Tenant flat viewing issue

LoopsYorkshire

This is a difficult one when shared accommodation but if the landlord isn't bringing someone round to move in immediately (to replace one of the other tenants) then its pretty straight forward that you have a right to quiet enjoyment.

Quiet enjoyment means uninterrupted pleasure of your property, the landlord only has a right of access giving you 24 hours notice to inspect for disrepair or complete repairs, anything other than this he doesnt have a right to come round.

If you are wanting to stay past your fixed term you might want to say to him its not convenient and arrange for them to come at a more convenient time or infact you do have the right to refuse. A landlord entering the property without your permission is potentially causing harassment (interferring with the peace and comfort of your property).

Its quite normal for tenancy agreements to say once you have handed in your notice in the last 30 days of renting for you to show round new tenants but not even all agreements have this.

Hope this helps .. good luck!

katykatkins

yeah actually thats really helpful, thats exactly the sort of thing I needed to know. As it happens, since we moved in in September the landlord has done 2 (or 3?) inspections of the property and we have had to have various tradesmen out on approximately 6 occasions due to faults within the property. That's too many right? My mum wants us to complain but I'm not a complainer by nature and I think I'd be making things worse for ourselves, and also, who would I complain to?

currynchips

If the worst case scenario comes that they can't rearrange, it's not the end of the world - they'll only be in 5-10 minutes max. Go for a short walk, breaks are important!

katykatkins

Well I totally forgot about this, and heard someone ramming on the door a few minutes ago through my headphones (I revise with LOUD music) and anyway I thought he door was going to break down. I'm still in my pyjamas and the guy came in and gave me a dirty look. They are now discussing next years rent outside my front door. grrrrr.

tbs624

katykatkins wrote: »

Well I totally forgot about this, and heard someone ramming on the door a few minutes ago through my headphones (I revise with LOUD music) and anyway I thought he door was going to break down. I'm still in my pyjamas and the guy came in and gave me a dirty look. They are now discussing next years rent outside my front door. grrrrr.

Come on Katy - you're presumably over 18 if you're at Uni. Act like an adult - this is the sort of thing that happens all the time when one side does something that cheeses off the other and there is a breakdown in communication. Write to them just saying that it would really help if you could agree a method of arranging inspections etc that works to both parties' satisfaction , saving wasted journeys on their part and lack of sufficient notice for you, particularly during busy exam times. To let them just turn up, having not bothered to discuss the matter in a reasonable fashion will probably just inflame things.

tbs624

katykatkins wrote: »

... since we moved in in September the landlord has done 2 (or 3?) inspections of the property and we have had to have various tradesmen out on approximately 6 occasions due to faults within the property. That's too many right? My mum wants us to complain but I'm not a complainer by nature and I think I'd be making things worse for ourselves, and also, who would I complain to?

If you've had tradesman out to see to faults on 6 occasions then clearly your LL gets things seen to - there are plenty of tenants who'd be delighted if *any* tradesman was sent to fix things. LLs of student properties do tend to want to inspect once every 3 months, but if there have been a number if problems to get sorted maybe the LL is being thorough & wanting to check that the work has been done properly? They should still agree times with you in advance but often tenants & LLs lock themselves into a dispute that is entirely unnecessary.

If you need clarification on what is "normal" see if your Uni has this LL on their list of accredited LLs (would usually have to be if property listed via Uni accomms office) and talk to the Accomms officer.

katykatkins

I did discuss the matter "in a reasonable fashion" thank you very much, I believe I told them they could not have access to the property that I am paying for and they turned up anyway, at which point I was very gracious and let them in anyway as I wouldn't like to have a wasted journey myself. I think that they (the LL and LA) are not treating us reasonably and have told them so over the phone, my next step will be to put it in writing, however I just don't know who to go to, as I have issues with both the LA and the LL.
I know that some tenants would be grateful for getting anything fixed, however we did not let this as a student property, there are only 2 of us, myself and my husband and we were looking for somewhere with a better standard of living than student digs and pay for this too.
This also means that it is not an accredited landlord, I know this too because our uni officially opens the housing market (if you will) on January 24th; ie after exams; and we had to look for somewhere in a bit of a hurry as our previous rental agreement for elsewhere fell through.
I'm beginning to wonder if we are going to be evicted as neither of the viewings have been students either and there is going to be another one next weekend. I'm sure we haven't violated any terms of the contract, what sort of rights do we have/ can they do this?

robin_banks

Is this the real problem then that you have 'an issue' with your LL and LA and in reality the viewing thing is a bit of a sideshow?.

katykatkins

No, the viewing thing is the issue with the letting agent.
I have a problem with the landlord because he has been very rude to me in the past, for example 3 days after we moved in and I saw mice in our flat, I called him and he swore at me and accused me of lying. I also said "oh we have a bit too much stuff don't we" as we had a box in the hallway when he came for one of his inspections; at which point he went off on one saying that we "knew what we were renting before we rented it" etc etc. This has now got to the point where I'm actually a bit scared to be here when he comes over - last time I went out to the library and let my husband deal with him.
I really just wanted advice on where we stand as I have only rented for 2 years.

Premier_2

Why don't you just ask the LL to arrange an alternative time that is more convenient?

Or are you mastering in being awkward?