Peaceful enjoyment and tenancy agreement

gRoberts

Hi all,

I'm due to see CAB on Thursday regarding a problem I've got with my landlord, however I was hoping that before hand, some of you kind legal eagles might be able to confirm something before hand.

If the contract states that the landlord, letting agent or a representative must give 24 hours written notice before entering the property (unless in the case of an emergency).

If the landlord has turned up unannounced, even after being warned about the 24 hours notice, that it's a breach of the tenancy agreement?

Cheers

Gav

G_M

Write a letter to the landlord at the address "for the serving of notices" which is usually on your tenancy agreement. Send a copy to the agent (if any).

Remind him you need 24 hours notice of any visit so that you can agree a suitable time when you can be there. "Please note I am unhappy about vists in my absence, so a mutually agreeable date/time will need to be agreed".

Then change the barrel of your lock (£5? and 10 minutes?) to ensure he complies. Keep the old barrel to replace when the tenancy ends.

Yes, turning up is breach of the TA, but all you can do is
1) get a court order to prohibit him repeating (costly, and likely to be only granted in severe cases eg repeated harassment)
2) physical action (don't open the door to him; change the lock)

gRoberts

Thanks G_M,

Our primary concern is to determine whether a breach of the tenancy agreement has been made as a direct result of not giving 24 hours notice in the first place.

The landlord has been informed by the letting agents and our selves that he cannot simply turn up without giving prior notice first.

Cheers

DVardysShadow

gRoberts wrote: »

If the landlord has turned up unannounced, even after being warned about the 24 hours notice, that it's a breach of the tenancy agreement?

Yes, it is a breach of an implied term. So even though it is not in the Tenancy Agreement itself, it is a breach of a common law[?] right of quiet enjoyment which is assumed to be part of the agreement.

So now you know it would be a breach, what do you intend to do with the information? Because that could be where you come unstuck.

gRoberts

My tenancy agreement states:

5.4: That the Landlord or any person authorised by the Landlord or his Agent may at reasonable times of the day on giving 24 hours' written notice, (unless in the case of an emergency) enter the Property for the purpose of inspecting its condition and state of repair. The Tenant shall permit the Property to be viewed on reasonable notice (of at least 24 hours) at all reasonable times during the final weeks of the tenancy.

8.1: The Landlord shall permit the Tenant to have quiet enjoyment of the Property without interruption by the Landlord or his Agent, however this does not preclude the Landlord from taking action through the courts should the Tenant fail to pay the rent due or be in breach of the Tenancy Agreement.

Unless I'm mistaken, this clearly states 24 hours written notice.

PaulLuke

So yes it is a breach of your agreement. I think what DVardysShadow was asking was, having agreed that your landlord has breeched a term of your tenancy agreement, what are you hoping to do with that information?

I'm interested because this is a breach of a very minor term of the agreement and certainly not sufficient to enable you to end the agreement or really do much other than as was suggested earlier, re-inforce in writing that you expect the landlord to stick to the 24 hours notice and/or change the locks if you have any concern that the landlord may attempt to enter the property when you are not there.

gRoberts

Essentially, our landlord has refused to allow us to end the tenancy early as a result of the property being unsuitable for the new born baby we're soon to bring into it (property has issues of damp etc).

Environmental health has been out and written a report, which I'm waiting for a copy of, but I just want to get as much information/ammo as possible to show the Landlord that should he not mutually surrender the tenancy, we may have the right to legally end the tenancy instead.

I'd prefer to keep it amicable, however if pushed, I will use the law if it's on my side.

jjlandlord

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Yes, it is a breach of an implied term. So even though it is not in the Tenancy Agreement itself, it is a breach of a common law[?] right of quiet enjoyment which is assumed to be part of the agreement.

The implied clause because of e.g. s.11 of LTA1985 is still a clause. So a breach is still a breach of agreement.

In OP's case, clause 5.4 basically explicitly re-states what s.11 says, so it's explicit and clear, but does not add anything.

gRoberts wrote: »

Essentially, our landlord has refused to allow us to end the tenancy early

Your landlord calling unannounced has no bearing on this.

In your previous thread you mentioned that you had 2 months left on your fixed term tenancy. So that's only 1.5 months left now...
As advised then, imho your best route is to focus on finding a new place so as to move out by the end of your fixed term tenancy.

xoAmyox

gRoberts wrote: »

Essentially, our landlord has refused to allow us to end the tenancy early as a result of the property being unsuitable for the new born baby we're soon to bring into it (property has issues of damp etc).

Environmental health has been out and written a report, which I'm waiting for a copy of, but I just want to get as much information/ammo as possible to show the Landlord that should he not mutually surrender the tenancy, we may have the right to legally end the tenancy instead.

I'd prefer to keep it amicable, however if pushed, I will use the law if it's on my side.

Unfortunately, although your situation is a breach, there is no right for an early surrender in this circumstance. How long do you have left on your tenancy?

What have environmental health said to you so far?

gRoberts

The tenancy ends on July 31st, however we have a child soon to come into the world (in the coming weeks) that will have a weaker immune system than most and the damp could put our child at risk.

The environmental health have been involved with our property for over 8 months and they have made it clear that the issues have not been resolved in a timely period (by mouth) however, we were not given a copy of the report when it was drafted, so we are waiting for an official copy.

RobertoMoir

gRoberts wrote: »

Unless I'm mistaken, this clearly states 24 hours written notice.

The issue people here are asking about isn't isn't "Are you right?" - the issue is "Yes you're right, but now what...".Simply being correct isn't going to do anything by itself, and nor is it likely to be enough to walk away from the tenancy agreement.