24 hour notice for landlord access

edwardmluk

We're coming to the end of our tenancy, and our landlord wants to have other people look around the house. He's asked we ensure it's tidy for when he brings people to see it. We said we can do that if he gives us a days notice to ensure its up to spec.

After mentioning this 24 hour notice idea, he instantly starting backing down and saying how he can't always do that, but still expects us to keep the house beyond spotless.

Is this correct? Can he come around whenever. We've scoured our tenancy agreement, and there's no mention of the 24 hours, but I always thought that was the case.

Thanks

Ed

bristol_pilot

You have the right to refuse to show anyone around at all. If the LL does so anyway, report him to the police for harassment which is a criminal offence carrying up to six months in prison.

Zelie

Yup, it's nonsense.

If the landlord wants to access your property for any reason other than an emergency (flood, gas leak etc) they must write to you giving a minimum of 24 hours notice that they would like to visit. You do not have to agree to their visit.

You are not obliged to let the landlord show around prospective tenants. Even if it says so in your tenancy agreement. The law gives you what is known as quiet enjoyment of the property. No contract can agree to anything beyond the law so any clauses saying you agree to give access in the last month (or whatever) can safely be ignored.

Furthermore, you are not obliged to keep the property in any particular state. If you want to be messy then be messy. All that is required is that you return the property in the same state as you recieved it (excepting natural wear and tear).

My advice would be to write to the landlord using recorded delivery and remind him of your rights. Then tell him that if he accesses or attempts to access your property without your express permission then you will call the police. Hopefully that should be enough to scare him.

If you want to be accomodating you can tell him that prospective tenants can view on certain dates and at certain times so long as you are given sufficient notice (you tell him what this will be) and are not otherwise engaged. You can either choose to be present or let the landlord show them round on his own. Tell him what is going to happen (personally I'd want to be present if strangers are being shown round my home).

If you think the landlord will not comply with this then it would seem wise to change the lock barrel as a temporary measure. Make sure you change it back at the end of the tenancy though!

clutton_2

this forum gets worse and worse..... i just cannot believe that someone has asked a perfectly sensible and legitimate question about negotiating access during the last few weeks of a tenancy and the immediate responses are

go to the police

change the locks



what on EARTH is going on in this forum lately... we seem to have the EXtreme Brigade posting the most ridiculously over-the-top advice.



All tenancy matters are about civilised discussion, compromise, negotiation and coming to an amicable conclusion... not instant and immediate Last REsort measures.


both these two previous posters advice would Really get the Landlords back up..... and if you have had a decent tenancy up to now - why not work with each other...... you offering a specific number of occasions per week for example - then see what he says.... at the moment your OP is a bit speculative as to what you think may happen next.. Talk to your landlord and come to a compromise......

franklee

clutton wrote: »

this forum gets worse and worse..... i just cannot believe that someone has asked a perfectly sensible and legitimate question about negotiating access during the last few weeks of a tenancy and the immediate responses are

go to the police

change the locks



what on EARTH is going on in this forum lately... we seem to have the EXtreme Brigade posting the most ridiculously over-the-top advice.

It seems you and I must be reading different forums as the only comment about locks thus far in this thread says:

Zelie wrote: »

If you think the landlord will not comply with this then it would seem wise to change the lock barrel as a temporary measure. Make sure you change it back at the end of the tenancy though!

Note the If you think the landlord will not comply with the preceding paragraph setting out how viewings might be arranged which seems perfectly sensible to me. It is after all the tenant's home, containing his possessions and that he is paying rent for the occupation of. The problem is that the tenant needs to know his landlord respects that and have no doubt that the landlord will enter without permission. Something the OP's landlord seems unaware of with his can't always give 24 hours notice.

Perhaps it's your skim reading again?

Zelie

franklee got in the way! This was to clutton.

This forum is about giving advice. Advice covering various circumstances has been given. The fact that you don't like it is neither here nor there. It's all very well saying "see what he says" but that puts all the power on one side with the OP still not knowing what his rights are in the matter. The OP asked specific questions and those have been covered in the replies (except for yours).

Some landlords are reasonable and open to sensible discussion. Others are not. There have been quite a few threads lately where a landlord has forced entry or threatened to. It is not unrealistic to think that may happen and the OP is best served by being advised of all the possibilities and their rights in the matter. What they choose to do with that information is their own business but it is better to have the knowledge than be at the mercy of whoever feels like coming round to their home.

dizziblonde

Considering the other week you were complaining about tenants having furniture as they have to walk around it and might wear your carpet out....

Personally - I'd ring the LL, say you're not happy with the idea of people trooping through the house willy nilly (if that gets filtered I'm sure you guys can work out what phrase I mean), and offering to be available on X, Y, Z dates for viewings provided notice is given. If he still ums and ahs - then I'd be reminding him of the law - just because you're leaving doesn't mean you don't still have your rights and goodwill needs to be on both sides - not one taking the mickey and the other being walked all over.

Some on here think all tenants are scum and on the make though - and deserve no rights whatsoever - I think that giving someone 24 hours notice if you're expecting them to have their home in a showable condition and people coming through is hardly unreasonable really. Don't let people make you feel ashamed or unreasonable for coming on here wanting to be armed with knowing your rights and double-checking them (rather than wading in armed on hearsay and rumour) before making a request. Just because you rent - doesn't make you sub-human or lacking basic rights as a person - despite how some on here seem to delight in viewing their tenants.

edwardmluk

Ok cheers guys. Yeah I thought he was being a bit ridiculous. He seems to have added such weird things into his tenancy agreement. He's a nice enough bloke, but for example we have to pay him our rent in cash. I've offered on several occasions to just transfer him the money over the internet and he either ignores that or says "its no problem for me to collect it myself in cash". It's a pain as our rent is more than one days worth of bank withdrawal allowance..so a few days beforehand we have to start gathing up money. What an idiot.

Anyway, he came round yesterday and told my housemate that our house was not tidy enough and from now on it had to be immaculate for prospective tenants. Ok, so there were like 5 glasses a a few plates neededing washing up from last nights dinner. And yes all my clothes were hanging over banisters to dry out from washing. I wouldn't call that messy though. Carpets all vacuumed, generally tidy, but he's just anal about everything. I'm glad to see he is out of order, and that we don't have to obey every rule he's added to the tenancy agreement. But I digress...

I'll email him regarding viewings and just say say we want 24 hour notice. If he gets arsey or tries to say "Well boys it's in the tenancy agreement that I can come over whenever" then I'll politely remind him of our rights and the law. That's not being harsh on my part, I don't think.

N79

You can always inform HMRC of his activities as well - tax evasion is almost certainly why he will only accept cash.

Cannon_Fodder

The landlord has already failed to protect the deposit.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2253891

And it was supposed to be for them to move back in, now its showing other prospective tenants around...

Cash = dodgy. HMRC might be interested, once you are out.

Have to assume they don't have consent-to-let, keeping the bills in their name.

clutton - how does the departing tenant help the arriving tenant not go through all the breaches/mistakes/issues, again...?

princeofpounds

I hope you are getting receipts for that cash, otherwise there might be an issue at the end of that tenancy for you.

Zelie gives you the right advice in terms of your rights. If the LL talks about clauses he put in the contract, just tell him that contract cannot override statue (i.e. the law) and no matter what is written there you do not have to agree to any access for viewings.

Point out that if he was willing to be more respectful of your home and more flexible then you would be able to be more flexible (if you want to).

Unfortunately if the landlord does break your right to quiet enjoyment, without it escalating to harrassment levels, there isn't much in the way of punishment. You could in theory go to court to get an order to stop him doing it again, but what's the point when you are leaving? You can't sue for damages unless you actually suffer a quantifiable loss. This is why changing the lock barrel is the usual tactic to deal with disrespectful landlords.

Clutton makes an important point - calling the police is unnecessary unless there is any genuine harrassment or intimidation.

However, I do not believe that changing the lock barrels (changing them back at the end of the tenancy) is out of order. Many tenants do it the day they move in as a matter of procedure (so only they know who has the keys), and if the landlord breaks your right of quiet enjoyment one time then you have a good reason.