Do I have the right to refuse entry to landlords mate?

sams247

new_home_owner wrote: »

If you want it repaired you either need to arrange to be in or have one of your friends wait, how can you moan about not having hot water, his mate is no different to a agent, im glad your not my tenants, you want to moan about not having hot water, you wont let anyone in your house to wait for the repairman and you wont wait yourself or for one of your friends to wait.

And then you ask whats a reasonable time to wait for it to be repaired, your taking the p!ss..

Thanks for that, very helpful and just what I was hoping for - someone to have a go without all the facts.

Fact is we have taken 6 days off already to try and get this sorted. We have next to no family here. We live in a village and the agent here who was to be appointed is well known to us and our landlord. We have had nearly three years of excuses from a landlord who wont fix a thing despite how much we 'moan'. Last year we were without hot water for 5 months whilst he was abroad and then he, like you, said we just moaned. Always paid the rent in full on time, why should we not expect better? Landlord promised local agent would take over management whihc is why we signed new agreement, then he moved and lied.

Sorry to those in a better helpful frame than others but if I wanted slating I'd have gone back to the landlord who is equally as rude as some on here.

Planner

Fire_Fox wrote: »

The landlord or letting agent is not permitted to allow the contractor to enter the property unaccompanied, unless they have the express permission of the tenant.

Hence the two choices for the tenant that I expressed;

they would just advise the tenant either to be their at a convenient time or allow the contractor to let themselves in with an agent supplied key.

Obviously my points been missed. The O/Ps implication seems to be that if a letting agents where being used, it would be the letting agent sat waiting.... from my experience, this simply isnt the case.

sams247

Planner wrote: »

Hence the two choices for the tenant that I expressed;

they would just advise the tenant either to be their at a convenient time or allow the contractor to let themselves in with an agent supplied key.

Obviously my points been missed. The O/Ps implication seems to be that if a letting agents where being used, it would be the letting agent sat waiting.... from my experience, this simply isnt the case.

The agent who was to be appointed works in the village - about a 4 minute walk from our house and the plan was that they would be able to let anyone in at short notice with a phone call. This is what we agreed to when we signed for a further year. I guess in my original post I did not put all the details, but never expected such a backlash from some quarters. Thank you for your help, which is appreciated.

Planner

Your options appear limited. You can either:

1) Be present yourself - you cant/not willing to do this;
2) Have a friend/family member present - Not an option as limited family and no available friends;
3) Allow the LLs mate to be present - which you are not comfortable with.

Im not sure what additional advice we can give you as there dosent seem to be an option 4.

mlz1413

As you signed another years contract because LL promised to use the local agent do you have any of that in writing?

If you do then write to your LL saying that you need the local agent to be appointed so that the hot water can be fixed and that if they are not appointed your only other option is to be paid £x per day you have to take unpaid from work either upfront by the LL or by rent reduction.

If he has messed you about before ensure his consent is written!

If he refuses and does not offer any other options then your only choice will be to leave, if he has expressly broken a written promise then you should have a chance of leaving early.

sams247

I think what I wanted to know was if I could say no to a 'mate' coming in, would that be a reasonable thing to do. There are people in the village who the LL and I know that I would be happy to let in. But a 'mate' seemed a bit risky, I have no way of knowing who they would be, but it has been pointed out that an agent may not be any more trustworthy so I take that on board. It isn't that I was trying to be precious or awkward, I really ha ve tried to be flexible in the past, but have come to the end.
It is in writing about the agent, but the LL says he cannot afford it. This is a landlord, by the way, who will not allow us to have any pictures up, and several times came into our home when we were at work and left notes about if the bath chrome was lime free or not etc. Believe me, we are not the bad guys here!

new_home_owner_3

sams247 wrote: »

Thanks for that, very helpful and just what I was hoping for - someone to have a go without all the facts.

Fact is we have taken 6 days off already to try and get this sorted. We have next to no family here. We live in a village and the agent here who was to be appointed is well known to us and our landlord. We have had nearly three years of excuses from a landlord who wont fix a thing despite how much we 'moan'. Last year we were without hot water for 5 months whilst he was abroad and then he, like you, said we just moaned. Always paid the rent in full on time, why should we not expect better? Landlord promised local agent would take over management whihc is why we signed new agreement, then he moved and lied.

Sorry to those in a better helpful frame than others but if I wanted slating I'd have gone back to the landlord who is equally as rude as some on here.

so now the story is you never had heating for 5 months last year, but you still signed up to a new contract. i think either you are slightly exagarating or you are complete mugs.

sams247

new_home_owner wrote: »

so now the story is you never had heating for 5 months last year, but you still signed up to a new contract. i think either you are slightly exagarating or you are complete mugs.

a) I have nothing to gain by exaggerating, this is the truth

b) I tend to try and believe people and trusted the LL would do better

c) I was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to be very careful about money, not an easy task to find a deposit for a new place

d) You are not of a giving spirit, but thank you for sharing your personal views

Fire_Fox

Planner wrote: »

Hence the two choices for the tenant that I expressed;

they would just advise the tenant either to be their at a convenient time or allow the contractor to let themselves in with an agent supplied key.

Obviously my points been missed. The O/Ps implication seems to be that if a letting agents where being used, it would be the letting agent sat waiting.... from my experience, this simply isnt the case.

OIC! :rotfl: In that case you had a second 'to' missing so the sentence read
"Surely if there was a letting agent involved... they would just ... allow the contractor to let themselves in with an agent supplied key."
And not your intended
"Surely if there was a letting agent involved they ... would just advise the tenant to ... allow the contractor to let themselves in with an agent supplied key."

new_home_owner_3

sams247 wrote: »

Hello, I am at the beginning of researching into bankruptcy and what it may mean to us as a family, I have spoken at length to the Insolvency helpline and CAB, but I have another question. Essentially one of my main worries is where to live. I rent privately at the moment, and my landlord is probably the worst we've ever had, and he has made it very clear he would not be happy for us to stay in the property if going bankrupt, and there is a clause against this in our contract. My boss has offered one of his properties for us to live in as a private tenant. It would be good in that he would not require a reference and he already knows our situation. But it's going to cost more than where we live now. If we're not paying £300 a month out on debts we will still be better off, but will the OR look badly on us moving to what is essentially a dearer property when we are going bankrupt. It looks a crazy idea on paper, but it would give peace of mind and a permanent home. What do you think?

why didnt you move then?