Landlord problems, unreasonable, invasion of privacy, help please

Katharine

Firstly we have a short assured tenancy and live in scotland if that makes a difference. The person who's causeing us problems isan't the landlord as such but the Factor (who has the rights of a landlord) as we live on a country estate.

He came round to the house without notice (with the excuse of comeing for an unrelated reason) while we were out and has inspected the outside, and our living room and porch through the windows. Then sent us a letter in which he has jumped to various conclusions, and seriously exaggerated. He also says he will be back (no set time or day) and in he does not see a significant improvement inside and outside he will evict us. Apart from a couple of minor things I fail to understand what he is expecting us to do. The 'environs' of our property was not the most attractive when we moved in but we have improved on it slightly. The porch floor just needed a clean, you'd expect it to get dirty living in the countryside with two dogs. The living room I really don't understand his 'cause for concern' we have black dogs and a beige floor I can hover it everyday and it doesn't stay clean, and there was some clutter of the coffee table which surely is nothing to concern someone.

My questions are:
Is he allowed to just come round whenever and inspect our property through the windows and outside.
Does the letter constitute a notice for inspection inside the property, or can he just come round whenever and inspect it.
Due to his exaggerations and and unreasonable behaviour I dont feel comfortable speaking too him alone can I refuse to talk to him and insist that my husband is with me when he comes back.

I hope someone can help as currently Im sat here on edge, expecting him to return at any moment. Many thanks

Katharine

If he was to make a set appointment to do an internal inspection I have no problem with that, but would still want my husband here. Also even if we do damage we are supposed to have 1 month to repair it according to our lease.

SouthCoast

Shelter - Scotland can be found here:

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/getadvice

tbs624

Katharine - the factor/property manager has to give you appropriate notice (24 hours) if he wishes to have access to the property to inspect its condition or sort out repairs. If it's not convenient you can arrange another time/date and he has absolutely no right to come peering through your windows whenever he pleases.

Inspection of a property's condition does not include commenting on the tidiness or otherwise of the tenants - unfortunately some Estate Factors seem to think they can act as though they were living in Dickensian times. If you were piling up refuse that would attract vermin or mark walls then they can comment but otherwise such comments are an irrelevance. Any Factor who sought to let themselves in without a T's permission may find themselves facing a tenant harassment charge and certainly any male Factor or LL who tried this with a female T, who had expressed a preference for their partner to be present, would be an absolute idiot.

Is the Factor a member of the Property Managers Assoc Scotland, as they have a code of practice.

The Govan Law Centre is a fount of knowledge on problems with Factors and more general LL& T issues - they have a website which it may be worth you taking a look at.

If you are still within the Fixed Term of your SAT agreement then you can only be evicted on very specific grounds after the correct procedures have been followed. Call Shelter 0808 800 4444 as another source of advice.

Katharine

He's not a member sadly, thanks for all the useful info, I shall certainly do some research.

It's victimisation as far as I'm concerned, he has a personal vendetta against my husband. Reported him to the police for something he didn't do, and threatened us with eviction then. He is also the factor for an estate my husband worked on where he was treated very badly and not paid what they owed him, he had to leave and threaten tribunal to get paid. Surely this is a conflict of interests? Now the Factor's pokeing around the house and turning our neighbours against us. We have lived here 10 months of a 12 month lease and in that time have had no issues with our neighbours who have never complained to us about anything. Now in the last fortnight all of the above has happened, and I fear it will continue. As I understand it legally he could give us notice now and we would be out in two months when the lease ends. We just want out now, but want to move when it's convenient for us!

Katharine

Well he just phoned and wants to inspect the house on specific day and time, but my husband is not available. I told him I would prefer my husband there, and he said as your both of the lease either is fine. He was insistant that the inspection be sooner rather than later. I suggested the following day when my husband is in, but I'm guessing he doesn't want to make a special trip but wants to come when he is in the area anyway. He also suggested that my husband take holiday so he could see it that day which is not possible, and why should he? Am I right in thinking I have the right to decide what is convenient to me? Do I have the right to insist my husband is here?

Zelie

If it's not convenient then he'll have to stick it. Write/email and offer him a range of dates when you and your husband are both free for him to inspect the property. You may wish to additionally agree that your husband will take a day's holiday for the inspection and advise the factor of how much he will be agreeing to pay your husband in recompense. I suspect this stance might knock that one on the head.

Katharine

I phoned shelter who were very helpful and they enlightened me to the fact that the factor can't evict us now for over 3 months which suits us fine, he would have had to serve papers today to get us out at the end of the lease. We will be gone before then, huge relief! When he does come round for the inspection we are not going to agree to do anything that we feel is unreasonable, his little trick of trying to get us to jump through hoops on the threat of eviction is no longer a concern.

tbs624

Katharine - it does sound as though you are intimidated by this man and for that reason you really should talk to someone at Shelter, a law centre or someone at the local council who deals with private tenancies (as suggested above)

Get your tenancy agreement ready to refer to and make a couple of calls so that you feel more certain of what is and isn't acceptable behaviour by a Factor. Looking back at your first post you say "Apart from a couple of minor things I fail to understand what he is expecting us to do." So long as you aren't deliberately doing anything that would cause the property to deteriorate, you promptly report any repairs issues so that they can be dealt with, you pay your rent on time & you intend leaving the property in a clean condition when you eventually leave, then the Factor shouldn't really have any issues with you.

He has to give you *written* notice of his intended visit. You don't have to justify to this Factor why you want your husband to be present, but you should perhaps have some measure of flexibility if the Factor is only in the area on certain dates. I agree with Zelie that you writing to say "we can arrange to be present on x dates between x times" shows that you are trying to reach a mutual agreement on access, rather than simply being "obstructive" ( I think I'd probably leave out the stroppy bit about hubby's pay though) Send the letter to the Factor, copy it to the LL, and keep a copy yourself. If a T totally refuses access for repairs/inspections then a LLs or agent/factor's correct recourse would be to go to court so that the T could be ordered to allow access.

Some of what you say this Factor is doing sounds very like behaviour verging on tenant harassment, particularly if he is trying to isolate you within your local community. See this from Shelter

Unfortunately, as you say you are near the end of a Fixed Term contract you do need to be prepared for this Factor to recommend that you are given notice. Whether or not the LL/estate owner goes along with his possible advice will probably depend on the likelihood that they can find another T for the property.

Katharine

Absolutly, we always clean our home thourghly open leaving, keep up with maintenance, and accidental damage is fixed. We have always recieved our full deposit back and have lived on estates before without issue.

I no longer have a problem if he does give us notice as we intend to move out ASAP ie. in three months time. I do not belive the laird would want go to court from what I hear he is a reasonable man. I believe the factor is playing with the power he has been given. If we recieve any more harresment we will be writing to the Laird explaining the factors unreasonable actions.

As far as access is concerned I suggested two possible options to him, later on the suggested day when my husband was home, and the following day. If he really wanted 'sooner rather than later' you would think he would want to take up either of those. My husbands line of work means that bank holidays, weekends and school holidays are particularly busy and holidays would not be approved on those days.

I'm not so intimidated anymore now I know my rights, he is just a bully like any other.

On a lighter note, why oh why do landlords put in beige carpets? Its almost as if they want you to fail? Every house I have lived in has had beige carpets!

foxxymynx

My questions are:
Is he allowed to just come round whenever and inspect our property through the windows and outside. No
Does the letter constitute a notice for inspection inside the property, or can he just come round whenever and inspect it. No
Due to his exaggerations and and unreasonable behaviour I dont feel comfortable speaking too him alone can I refuse to talk to him and insist that my husband is with me when he comes back. Yes