Entrance to house with no permission

OneLife_OneShot

I am wondering if someone can help me.

We started renting a property me and my girlfriend in December 2017. All good, no problems and we like the house very much.

The letting agent was supposed to arrange a time to suit us to carry out non emergency repairs (a cooker splashback that had cracker). Girlfriend had specified if possible before 10am or after 4pm or a day one of us was off work.

We both got calls from them this morning, I never got a voicemail but she did, claiming from the letting agencies that they were at the property with the landlord and were carrying out the repairs.


Now our tenancy agreement clearly says that the landlord or agencies have to give us 24 hours notice and we can refuse them even at that. No-one called yesterday to see if this work would be okay to be undertaken. People were in our home without our permission and frankly we are both very annoyed about it. Not only is it a violation of privacy it is also illegal.

There is large amount of gadgets sitting around and some cash in the drawers. We have asked them to leave but we both work 20miles away and have not yet been home, nor will the agent on the property pick up his phone to me, my girlfriend or his branch manager.

I am wonder what grounds there are for a cancellation of tenancy as they have violated the agreement by not giving us any notice. I do not want to feel like people can just come and go as they please on the orders of the letting agency.

Thanks

marliepanda

None.

Technically its not illegal for them to be in there, its a grey area with lots of nuances as it doesnt sound like you specifically told them not to go, plus they are conducting a repair you asked for.

I'm sure your gadgets and wads of cash will be fine. If theyre not, you can then see what you have deal with. most tradesmen will not risk their job and reputation for an xbox.

However, change the locks and this will not happen again. You say you like the house very much, why do you want to cancel the tenancy? This wouldnt void it anyway.

Red-Squirrel_2

You can't cancel the tenancy, but you can change your locks and let the agent and the landlord know how unhappy you are with their actions and that you don't expect it to happen again.

(No need to tell them you've changed the locks, after all, they'll only find out if they try to get in without your permission.)

stator

To stop it happening in the future you should change the locks. It doesn't cost much if you DIY, it's usually easy.

OneLife_OneShot

marliepanda wrote: »

However, change the locks and this will not happen again. You say you like the house very much, why do you want to cancel the tenancy? This wouldnt void it anyway.

We do like it but neither of us feel comfortale now that the letting agents can just come and go as they please.


I don't think we can change the locks, are you allowed to? I thought incase of an emergency the landlord would need to have a set.

Pixie5740

You specified that the work could only be carried out before 10am or after 4pm on a day on which one of you was off....are you joking? That's a very narrow time frame for repairs and if you were owner occupiers you'd be hard pushed to get tradespeople to fall in line with that.

That said your landlord should give you 24 hours notice before entering the property which appears you did not receive. However, that doesn't give you the right to unilaterally end the tenancy. Could you please quote the exact wording from the tenancy agreement that says you can refuse access even if you receive the required notice because that would be a very unusual clause to have in an AST.

What can you do? You could go in all guns blazing or you could try the nicely, nicely approach, thanking the landlord for carrying out the repairs and politely reminding him in future that you require 24 hours notice before he, or someone working for him, enters the property.

You can also, as suggested above, change the barrels in the locks if you are particularly concerned about a re-occurrence.

Pixie5740

OneLife_OneShot wrote: »

We do like it but neither of us feel comfortale now that the letting agents can just come and go as they please.


I don't think we can change the locks, are you allowed to? I thought incase of an emergency the landlord would need to have a set.

Do you think that in the case of an emergency the police, fire brigade, whoever is a) going to know the property is rented so will be aware that the landlord may have a set of keys, b) waste valuable time waiting around for the landlord to show up with a set of keys? What do you think the emergency services do when it's an owner occupiers home, they're away, and there's an emergency?

Red-Squirrel_2

OneLife_OneShot wrote: »

We do like it but neither of us feel comfortale now that the letting agents can just come and go as they please.


I don't think we can change the locks, are you allowed to? I thought incase of an emergency the landlord would need to have a set.

Of course you can change the locks, its your home!

Why would the landlord need a set? What sort of emergency are you thinking of?

westernpromise

I'm a bit bemused. My tenants are generally delighted to be dealing with a managing agent exactly because the agent has a set of keys, so if ever work needs to be done, they don't need to be in. Why would you want to book a day off work to wait for the plumber to come and fix someone else's drippy tap? The whole point of renting is that you don't have to.

parkrunner

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You specified that the work could only be carried out before 10am or after 4pm on a day on which one of you was off....are you joking?

OP said "or" not "on" a day on which one of them was off.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

westernpromise wrote: »

I'm a bit bemused. My tenants are generally delighted to be dealing with a managing agent exactly because the agent has a set of keys, so if ever work needs to be done, they don't need to be in. Why would you want to book a day off work to wait for the plumber to come and fix someone else's drippy tap? The whole point of renting is that you don't have to.

I'm glad I bought my house, but this is the one thing I miss about renting. Back then I never had to waste annual leave on this sort of domestic tedium.