Landlord / experienced tenant opinion please!**UPDATE-LL ENTERED HOUSE ILLEGALLY?**

real1314

5 pages over what amounts to a small mis-judgement.

Tenant says toilet needs repair.
LL says I'll do it in 2 days.
LL does it next day instead.
Tenant feels violated.

What a world.

1. LLs can and do keep keys and should only use them with agreement or in the event of emergency (Tenant should check their tenancy agreement)
2. Permission was given to use key
3. LL shouldn't have used the key on an unagreed day
4. It was not unlawful, illegal or any sort of crime. It was a breach of the tenancy agreement.

Advice to tenant, get over it.
Advice to LL, stick to what's agreed.

bdon

real1314 wrote: »

5 pages over what amounts to a small mis-judgement.

Tenant says toilet needs repair.
LL says I'll do it in 2 days.
LL does it next day instead.
Tenant feels violated.

What a world.

1. LLs can and do keep keys and should only use them with agreement or in the event of emergency (Tenant should check their tenancy agreement)
2. Permission was given to use key
3. LL shouldn't have used the key on an unagreed day
4. It was not unlawful, illegal or any sort of crime. It was a breach of the tenancy agreement.

Advice to tenant, get over it.
Advice to LL, stick to what's agreed.

quite a good outcome - fixed in 1 day rather than 2+. the alternative could have been you would have to have found a plumber (expensive) and claim back from LL.

to be honest, LL doesn't sound like a bad lot - just a bit retro.

I am renting in London and mine is late-stage BTL and I know which one I would prefer... am fully expecting to have considerable hassle over a particularly non-descript and cheapest of the cheap Ikea sofas - and all this for 300 a week. sigh.

I need to move - the new cooker the EA promised hasn't arrived obviously and I've had to replant, fix lights, new shower hose, fix cupboards. Hey ho -

if only I wasn't so damn lazy

emsywoo123

Thank you everyone for your valuble input. Opinion divided, as ever on a forum, but always helps to get various perspectives, so thank you,

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

neas wrote: »

Why do people over dramatice eveything?

Maybe because the world is full of perverts, thieves and generally not very nice people.

I can imagine some pervert LL with unimpeded access sniffing around in the laundry basket or installing spy cameras.

Best be safe than sorry.

tbs624

As Franklee has said it doesn’t really matter whether other LLs or tenants posting in this thread feel that Emsy is making a fuss over nothing.

Hers is one of those unfortunate situations that should never have arisen: it’s probably not that the LL was deliberately being difficult or underhand but it’s also absolutely not about a tenant being vindictive, paranoid, angry, over-dramatic & all the other labels that have been bandied about.

For the poster who said quite simply that Emsy should have just dealt with it and shouldn’t have posted on a forum, let’s remember that much of what comes through on lots of these threads is the virtual equivalent of talking things over in the pub.

As someone who lets property I would have tried to contact Emsy and if I had not been able to, would have left the original appt as it stood. If you make an appt with someone, then regardless of any legalities, it is quite simply courteous to notify the other party if you need to change that appt: no owner occupier would put up with someone simply letting themselves in a day earlier without notice, and this is no different.

If what happened upsets Emsy, as the tenant, then clearly she needs to highlight it with the LL at an early stage - the fact is that the law does back her up. There is a huge difference between simply being assertive and being aggressive: you can stand up for yourself without being rude. Emsy has to judge for herself which way of highlighting the issue is best for her particular circumstances but honestly - I am seriously concerned for those posters who view the use of recorded delivery as an aggressive act: it's an everyday business tool and the LL/T relationship is a business relationship. I hope those posters don't ever buy anything off ebay - all those aggressive recorded delivery parcels may send them off to a very dark place....

An experienced LL should be aware of the distress that they can cause with issues around seeking entry to the property once a tenant has possession: if they don't get it then maybe they should make a career out of papershuffling in a dank office somewhere rather than dealing with people. There is an imbalance in the LL /tenant relationship and the very fact that several of the posters have used the “don’t upset your LL, S21 etc” line demonstrates that imbalance and yet strangely those posters seem unable to recognise the imbalance for what it is.

As for the line that any tenant should be grateful to a LL who completes repairs - yes, a bit of courtesy all round makes the world a nice place but LLs have specific repairing obligations, and absolutely no "forelock-tugging" is necessary simply because someone fulfils their side of the deal

vigesimal

If I came home and found that a tradesman have arrived for an appointment early and because I wasn't in, had found my spare key and let himself in to my house to do the job, I would be furious. Not only would it be a gross invasion of my privacy, but I would be very worried that he had nicked something of mine while he was there.

Just because I own a house and tenants rent a house, it doesn't make any difference to how we feel.

Some of you landlords need to realise that when you take money to rent your property out, then that property has now become the home of the people who have paid you and you can't just let yourself in when you like. If you can't understand that then you really shouldn't be a landlord.

Nobody wants a stranger walking around their own home, when they are out. There is no hard and fast rule that states all tradesmen will nick form you and all landords are honest.

neverdespairgirl

Jimuth wrote: »

Of course not. I've been renting for years. I love where I am RENTING, and yes, do consider it a "home"

Considering you said yesterday, "It annoys me to hear people say rental properties are their home" does that mean you annoy yourself?

LittleMissAspie

tbs624 wrote: »

For the poster who said quite simply that Emsy should have just dealt with it and shouldn’t have posted on a forum, let’s remember that much of what comes through on lots of these threads is the virtual equivalent of talking things over in the pub.

Do you mean me? I can't remember if anyone else said anything to that effect. I didn't say she shouldn't have posted, the whole point of forums is to post stuff and chat. But I got the impression that Emsy was only posting here and not doing anything in real life. I could be wrong, but that's how her posts read to me.

I completely understand why Emsy is upset, I would be too. But this doesn't seem like a problem landlord, just someone who made a mistake. I'm sure a word with him will be enough.

I say this as a tenant btw. In fact soon after moving into this place we had a problem with the boiler, the pilot light wouldn't stay on. My boyfriend reported it and later that same day someone was knocking at the door to fix it. I wasn't expecting that and was very surprised - I happened to be at home that day but could have been at work. Although I was annoyed, I was also impressed that they came to fix it so quickly. It actually made me trust the letting agents more, not less. It turned out that my boyfriend had agreed that someone could come round that day, he'd emailed me but I hadn't looked at my email in the meantime. I didn't know that until he came home though!

martindow

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

Maybe because the world is full of perverts, thieves and generally not very nice people.

I don't think so - most people are fine. Have you been reading too much from the Daily Mail?!

pukkamum

We had a landlord who used to do this he once came round on rent day and as we weren't in he took the cash i had left on the matlepiece!!!! Didn't leave a note or anything as you can imagine i was frantic when i got home, it was only when i phoned him to say i couldn't pay the rent he told me!!!

The other incident was when we were moving out and he had asked us if he could bring prospective tenants round while we were at work i said yes fine just let me know exactly when. He turned on on a saturday morning at 9 am and let himself in!! We were in bed!!!!!