LL keeps arranging viewings without notice

bouicca21

I've found Shelter to be very knowledgeable in housing law. Perhaps TheSaint should tell us what his/her knowledge is based on?

sartois

Pixie5740 wrote: »

The debate about whether a tenant has to allow the LL in for viewings rages on in every thread like this. I'm not sure what the law actually says regarding this so I'll be interested to find out how you get on with Shelter.

Thank you... it's a subject I have been doing a lot of reading on lately... this one offers some interesting and balanced viewpoints,

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2012/11/15/when-tenants-wont-allow-access-for-viewings/

especially in the comments section. Some LLs take a practical approach to it (and compromise with the tenants), whilst some suggest that the tenancy agreement is the law. She suggests the following (even if it's in the tenancy agreement to allow viewings):

"I’m not sure a clause allowing viewings during the last six weeks of the fixed term would be enforceable – eg under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regs"

If this has ever been tested in the courts... I cannot find it, even with the aid of my friend google...

thesaint

bouicca21 wrote: »

I've found Shelter to be very knowledgeable in housing law. Perhaps TheSaint should tell us what his/her knowledge is based on?

Reading the 1988 housing act, and the 1985 landlord and tenant act.
I can reference and back up my statements if required(you will be required to do the same).

thesaint

sartois wrote: »

Thank you... it's a subject I have been doing a lot of reading on lately... this one offers some interesting and balanced viewpoints,

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2012/11/15/when-tenants-wont-allow-access-for-viewings/

especially in the comments section. Some LLs take a practical approach to it (and compromise with the tenants), whilst some suggest that the tenancy agreement is the law. She suggests the following (even if it's in the tenancy agreement to allow viewings):

"I’m not sure a clause allowing viewings during the last six weeks of the fixed term would be enforceable – eg under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regs"

If this has ever been tested in the courts... I cannot find it, even with the aid of my friend google...

Sorry for the double post.

The thread in question is not a good example, because the letting agent does not even say that he has a "viewings" clause.
Also, Tessa is talking off topic when she goes on about the tenants right to stay in the property. They are different issues.

jjlandlord

bouicca21 wrote: »

I've found Shelter to be very knowledgeable in housing law.

But are you knowledgeable yourself to able to assess Shelter's knowledge?

mj12_2

De facto provisions allowing a LL access for viewings are a dead letter where the tenant doesn't cooperate.

That's really all that matters as they may not break and enter (tenant not present and changed locks) save in an emergency, or breach the peace (tenant present and opposed), the tenant has legal estate.

sartois

So I spoke to the Solicitor this morning and she was extremely helpful.

To address the legal position that has come up a few times in this thread. The only legal recourse that the Landlord would have is to use the courts to evict me if they can prove that I have breached the Tenancy agreement, which would obviously not happen prior to the end of my tenancy. This would be difficult in itself to prove as they have already breached the Tenancy agreement themselves (of which I have proof in form of Voicemail). Also she said that regardless of what the LL might choose to put in a Tenancy agreement, the overriding principles are that the tenant has a basic right to Exclusive Possession and Quiet Enjoyment and if a LL writes a clause into a Tenancy agreement that conflicts with that right then it would not likely stand up in court.

They are also not allowed to change the locks as this would breach the right to exclusive possession. I'm still not clear if this would be a criminal offence or not though, this one is hard to pin down. I was chatting with a policeman friend of mine at lunch and he wasn't sure (he did say that civil property matters were the toughest part of his exam!), which doesn't inspire much hope of assistance if they did change the locks on me. I am quite tempted to purchase a fairly cheap motion sensor alarm which would require a pass code to turn off whilst emitting an extremely loud siren as well as leaving a poster inside advising the locksmith to contact the police if he has assisted the entry into my home... something like this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/swann-pir-motion-alarm-n04jx

In the event that they smashed it to turn it off then we cross the line into criminal damage for example.

As for the question of whether they can sue me for void period of tenancy the answer to that is that anyone can sue anyone for anything. This would be particularly hard for them to win as I have yet to say no to any requests for viewings when given 24 hours notice, which shows that I have been perfectly reasonable.

So I have sent all the written correspondence, tenancy agreement, voicemail etc to the solicitor and she will contact them and inform them of their legal rights as well as drafting a response to send in response to their breach of tenancy notice. Hopefully this will be enough to get them to back off. We shall see!

RAS

You may want to adopt the broken record technique if you do get any more threats verbally.

Can I suggest you take legal advice before you make any more threats like that.
Can I suggest you take legal advice before you make any more threats like that.
Can I suggest you take legal advice before you make any more threats like that.

rpc

sartois wrote: »

They are also not allowed to change the locks as this would breach the right to exclusive possession. I'm still not clear if this would be a criminal offence or not though, this one is hard to pin down.

If they change the lock and give you a key, it probably isn't - could be harassment and without 24 hours notice they aren't allowed access.

If they change the lock and you can't access the property then it is a criminal offence (section 1 of the linked Act)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/43

I was chatting with a policeman friend of mine at lunch and he wasn't sure (he did say that civil property matters were the toughest part of his exam!), which doesn't inspire much hope of assistance if they did change the locks on me.

The police often aren't sure about this bit of law and have been known to side with the landlord when put on the spot.

sartois

So after some ringing round the different deposit schemes it turns out that the LL has protected the deposit, although not within the 30 days.

So the relevant dates:

On 24 Aug (confirmed on bank transfer) I handed them deposit
They told mydeposits they received it on 2 Sep
They protected it on 3 Oct, which would be outside of the 30 days (just).

Now clearly with any reasonable LL this would not be an issue and I would not even dream of using such a technicality to my benefit... but could this be used as leverage to make my remaining 2 weeks a little easier?

Thanks.