changing the locks

Geenie

This is terrible. If in your position OP, I would write letters, recorded delivery to the LL and LA's stating what has happened, the law on your right to privavcy, how it has been breached, your vulnerability as a female being in this position, and that you are contacting the police. I would also contact the local council to warn them of putting anyone on their register in there. And then get out of there asap.

Snooze

LOL @ all the "report it to the police" brigade. :rotfl: Clearly none of you have ever had any dealings with the police in this country otherwise you'd know that you've got more chance of platting fog that you have of them putting down their doughnuts and doing something about it.

R

Bennifred

Snooze wrote: »

LOL @ all the "report it to the police" brigade. :rotfl: Clearly none of you have ever had any dealings with the police in this country otherwise you'd know that you've got more chance of platting fog that you have of them putting down their doughnuts and doing something about it.

R

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

(.........and by the way,it's plaiting:rolleyes:.............)

tek-monkey

Snooze wrote: »

LOL @ all the "report it to the police" brigade. :rotfl: Clearly none of you have ever had any dealings with the police in this country otherwise you'd know that you've got more chance of platting fog that you have of them putting down their doughnuts and doing something about it.

R

What they do is completely irrelevant, you need a crime reference number. You will get one, you just push if you get a lazy copper. They can't refuse you, as its a crime. Demand to see their CO if they refuse.

Wasn't aware british cops ate that many donuts, I always seem to see them buying sarnies in Asda.

princeofpounds

Snooze is right to say the police will not do anything.

If the LL is letting himself in just to check up, or do work on the place, or show potentialy tenants around, it's hardly ever worth involving the police, and besides, he is not committing a crime.

However, if items have disappeared, or if there appears to be a sexual motive, then it is worth reporting. The police will still not do anything most likely, but in the case of a) there has been a crime and it's worth getting a number, and in the case of b) it can help build up a pattern of behaviour and potentially identify someone who could take things further in the future.

But you need some kind of reasonable indication of wrongdoing, not just the possibility.

I would also write to the managing director of the agency. State that the response was unacceptable, that even if he was in the house he was doing the wrong things, that unauthorised entrances appear to have been made on multiple occasions, that to mistake one house for another entirely is an unlikely explanation, and to point out that the agency is running a severe reputational risk if this sort of behaviour escalates in the future and they were later shown to be covering for him because he was a significant client.

Changing locks is totally ok as long as you change them back at the end.

poppysarah

princeofpounds wrote: »

If the LL is letting himself in just to check up, or do work on the place, or show potentialy tenants around, it's hardly ever worth involving the police, and besides, he is not committing a crime.

It's utterly wrong for him to let himself in randomly and shuffle through people's possession.

The police will log the complaint and issue a reference number.

People should have to be fit to be landlords and ignoring the right to peaceful enjoyment may mean they are not fit.

Wrong house?
I think not. He would have to have labelled keys because no one would know which key was which otherwise. He knew where he was going.

clutton_2

i think we are in danger of " MSE/mountains/molehills" syndrome creeping in here - of course what happened is utterly wrong, but, i think a letter as i suggested earlier is quite enough.

the guy now knows he cannot get in - as you will have changed the locks - and i think he is unlikely to want to face you again - i think he will scuttle off into a corner and be to embarrassed to face OP ever again

confrontation for confrontation's sake never achieves anything - OP wants peace of mind - new locks will provide that - OP wants him to know what happened is not OK - a letter does that

princeofpounds

It's utterly wrong for him to let himself in randomly and shuffle through people's possession.

Yes. But it's not actually a crime, believe it or not, unless entry is forced, anything taken, or various other activities are involved. Just entering a property is not a crime.

barnaby-bear

clutton wrote: »

i think we are in danger of " MSE/mountains/molehills" syndrome creeping in here - of course what happened is utterly wrong, but, i think a letter as i suggested earlier is quite enough.

the guy now knows he cannot get in - as you will have changed the locks - and i think he is unlikely to want to face you again - i think he will scuttle off into a corner and be to embarrassed to face OP ever again

confrontation for confrontation's sake never achieves anything - OP wants peace of mind - new locks will provide that - OP wants him to know what happened is not OK - a letter does that

I mostly agree but then when you do get a genuine pervert caught - knicker-sniffing / installing web cam in tenants room - there's often a string of others who come forward saying well I didn't say anything as I wouldn't be taken seriously etc.... if he is up to no good he might just get bumped up the radar or a note made that cross-references and means someone else is taken seriously... I'd contact the council's private letting officer too - as it might bump him onto their radar if similar things have happened/or do in the future for others.....

Shakethedisease

Bad enough for a landlord to be doing this at all but the OP feels this isn't the first time.. just the first time he's been caught.

There have been previous incidents where I thought that things had been moved around but I had assumed that I was just being silly and forgetting where I had put things.

What's he doing on these unannounced and lone visits, that's what I'd like to know ? Especially if he has lots of other properties ???

I'd definately change the locks. And I would think about paying a quick unofficial visit to the police. This might be the op's landlord.. but geez..it was still a strange uninvited man in the house while she was in the shower !! Just because he collects the rent money doesn't give him some kind of enhanced rights to walk in and rifle around in drawers and cupboards ( or whatever he was doing ) whenever he feels like it...

If this wasn't the op's landlord and she'd stepped out of the shower to find a strange man in the house we'd all be telling her to go straight to the police asap and report it ! Forget the landlord thing, this was a strange man in the home of a woman alone, and god knows how many other homes he's unnofficially visited over the years...

This guy needs a wake up call. Not a letter...