repairs and send the landlord the bill.

 

3.Also,the Council can get the landlord prosecuted in court if the property is in a very bad state.

 

4.Normally,a court would give a landlord a fine that could run into thousands of pounds.

 

5.Now going back onto you contacting the Private Tenants Officer employed by your local council,you cvan mention to him/her about any problems with repairs too.

 

6.If you want any repairs done you need to be fairly flexible regarding giving the landlord and his handymen permission to enter the property.Also,you should ALWAYS let your landlord/his handymen in the property in an emergency.

 

Anyway,I hope you find this information useful.

 

If you have any more questions,just ask.

 

Let us know how you are gettin on.

 

All the best!

[karin]

Hi Karin!

1.Now if there essential repairs in your property - the council Environmental Health Department can get involved.Again this service is totally free.

 

2.The Council can serve a notice to order the landlord to do the repairs and he does not do them the council can do the repairs and send the landlord the bill.

 

Ok, thank you very much for the additional information.

 

 

 

6.If you want any repairs done you need to be fairly flexible regarding giving the landlord and his handymen permission to enter the property.

More flexbile than I was with him wouldn't be possible...

 

(as mentioned, he hasn't announced not once before he came into my flat, and I have never sent him away, I always let him to do why he came.

I didn't even took further steps when he came into the flat when I was not there, although the handymen broke one of my chairs.

I think I was a bit too flexible with this guy, and he lost completely respect. For this reason I was seeking here legal advice, because if I keep only politely reminding him, unfortunately he will continue not to take me serious. )

 

Also,you should ALWAYS let your landlord/his handymen in the property in an emergency.

I guess no reasonable tenant would question to let in the landlord in your absence if there is really an emergency!

 

 

 

Kind regards

Karin

 

ps. sorry for my English, it is not my mother tongue ;-)

[Leedsp85]

Hi, I am new to the site.

 

I am in a student house and have been living in the house over the summer as well. My contract period was from Sept 07 - July 08. I have been paying the landlord rent at a discounted price but I have no contract for over the summer.

 

The problem I am having with my landlord and his wife (I have suspicions that she has OCD - as I can hear her hoovering the same place outside my room twice as I type) as they always come round to clean. Even if I have cleaned the house and hoovered the floor etc. I have read the above posts about the 24 Hrs notice. If you take last night (~7 PM) for example , my other flatmate told the landlord that they may come round after 6 PM as there was something she and myself wanted to discuss with them (noisey neighbours banging music out till half 6) but they have turned up at midday and started cleaning the house that isn't dirty.

 

I could sympathise if the house was a complete cr@phole but its isn't and they just keep turning up. Also I wouldn't mind if they turned up for emergencies etc. but just to clean? What are my rights? or do I not really have any as I do not have a contract yet well at least until the new academic year starts.

 

Your help and advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Dirty_harry7]

Hello,

I am new to this site but really like the way everyone is so willing to help.

I, too, have unfortunately have a landlord that thinks it's OK to come in whenever they want. On one occasion the landlord sent his agent to do a completely unnecessary gas check, but has ignored my letters informing his there is a damp problem that has developed!

I don't really need any advice on this as luckily I am moving out next week but it's nice to come on here and see there is support for people in this situation.

[Dirty_harry7]

And on another note, the motion alarms are definitely a good idea, I will be getting one in my new place!

[Kinxyminxy]

Hi there!

this is my first post so please be gentle. For the past 6 weeks our letting agent has been causing us major grief. i emailed him Friday 24th and said we were very unhappy with the way he handles coming into our home, i mentioned the contract and that it states that 24hrs notice was agreed and even if that is a problem we would still like to know even on the day if they are going into our home for whatever reason, he didn't acknowledge my email - i got a delivery report. and i posted a copy to our actual landlord who called me and assured me it shouldn't be happening and that he'd have a word. Well last thursday people had been in without any notice and so i rang the letting agent and landlord - landlord has not bothered to call me back and the letting agent tried to defend his business when i said i was unhappy and it is trespassing to come into the property without notice, they had advised on tuesday that they would be round friday. The letting agent said he had the day off thursday and had left instructions to go to the flat friday so had no idea why people had been in.

These guys have no respect for us or our property - they come in and make repairs etc and NEVER clean up.

 

i was advised recently and i also saw on here about changing the barrel in the lock - is this legal, i would like to have it done but don't want to aggrievate the letting agent/landlord.

 

why is it so hard for them to respect us?! i mean for gods sake we pay their wages and mortgages!

 

i hope someone can help

it's beginning to really stress me out and i dread going home now just in case someone has been in

[Zamzara]

If you get an alarm, please make sure it shuts off after a couple of minutes. People with certain health conditions find noise from alarms absolute hell.

[zmalach]

Please I need help and sorry for my bad English

 

I have rented a flat through an estate agent three months ago (beginning of December), it was agreed with estate agent to fix few things before I move in to the property, one of these things is to fix the wardrobe which been agreed to be repaired on the first week of January. The repair has been done yesterday only (i.e one and half month after the agreed time) and after I pestered them maytimes over the phone.

 

The purpose behind writing this post today is to seek advice about the estate agent entering the flat without giving me prior notice, I know it's illegal act to enter the property without my permission accept during an emergencies and I did show that i am not happy about it to the estate agent and did ask them firmly through the phone to give me notice or at least give me a call before getting in to the property but it seems they don't care.

 

I thought to write them a letter about it and make it written prove about I have already told them on the phone.

 

Could someone advice whether is the right thing to do or is there any other ways to deal with it.

 

Please could someone help me with a simple template for the letter?

 

Thanks for your help

Ta

[lipstie]

I found everyone's posts very helpful as me and my partner have had similar problems. We are in a flatshare, so we weren't completely sure if we have the same rights as others. We went away over Christmas, and when we came back our landlord actually called us to ask us to keep the place tidy. He'd been in the house whilst we'd been away without even telling us. He's been around when we've been in the house, once we opened the kitchen door and he was standing in the hall. Last night I came downstairs to find him and his wife in the hall, and when they'd left I went into the communal dining room to find they'd moved the clothes that were drying and thrown away things that were in there. Some things I'd kept in there on purpose. I realised how wrong it was today and text him about it, which he hasn't replied to.

 

Does anyone know if flatsharers have the same rights as other tenants? We do have a shorthold tenancy agreement. And what happens if we have trouble getting our deposit back?

 

Thanks.

[BLUEISACOLOUR]

I have a question on this subject:

Yesterday I walked into my rented home to find a plumber sitting at my dining table eating his lunch and drinking my tea.

My landlords had let him in, with their spare key and left him unsupervised.

 

last week I had given them permission to send another plummer round while i wasn;t on the property. But i had given no such permission this time. They had sent me an email 15 minutes before i'd gotten home to tell me that they'd be sending him round.

 

Where do i stand on this? What should i do about it?

 

thanks

[mariner51]

At least 6 new posts tacked on to OPs about unwarranted entry, all with variations. Whilst the advice may be similar, can I suggest each OP starts a new thread rel to their situation, after reviewing similar similar threads? Would help to avoid confusion and very long threads.

[cginns]

im wondering if anyone can help i was renting a property from a letting agent, not long after moving in i lost my job and so started to organise housing benefit, the landlord was not happy with this and kept showing up. The owner of the house is the letting agent sister, they served notice to quit. then i got a message they wanted to do an inspection i said that i would be home and would let her in. 24 hours before the inspection i was called away for a family emergency and told the landlord i would not be there and would like to make another time, to which i received an email from the owner stating she didn't care and wanted me at the house for the inspection, i said this was impossible as i was around 300 miles away and wanted to do another day. The next day the day when the inspection was meant to take place the owner rang me from outside the house and informed me that if i wasnt there in 10 mins she would enter the property using management keys. I told there was no way i could be there and i wanted to have the inspection another day and she said tough basically it was her house and she entered the property she also threatened over the phone that she would change the locks and i said she couldnt do that to which she replied she could it was her house and hung up which then left me wondering that when i returned would i be able to get in. We then got our moving date and 2 weeks before we were due to leave she started emailing me saying that she would be at the property on the 24th december out move out date was the 27th, she said she would be at the property on the 24th and would stay with us to make sure we packed and left and if we had not gone by the 27th she would hire some people to throw all our stuff out of the house. Throughout the tenancy we have had to deal with unexpected visits, phone calls and nasty emails threats from the owner. Has she broke my rights as a tenant

[stu007]

Hi cginns

 

You have came onto a thread started some time ago it is best that you start your own thread, which I see you have already done in the Residential and Commerical forum could you please stick to that thread as you will get better advice that way.

[honeybee13]

Here's a link to cginns new thread for anyone who wishes to follow it. I'll close this one now.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?415203-has-landlord-broken-my-rights%281-Viewing%29-nbsp

 

HB