LL right of entry

poppysarah

fozzeh wrote: »

Surely part of the AST would specify that no alterations can be made to property access without prior consent? I've got this quite clear under B12(d) for my tenant to see. And changing them would breach an AST and where would that leave the tenant?

The point being you can only go in if the tenant says you can.

You would only discover theyd broken your rule if you broke the much bigger rules.

chewmylegoff

FireWyrm wrote: »

snip

whilst i agree with what the others have said, i.e. that you do not have to allow unrestricted access, it may be worth considering trying to compromise (and i mean a proper compromise not just saying he can come around at 3am if he wants).

if you are not there, it isn't going to cause you any inconvenience, and if you play hardball, you may find that it has knock-on consequences, e.g. petty stuff claimed from the deposit by the landlord, finding fault with the cleaning and charging you £100s for it etc.

if i was in the situation i would tell the landlord i would be fine for viewings to be done whilst i was at work, but i wanted at least 24 hours advance notice of anything outside of that time, and reserve the right not to allow access if it was inconvient for me.

if that was met with stupidity from the landlord, only then would i consider escalating the situation by changing the locks.

franklee

chewmylegoff wrote: »

if you are not there, it isn't going to cause you any inconvenience, and if you play hardball, you may find that it has knock-on consequences, e.g. petty stuff claimed from the deposit by the landlord, finding fault with the cleaning and charging you £100s for it etc.

if i was in the situation i would tell the landlord i would be fine for viewings to be done whilst i was at work, but i wanted at least 24 hours advance notice of anything outside of that time, and reserve the right not to allow access if it was inconvient for me.

That may suit you but not everyone. Different people view their own home differently, there is no way I'd allow a viewing when I wasn't present.

FireWyrm

Chewmylegoff is right and dont think it hasnt crossed my mind. My last landlord was a petty little so and so who charged us for every little mark, so it's a case of once bitten, twice shy. I'm pretty sure this is all vindictiveness on the part of the landlord. The irony is, before I had the section 21 and after the other house exchanged, I tried to contact the LL directly to discuss the issue, tell him what we were doing and ask if he would like his walls painted but the LA refused to give me his number and told me he would only speak to me in writing...that sort of annoyed me somewhat. Then, I got the section 21 after being told by the LA that the LL had no intention of evicting us etc and that just tore it. This was never a case of 'its my home', it was more that we were all more or less settled in the village. It was the thought that if I had simply believed what I was told 6 months ago and gone bleathly on, we would have been in all sorts of trouble now scambling around to find a new house with the new school year starting very soon and the possibility of having to yank my 4 year old out of reception class and into a new school completely. It was very important to me to manage the situation so that they experienced the least amount of disruption and upheaval. The LL, by refusing to give me a true answer 6 months ago, by refusing to speak to me 2 weeks ago and by issuing a S21 had almost conspired to cause me the most misery and difficulty possible....I was annoyed by this. Happily, I'm a suspicious sort and I didnt believe the LA's assurances, so we set about purchasing our own home and it just so happened it all worked out in the end. That doesnt mean that I'm feeling particularly well disposed to the LL or that he can expect my full and unequivocal co-operation in this. I'm a person, not a cash-cow and I expect to be treated with decency and respect. I realise that this is a business arrangement, but my two experiences of LL's now lead me to believe the worst of the majority, which is sad frankly because most of the professional LL's on this board sound thoroughly decent to me.

It's true, I've never liked being inspected but I understand the reason for it. I would rather it was handled differently, but of the options, I suppose it's the only one that really protects the LL against unreasonable behaviour by tenants. This doesnt mean I have to love it though.

Anyway, I had a conversation with the LA this afternoon and in my sweetest, most reasonable voice, I asked them when they intended to begin remarketting the property. They informed me that they had no instructions to do so at this time and that it would probably be after my official exit. The only reason i'm even stopping at the old house was because I was trying to be a decent tenant who didnt just leave a house standing empty for months on end. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother if the LL is going to treat people the way he has. I'll keep an eye on the LA website since it will be the first indication that they have 'changed their mind' but I have made it quite clear to the LA that I expect to be consulted and that I will discuss the options as and when that situation arises. Until that time, they are not scheduled for a maintenance check until I leave, so they have no reason to be turning up at all.