landlord wants to do early inspection

nickismee

we can't stop him going in as we don't live there anymore, we are 15 miles away from the property, my other half works all day and have you ever tried to get a tandem buggy on the bus!!

we won't take no for an answer, keeps saying he needs to get it done etc...

makes it worse that he is a copper.. he should know the rights we have.

im still non the wiser what to say about him wanting my new address... i won't be getting a deposit back, so he doesn't have to know for that..

wherediditallgo

Who has the keys? If you have the only set of keys, then you tell him that you are explicitly refusing him permission to enter the property & will not be there to let him in. He is allowed to enter to do essential/emergency work, but decorating doesn't come under that. If he also has a set of keys, tell him that he will be entering without your permission & he will be billed for any damage or loss of goods, & that you will not consider any inspection carried out in your absence to be a valid one, since you have not properly moved out & cannot be there at his convenience. He is not entitled to do the inspection so early, & it makes no sense for him to do it either, since while you have keys you could go back there after the inspection & cause damage. You are still the legal tenant, & if he had any sense, he'd want to do the inspection in the last few days of your tenancy, not so many weeks in advance (obviously, put it a bit more discreetly than that ).

As for providing your new address, the only two reasons for providing it are to get your deposit sent on & have mail forwarded. He's getting your deposit as your last month's rent & you can arrange with the Royal Mail to forward your mail, so neither of those apply. My guess is he wants it so that he can harangue you for 'damage' to the property, mysteriously discovered at the inspection you won't even be present at. You don't have to give it to him, so tell him that unless he can give you a satisfactory legal reason why he should get it (he won't be able to, as his personal convenience doesn't count), you're not going to give it unless & until your solicitor gives the OK. You can tell him that you'll also be reporting his unauthorised entry into the property, so that any legal claim can be expedited swiftly, as you have his address, telephone number & that of his agent. It would serve him right if you 'accidentally' left the heating on when you finally leave, a couple of kippers in the couch cushions & let a couple of mice have a little runaround.

Him being a police officer doesn't stop him being ignorant & a greedy git. I know of officers who'll happily buy counterfeit software & dvds. No-one's above the law, but everyone has the ability to ignore certain parts of it given enough incentive to do so.

poppy10_2

You haven't paid the last months rent, so technically you are in arrears. You can't just say to take the rent out of the deposit, the deposit is to pay for breakages and other damage, not rent.

nickismee

We had an agreement that last months rent would be taken from the deposit

wherediditallgo

If he initially agreed to take the last month's rent from the deposit, then they're not in arrears until that expires - 9 Jan. Even if he has subsequently changed his mind on that, they've still paid the rent until 8/9 Dec, when the next payment is due, & would then have to pay rent on 9 Dec for the remaining month. So he still can't expect to be given access to inspect & possibly start decorating so early - an inspection a few days before they officially leave the property is usually more than sufficient.

He can't have it both ways. Either he wants to inspect & decorate between now & the official end of the agreement, or he wants the rent money. If he wants to inspect now, then he should let them off the rent from 9 Dec, so that he can have the whole place back from that date & decorate at his leisure, or at least reduce the amount due to allow for the inconvenience. Even though they're not really living there at the moment, once he's decorated they'll have to be super careful not to scratch, mark or chip anything before they finally hand back the keys - that's going to be very hard to do when they're trying to move things out, & it's extra pressure they can do without. If he wants them to pay rent for the whole month following 9 Dec, then he has to accept they're still the tenants until that runs out & it's unreasonable for him to expect them to tolerate this kind of behaviour with over a month to go before the keys have to be handed back.

He can't expect to be allowed to inspect now, & they have no reason to let him through the door. If he wants to do this, he needs to be a lot nicer to them than he has been. The inspection should happen in the week before they officially leave - I realise there's Christmas & New Year to take into account, but that's not the OP's problem. His decorating should only take place before they officially leave if they agree to it & on dates agreeable to them.

nickismee

Ok.. if he inspects the property, takes the keys back from me and starts to redecorate between now and the 9th dec, where would we stand with the last months rent?? would we have to pay full amount (from the deposit)

A_Nice_Englishman

You and the landlord are quite at liberty to end the tenancy a week early if you want to. He gets an extra week to prepare it for the next tenant, you pay a week's less rent. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

wherediditallgo

If you're paying to 9 Jan, why are you giving him the keys now? I wouldn't do it. For all you know, he could get the keys off you, & have someone else moved in by the following weekend, thus getting paid the rent twice. The property is yours until the end of the agreement. If he's not giving you money off to leave earlier than that, then hold on to the keys until the day your agreement ends. If you hand over the keys early, but are still covering the rent until the end of the agreement, the property could get damaged by someone else, & then he could blame you for it because he could say you're still responsible for the property & could have kept a set of keys for yourself.

I wouldn't be getting into a drawn-out argument with him. Did he agree in writing to take the final month's rent from the deposit? Even if it was only a verbal agreement, there's not going to be a lot he can do about it if you decide to hold him to it. He'll just have to wait. If he's not prepared to wait, then he needs to make you a sensible offer of a reduction on the final month & give you that in writing, plus agree in writing that the inspection is carried out in your presence & any balance due from your deposit is returned to you at least 5 days before you leave (to give you time to put it through emergency clearance to make sure it doesn't bounce). You're doing him a favour by leaving early, & if I were you I would stick to whatever has been agreed & let him moan all he wants. He agreed to take the last month's rent from the deposit, & you'll be covered until 9 Jan whether he does that or you pay it the usual way. He can therefore do his inspection during the week prior to that in your presence, & he can paint himself dizzy when you hand back the keys on 8/9 Jan.

wherediditallgo

A_Nice_Englishman wrote: »

You and the landlord are quite at liberty to end the tenancy a week early if you want to. He gets an extra week to prepare it for the next tenant, you pay a week's less rent. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

Exactly. My brother found another flat nearer to work & wanted to get out of his existing tenancy agreement. His landlord wanted the property back anyway, as her son was returning to the UK & needed somewhere to live. Her husband was making all sorts of demands, but his wife took a more sensible approach & she & my brother agreed to terminate it early, thus reducing the amount he had to pay & her getting the flat back sooner than she otherwise would have. She did two inspections at his convenience & in his presence, the first to alert him to anything he might be charged for & the second to confirm everything was now in order & agree any deductions to be made (there weren't any). She'd originally agreed to give him a cheque for his deposit 5 days before he moved, but didn't so left it in cash with the agent for him to collect on the day he was due to leave, & he was able to get it when he handed over the keys. Both of them benefited. If the OP's landlord started carrying on with me like he's doing with the OP, he'd get the keys back with minutes to spare.

SquatNow

Explain to your landlord that if he wishes to end the tennanc immediatly he may, hejust needs to send you your deposit back and a rent refund for one weeks rent.

Otherwise if he enters the property you'll report him to the police for burglary/whatever.

Point out to him that something like that would have to be investigated by the police and he'd almost certainly be suspended pending an investigation. As he'd almost certainly be found guilty, although it's a slap on the wrist, I'm sure he boss wont be impressed.

Then offer to split the difference and settle for just having you full deposit back and a note from him in writing confirming that the tennancy has ended and all rent has been settled.