Landlord Building New House On Property I Rent - What Are My Rights?

Gavin83 · 25 November 2021 at 1:24PM

penners324 said:

I'd request they return the garden to it's condition before they ripped up the decking. If not then the LL should compensate you on top of the £10k moving out bung.

I'm not sure where this idea of £10k has come from like it's some sort of entitlement!

Ultimately OP you aren't entitled to any financial help to move out. However similarly your landlord isn't entitled to start making changes to what you were provided in your tenancy agreement nor entering your property to make these adjustments. Therefore it's all about negotiation to both get what you want. I would suggest at the moment you secure your property, deny them access and inform both the letting agent and the landlord you're doing this, they have no right of access to your property for this work and they have no rights to unilaterally remove elements of the property that were included as part of the tenancy agreement.

Your next step depends on what you want out of this. Your options are, as far as I can see are the following:

1) Do nothing after the above. This will likely give you the longest amount of time in the property unaffected but you'll almost certainly be served notice and therefore will have to vacate at some point. If it goes this far you certainly won't get any financial incentive and will actually be liable for some court costs for your landlord (if you really delay it) and it's unlikely you'll get a reference either. How much of a problem that is for you is for you to judge. It's worth noting that ultimately you can't stop this work taking place and remain in the property.

2) Decide you want to move and get what you can. In which case, after speaking to the landlord and letting agent above add on the end that you're prepared to discuss the options and for the landlord to contact you directly when she's ready to go through them. Then say you're prepared to move out in return for the tenancy agreement being severed and ask what she's prepared to offer you for the inconvenience and negotiate from there. It's worth noting you do have the upper hand here but if you push it too far your landlord may just decide it's less hassle to evict you. Negotiation is the key.

3) Decide you want to stay in the property and accept the building work. Therefore do the same as option 2 but instead negotiate a rent reduction for the loss of amenities and disturbance. Personally having lived next door to a building site there's no way I'd be willing to do it again for any amount of money but the choice is yours.

What you wish to do is your call really but you certainly shouldn't let them walk all over you. I also think you've done the right thing posting here, the advice will be sound.