Feeling a bit paranoid

Gallstones

We've lived in our privately rented house since January 2011. When we moved in (via a letting agent) we had contact with the actual landlady. She told us to make it our home and do what we liked with the property. She also left a load of furniture and appliances and said to do as we pleased with them (there was a clause in the tenancy saying we could not remove any items from the property for the first six months though).

I was employed when I moved in to the property but had to become self employed as my wife got ill and we needed some flexibility as we had a newborn. At the time it was easy to pay the rent due to employment. The rent is £550 a month.

Since then we have been slightly late with the rent a couple of times. Once we were late by 4 days and we let them know beforehand (this was due to a problem with housing benefit). The other few times we've only been a day late (again due to HB).

This month we were late by 1 day. We sent the landlady a text letting her know. Our rent is due 18th and we said we would pay 19th. Her mortgage is due out on 22nd by all accounts so we couldnt' see the problem. She sent us a nasty text back saying if we were late again she was going to issue a section 21 and have us evicted. We told her to go ahead if that's what she wanted, not to contact us further unless in writing. We spoke to the agent, he was baffled and couldn't understand what was up with her and spoke to her and told her not to be stupid as we've always paid the rent.

We've been in the property coming up to two years now and today we had our fourth inspection which went fine as usual. We were told we were keeping the property in good condition and the agent was happy. we've never had any complaints about the condition of the property.

An hour or so after the inspection there was a knock at the door, two women unknown to us stood there and said they were friends of the landladys and wanted to know what repairs needed doing on the property. I asked their names and they stuttered and eventually I told them to go away and come back in an hour as I was busy with the baby.

They have not come back yet and I have not been able to check this out with the letting agent, but I'm feeling intruded upon and slightly paranoid.

What I want to know is this:

1. have any terms of tenancy been breached by the landlady/her "friends" or the agent
2. Why they are insistent on doing a full inspection of the property every six months as I feel like my homes not my own and I don't like strangers "inspecting" my home.
3. If we chose to leave, are we still obliged to give a months notice as of the 18th of the month?
4. Will there be any comeback about the furniture she left in the house as we've replaced it all (barring a washing machine) with our own, the house was rented unfurnished.

Sorry for the long post, needed to vent a bit.

Fire_Fox

It's worth running an advanced search, all these issues have been discussed many times. You are in breach of contract every time you pay rent late, when you are one day late you are in law one month in arrears. Why aren't you making part payments when you are a little short? Given that you can afford to purchase appliances and furniture can't you juggle your budget so this does not happen again?

1. Terms of the tenancy been breached by the landlord or the friends doing what? Knocking on your door? What is the agent supposed to have done wrong?
2. Did you get at least 24 hours written notice of the inspections?
3. If you are out of the fixed term/ now in a statutory periodic tenancy you must serve one months notice coinciding with a rent period. This is not always the same as the day you pay rent.
4. Did you get it in writing that you could dispose of the landlord's possessions? Is there a dual signed inventory?

missile

Your home and your LL's house. I would suggest it is perfectly reasonable for her agent to carry out inspections at 6 monthly intervals.

You should pay your rent on time.

I very much doubt an agent would tell his client "not to be stupid".

It seems you are working part time and in receipt of housing benefit? It may not be easy to find another rental.

Kastanie

I'm a tenant but I see this from your LL's point of view. The situation is pretty clear cut: you pay your rent late. On one hand you expect your LL to put up with a few days' delay getting her money every month, but on the other you're annoyed when HB is late being paid to you. What's the difference? If you've signed a contract to pay on a certain date, then the LL is justified in expecting the money on that date. From your other posts, it seems the situation has been going on for most of this year so the LL's probably had enough. As regards your other points:

1. Anyone can knock on your door as long as they don't actually enter. It's odd that the LL would send friends round to ask about repairs if she's paying an agent to sort all that, but it's not a breach.

2. The agent is "insistent" on doing an inspection because it's probably in your rental agreement. Every six months sounds reasonable and you need 24 hours notice in writing. What did you sign up to? I agree it can feel a bit like an invasion of privacy but you can turn it to your advantage by mentioning repairs/improvements and the agent should also look at things like smoke alarms which is in your interests too. And if you rent unfurnished you have less to worry about because the state of the furnishings is nothing to do with the agent. In reality they're not actually looking at your home, they're inspecting the LL's house because that's what they're contracted to do.

3. As Fire Fox said, if you're out of the fixed term then one month's notice coinciding with a rent period.

4. You asked the same questions earlier this year and the advice given then still stands. If you weren't given an inventory with these on and the LL said you could do what you like with them then there probably won't be any comeback. But it really all depends what you've signed up to.

Fire_Fox

Kastanie wrote: »

4. You asked the same questions earlier this year and the advice given then still stands. If you weren't given an inventory with these on and the LL said you could do what you like with them then there probably won't be any comeback. But it really all depends what you've signed up to.

So they did but the story has changed
"Due to problems with benefit/change of circs there have been two occassions where the housing benefit has been paid to us quite late and this has made us late with the rent by about a week each time. The LA went nuts about this as we pay on the 18th and LL's mortgage payment is on the 20th. We did and still do feel really bad about it and promised not to be late again. ....

We spoke to housing benefit this morning and they say there is no way they can pay us before 20th. The rent is therefore late again. We feel really bad about this and are worried about telling the LA but we feel its beneficial to tell them so they can warn the LL ....

Hopefully they will be co-operative but I'm worried as so far they just seem like a bunch of cowboys. The chap who owns the firm is like a chav in a suit and quite intimidating"
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3908031

Kynthia

It is your responsibility to pay the rent on time. It doesn't matter why you are late, the fact is you shouldn't pay late and you should put measures in place to prevent it happening again. The landlord doesn't need a reason to evict you outside of the fixed term so don't tempt them by giving them a reason such as continuously paying late.

Six monthly inspections is entirely reasonable. I know many agencies that do quarterly inspections which would be double what you have. As long as they are giving you appropriate notice and don't try to enter if you deny them permission then they aren't doing anything wrong. You can use the inspections to let them know about any issues with the property, followed up with a letter.

It might be a bit odd, but the landlord isn't doing anything wrong by having a couple of friends knock at your door and ask to come in. You have the right to say no, particularly when you haven't had appropriate notice. You did this and they left. They didn't threaten you or tell you any lies or try to come in without your permission so there isn't a problem. Also, for all we know they may be fraudsters and nothing to do with your landlord.