Landlord taking half of garden

pawlala

Is next door on Rightmove? What do the pictures show?

ChrisK....._3

In the absence of any mention in your agreement - "The garden size" is implied when you rented (in the same way internal walls are implied) and if that has now changed you are entitled to re-negotiate the rest of your terms which may include a rent reduction or termination

How much reduction? Depents what you now think it's worth because that exactly what a new tenant would do

homer_and_marge wrote: »

My husband and I are renting a private residence that has gardens to both front and back.

The back garden has an area of lawn and overlooks the countryside.

There is an empty detached property next door that the landlord is in the process of selling.

This morning the landlird knocked on the door and told me the house next door was being sold and that he will be fitting a new fence to the back that would give us more privacy.

I had thought he was just putting a new fence up, however after returning home from a shopping trip we were shocked to find a trench dividing the lawn, taking more than half away from us, where he will build this fence.

I have measured this lawn, in total it is 126m2 but he is taking more than half 70m2. We presume this is to be an extra garden are for the house next door.

However this spoils our interrupted views of the countryside and also affects our privacy.

We have an assured shorthold tenancy agreement for a year and have 6 months left but we were looking to extend and stay long term.

We also pay a lot of rent @ £1200 per month and are not happy with this situation.

Can anyone please advise if he can legally do this, we will ask him not to do it but feel if he does he’s in breach of contract?

If he refuses we think we could ask for an immediate rent reduction and new tenancy agreement.

Can anyone advise on our rights and if we ask for a reduction what % should we ask for? Many thanks

CIS

ViolaLass wrote: »

?? The landlord isn't proposing to move in, just put a fence up.

They're looking at the point of it becoming a council tax HMO on the basis the tenant no longer rents the whole of the property (A resident landlord isn't a HMO, it'd dealt with by a different section of legislation although the end result on liability is the same).


As to how it would affect the council tax issue HMO issue it is one that has not been fully tested in law yet - Goresmsandu, the only court case to date in this matter, addressed only the issue of access to a conservatory, it did not address the external part of the property, so it is of limited assistance.

G_M

Norman & Dave are quite right above.


I focussed too much on the legal rights (by which I stand - tenancy agreement covers the whole garden) and not on the realities (LL clearly has plans and can certainly achieve them even if it means waiting and evicting the tenant.


That needs taking into account in determining the next move.

Cakeguts

I think you may find that this is not the kind of landlord that you will want to be renting from long term?

lincroft1710

Reduction in garden size is extremely unlikely to lead to a reduced CT band

Slinky

As a lot of tenants aren't especially bothered about maintaining gardens, the LL probably sees this as a good opportunity to get some value from the piece of land, and reduce the amount of work a tenant will need to do to look after it. It could be that this property becomes more desirable to future tenants with a smaller garden than the current one.

Blackpool_Saver

Slinky wrote: »

As a lot of tenants aren't especially bothered about maintaining gardens, the LL probably sees this as a good opportunity to get some value from the piece of land, and reduce the amount of work a tenant will need to do to look after it. It could be that this property becomes more desirable to future tenants with a smaller garden than the current one.

What a judgemental and condescending comment :eek:

InterestedParty2018

Legally and "practically" are two different issues.

If the title/deeds for the property include the entire garden, and you are renting the entire property, then you may have legal recourse.

Do you really love the property enough to pursue this route for what I assume would be a very small reduction in rent, if any? (I should stress, this really is my assumption!)

Have a chat with the landlord about your expectations when you took the property in respect of the size of the garden and the views. S/he may reconsider their options and volunteer a rent reduction knowing that the increased value for the adjacent land would be greater in the long term.

Equally, the landlord may not budge, and you need to weight up the cost of pursing this, the detriment to the future relationship, versus accepting it.

Talk to your landlord, this genuinely is the best first step in my opinion.

ReadingTim

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

What a judgemental and condescending comment :eek:

What you feel about the comment doesn't alter the fact that there's a large degree of truth in it. I guess that's the problem with stereotypes isn't it?