God Awful Landlady

saajan_12

Since you're not going to answer tenancy you have, I'll outline the position for both. But the point is you can only claim tenants rights to notice, quiet enjoyment etc over the area you are exclusively renting, not common areas.

A. Joint & several tenancy for the whole house
Notice: The LL has to give notice for non emergency access to the tenant as a unit. That means one person if 'the tenant' is made up of multiple people. You say your housemates have been told, so the LL has fulfilled their responsibility re notice.
QE: The access should not affect your quiet enjoyment - if it is necessary (e.g. repairs) or pre agreed access (e.g. for agreed cleaning, reasonable frequency of viewings per tenancy agreement) then this does not breach your right to quiet enjoyment.

B. IF you are renting a room in a house
Notice: You must be notified of access to YOUR ROOM. The LL can access common areas without notice.
QE: The LL must not affect your quiet enjoyment of your room by unnecessarily accessing the common areas to e.g. hang out in the common kitchen. However if they are accessing it for repairs / agreed cleaning, this is fine.

That is the legal position. That's what you signed up to. If you made a mistake or changed your mind, another arrangement elsewhere that you prefer.

Pixie5740

surfer9 wrote: »

Even if people are renting a room in a house.....say they have a day off, chilling in their garden in their speedos, listening to some classical music in the sunshine, enjoying a cocktail.......

A guy with a chainsaw appears, who has let himself through the gate into the garden and starts chopping down a tree for the next 5 hours.

No notice is needed to be given to the tenants about this? That's just ridiculous.

Tenants don't know if the chainsaw guy is trespassing, tenants do not have the opportunity to pre-arrange their day to avoid the noise, ie. by instead going to the beach.

It's harassment. If you have no prior warning you don't know who is going to be coming into the house at any moment or if they are friend or foe.

---

A tiler enters the house and is here to re-tile the bathroom. You had no prior warning of this. You wake up needing to take a shower before heading to work or an interview. You cannot access the shower as the tiler is in the middle of his work.

Seriously....... no prior warning from the landlord...... you have got to be joking. This is harassment. I could have woken up earlier to have my shower if I had prior warning. Now I have to go to work stinking of B.O.


Really....... this is acceptable? no notice whatsoever? landlord can send round who she wants, when she wants, with no notice?

Legally, yes.

AdrianC

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Legally, yes.

<nods>
Just as if you were in a flat and it was the common areas of the block which were being worked on.

Think of your room in a shared property as being your flat.


If you don't like it, don't rent a room in a shared property.

need_an_answer

surfer9 wrote: »

Most comments I received were keyboard warriors who want to tell people they are wrong, that is what this forum is made up of, people who just want to criticise people's opinions/thoughts/situations instead of helping.

GM has asked you several times to clarify the type of tenancy you have in order to give you the correct advice.

If you wish to brand GM a keyboard warrior then that's your lookout but its a view not shared by a huge amount of posters on this board.

Sadly this is just another thread where its just turning bad simply because the OP doesn't like the answers being given.

I sometimes wonder why people post a dilemma or ask for advice when actually what they really want is agreement with their own view.

A constructive debate is far different to a one view.

People can move on with constructive debate but its very difficult to get any clarification on anything when the one view is adopted.

InterestedParty2018

OP's closing question:
".......Anything I can do? report her? will that even do anything to make her come to sense?...."

My answer:
Yes, move. To who and why? Unlikely.

Many have asked you to clarify your tenancy so that they can offer advice from a legal perspective. Until you do this, you are (IMO) looking for a sympathetic ear. (Which is fine if you just want to vent, but not fine if you are looking for advice.)

Can I ask:

The cleaners: What are they cleaning? windows? common parts? Surely there must be some sort of routine from them. Have a chat to them, are they contracted to come weekly, monthly? There may be variations, but broadly you will know when to expect them.

Tradesman: I am assuming the tradesman are attending to a repair which you (or one of your housemates) have reported? So whilst inconvenient to not know exactly when they will be attending, you will be some what expecting them?

If it has "been years" as you say in your OP, then maybe it is time to find an alternative place to call home.

JessyRM

I just wanted to point out it's not harassment, the workmen are just trying to do their job not intentionally causing you any harm.

If your concerned about safety ask to see their ID when they come to the property or call your landlord when they arrive to check she has scheduled the work? someone must be letting them in?

lookstraightahead

One for and one against ...

I pay for my window cleaner as a tenant

My window cleaner lets me know the day before he comes.

AdrianC

lookstraightahead wrote: »

I pay for my window cleaner as a tenant

As a tenant of what? A whole house, a whole flat, a room in a shared property?

davidmcn

lookstraightahead wrote: »

My window cleaner lets me know the day before he comes.

When I had a window cleaner he didn't give any notice - first I knew was often the ladder appearing at the window.

parkrunner

surfer9 wrote: »

Hi,

I live in a house share in London. Our landlady does not understand that she needs to give us notice, we have told her god knows how many times..... informing her that it was illegal for her, any workmen, or cleaners to just enter the house.....

And as I work from home, I am usually in the house. During the past 2 weeks I have had builders in and out the house, cleaners, I have had to let ppl in the house that I didn't even know were coming round. For all I know they could be dodgy criminals.

Not sure what to do now. She is acting like a child. I and fellow housemates have advised her so many times to give notice and she STILL doesn't, after years.

Anything I can do? report her? will that even do anything to make her come to sense?

So something annoys you for years and you're still there, that's madness.