Landlord entered property and took pictures

meome0

Please can someone help me..this is what has happened to us in last few weeks..
I will try to keep as short as possible. We had been telling our landlords ( who are a large corporation) that the floor was sinking and that there ws a terrible smell from under the floors ..we reported this in december , they came out 3 weeks ago. When they lifted the floorboards there was raw sewage under the house as the waste pipe from the upstairs toilet and bath had never been capped off. So as such there was a large amount under the house. Within an hour of this being discovered we recieved a phone call from the landlords saying that we had too move out as it was a health and saftey issue. My wife, myself our three kids where moved into a one room b&b for the first three nights and then after much insistance from me we were put in holiday cottages for the next 2 weeks..
As we had to move out so quickly we were instructed to take all our belongings upstairs as a matter of urgancy as the removal men would be in the next day to take the larger items. We took everything up as quick as we could and vacated the premises as instructed..
After a lot of phone calls and problems we finally got the keys back to our property this friday just gone (theres lots more that happened inbetween but I am trying to stick to the important stuff).
When my wife opened the door there was a letter from our landlords.In this letter it stated that "someone" (there was only the workman allowed in) had made a complaint about the state of our house..The letter went on to say that our house was a state and that they had taken photos!!
It expressly said that "the upstairs was strewn with items and that they were unable to get between rooms" (we had to move everything upstairs in a rush" In a subsiquent phonecall to the lady in question she said that " she belived we always lived like that and that only a small amount was because of moving out"!!!
She also said that our front room "Stank" (we have had raw sewage under the house for months) !!!
The state of the garden was mentioned but I can except i am not the best gardener.
Sorry I will finally get to the question!!
My landlord I am sure cannot just enter my premises, take pictures ?
without informing or asking me surely?
It seems that as they are aware that we shall be taking all this further they are just trying to counteract any future claims..In the photos they took( they have upon my request) sent me a copy of them , one of the pictures is zoomed in and cleary shows a photo of all three of our kids , is this allowed? please advise if anyone has any advice....chris

Fishingtime

I think he can eneter the house as technically you were not living there,as they had moved you out.
Showing the faces of your kids might be out of order

princeofpounds

Write a letter back.

State, a little more formally, what you have told us above.

- It was cluttered because you had been told to move an entire floor's worth of possessions at short notice.
- It stank because there had been raw sewage under the floor, the very problem that was being fixed.
- That the garden may not be the tidiest but it will be returned in a condition similar to that which it was found during the check-in.

Also state that you are disappointed that they chose to breach your 'quiet enjoyment' of the property and take photos that invade your privacy.

Note that all further visits to the house must be agreed with you with 24hrs notice as laid out in the Housing Act, and that continued invasions of privacy might be construed as harrassment.

Finally note that whether there were special circumstances for the tidyness of your possessions or not it is no business of the agent or the landlord, who should only be concerned about the fabric of the building and associated contents. State that you are fully aware that they are entitled to a building returned in the same condition as check-in except for fair wear and tear and that you expect this to be dealt with on check-out.

If you want to get aggressive, point out that you could sue for compensation for the inconvenience of an uninhabitable house and that you could have involved environmental health.

If you like, you can change the lock barrel so there will be no more unauthorised entrances.

Then move on. The photos and letter are a pain but hopefully there are no real practical consequences. There is no law against photographing kids, let along photos of kids. There is no crime of harrassment unless it forms a pattern of behaviour. There are no damages. The key is to put them in their place so that it doesn't happen again.

meome0

Thankyou for this advice.I am concidering going to the C.A.B reguarding the whole thing.Would you concider the pictures taken of my property an issue that I should raise too? Not of course the one of the children as you have stated this is not illigal... I wish I had the space to explain everthing we have been though here but it would take too long..chris

meome0

We had moved out , but we were still paying the rent on the property and all of our stuff excluding large furniture from downstairs was upstairs..The other issue is that they say that there had been a complaint about our upstairs, but none of the works being carried out needed any access to upstairs!!?? They will not tell me who made the complaint ( and i understand the reason for this) But they also state that no one other than dales housing employees had entered the premises so it means that one of them went upstairs with no reason too?

Gwhiz

Any chance of an adult conversation being able to sort all this out before "action" is taken?

silvercar

Within an hour of this being discovered we recieved a phone call from the landlords saying that we had too move out as it was a health and saftey issue.

I think you should be relieved that your landlord dealt with a serious issue in a very timely manner.

meome0

I have tried talking to them on the phone for over 45 minutes , but the lady insisted that in her opinion the state of the upstairs was not made worse by the fact we took everything upstairs..allthough the other person who came in with her has said to me on the phone today that that wholey agreed with my side of events..I got the local newspaper involved in all of this and they published a full page...since then she took it upon herself to enter my premises and take the photos!!! They are aware that legal action wil prob be being taken and that is why they are trying to counter act..I didnt mention in my first post that the letter also stated that if we dont rectify the issues she has raised in the letter then we face eviction !!!

meome0

It was timely that day,.. but the smell was reported 7 months earlier!!

silvercar

You can't expect "quiet enjoyment" of a property that (a) you are not living in at the time and (b) workmen need to access to do major work.

If workmen are on site, then a landlord may need to visit to discuss the work without giving you 24 hours notice. This would be reasonable.

You can expect quiet enjoyment of the alternative accommodation provided to you.

meome0

So this visit to check on works includes going upstairs and taking pictures? when none of the work was upstairs?