What is reasonable for landlord inspections?

dazco

I think it is terribly invasive and treats the tenant as a child, we had room inspections in the army and one would have thought that there would be no more in civvy st.

If they are worried that there may be damage they could take an amount of monies off you, perhaps equal to one months rent, and withhold some of it to repair any damage.

Oh, they do.

cheltenhamgirl

ExchangeMonkey wrote: »

I don't think there would be many landlords that would serve notice on a tenant who pays rent on time every month just because they were denied an inspection. Would it really be worth the potential void period?

I can give you two examples of L/L's who gave notice to tenants who refused inspections. Comes across as tenant having something to hide. One months void rent of £550 is a lot less than the hassle and cost of dealing with a house that has been ruined by a tenant.

I worked as a letting agent for two years and only twice had people refuse inspections. Both times they were given notice.

If speaking like a 25 year old means seeing it from the landlords AND tenants point of view, rather than just seeing it from your own ignorant view, then yes, I totally agree. A L/L has rights as well as the tenant. Having been both, I'm able to see if from both sides.

DGJsaver

cheltenhamgirl wrote: »

I can give you two examples of L/L's who gave notice to tenants who refused inspections. Comes across as tenant having something to hide. One months void rent of £550 is a lot less than the hassle and cost of dealing with a house that has been ruined by a tenant.

I worked as a letting agent for two years and only twice had people refuse inspections. Both times they were given notice.

If speaking like a 25 year old means seeing it from the landlords AND tenants point of view, rather than just seeing it from your own ignorant view, then yes, I totally agree. A L/L has rights as well as the tenant. Having been both, I'm able to see if from both sides.

You indicated that whenever the LL fancied checking , they should be able to..

It can be humiliating renting as it is without constant reminders the place isnt yours

And seeing as you CLAIM to have been a LA and a tenant you should understand this

Once every 3 months - ok , fair enough , once every 6 months , even better

any more often and thats just taking the !!!! , what was the point of all the fee`s and deposit involved along with checking references if the LL or LA wants to visit more often than the in laws


Dan

clutton_2

i inspect firstly after 3-4 months, if the house looks fine, i dont it again for another 6-9 months. i have not inspected two of my properties for 3 years now, as i know the tenants are brilliant - you have to have some flexibility in all this - if i am worried about a property i can always ask my CORGI gas engineer to give me his view once he has done his check.

cheltenhamgirl

DGJsaver wrote: »

You indicated that whenever the LL fancied checking , they should be able to..

It can be humiliating renting as it is without constant reminders the place isnt yours

And seeing as you CLAIM to have been a LA and a tenant you should understand this

Once every 3 months - ok , fair enough , once every 6 months , even better

any more often and thats just taking the !!!! , what was the point of all the fee`s and deposit involved along with checking references if the LL or LA wants to visit more often than the in laws


Dan

I'd like to know where I indicated that a landlord should be able to pop around whenever they liked?

I've only ever referred to inspections as discussed inthe OP. We would go out after three months, and if everything was fine, we'd go out every 6 months from then onwards. I never advocated going in more often unless there was definitely a problem, or the tenant invited us.

I'm sure you're all wonderful tenants, who would never do anything wrong, but anyone who has seen it from the other side will know how bad some tenants can be. All the referencing in the world can't protect you from that. It can HELP, but not eradicate it.

I don't understand the 'CLAIM'....which bit do you think I'm lying about?

Maybe you've got your wires crossed because all I've said all along is that I have no problem with a landlord/ l/a coming in for their regular inspection. You seem to have taken it slightly differerently.

higgs

Our landlady came to ours to inspect the new kitchen that they had (after 12 months of living with nothing but a concrete floor a sink and the cooker we brought) had installed.

I checked before hand and was advised that she would only be inspecting the kitchen. I wanted to know if I needed to make sure the house was in top tidy condition. I was assured repeatedly that it would only be the kitchen she would access.

The next week we got a letter fom her advising that she had indeed inspected the whole property and even commenting on the tidiness of the house. She complained about the fact that there was no carpets in bedrooms which had been carpetless at the onset and which have lovely real floorboards. She spuriously suggested that we were not looking after our puppy properly (assuming that we left her unattended all day when in fact she was visited and excercised regularily) and complained that the gate (which we had to fit ourselves as she refused having agreed to put it in before we moved in) was not always closed!

Felt completely violated - had I known there was to be an inspection I would have made sure the house was perfectly tidy and would have made sure someone was there during the inspection and not have had to wonder whether she went through drawers, looked in cupboards etc.

We have just bought our own house and move in at the end of the month. I can't wait!! Think I may even take my gate with me just out of spite!!

Sisyphus

higgs wrote: »

Our landlady came to ours to inspect the new kitchen that they had (after 12 months of living with nothing but a concrete floor a sink and the cooker we brought) had installed.

I checked before hand and was advised that she would only be inspecting the kitchen. I wanted to know if I needed to make sure the house was in top tidy condition. I was assured repeatedly that it would only be the kitchen she would access.

The next week we got a letter fom her advising that she had indeed inspected the whole property and even commenting on the tidiness of the house. She complained about the fact that there was no carpets in bedrooms which had been carpetless at the onset and which have lovely real floorboards. She spuriously suggested that we were not looking after our puppy properly (assuming that we left her unattended all day when in fact she was visited and excercised regularily) and complained that the gate (which we had to fit ourselves as she refused having agreed to put it in before we moved in) was not always closed!

Felt completely violated - had I known there was to be an inspection I would have made sure the house was perfectly tidy and would have made sure someone was there during the inspection and not have had to wonder whether she went through drawers, looked in cupboards etc.

We have just bought our own house and move in at the end of the month. I can't wait!! Think I may even take my gate with me just out of spite!!

This why we insist on no entry when we are not present. If they have something to complain about they can complain on the spot to our faces.

I have to say the letting agent is very respectful, and even removes his shoes on entry.

higgs

I know, in hindsight we were a little niave. Also pretty sure she will try to hold on to deposit and wish we had taken dated photos of all the rooms (and flaws) before moving in.

cheltenhamgirl

higgs wrote: »

I know, in hindsight we were a little niave. Also pretty sure she will try to hold on to deposit and wish we had taken dated photos of all the rooms (and flaws) before moving in.

If you don't have an inventory, she can't claim anything from you as she's got no proof of what it's like when you moved in. It's up to her to prove damages, not you to prove that you haven't.

Can I also say, I don't advocate any of your L/l's behaviour. what she did makes l/l's look bad. I don't want people to think I'm all on the landlords side. If everyone acted reasonably, there wouldn't be any issues. It's the few bad tenants, and the few bad l/l's that give both a bad name.

cheltenhamgirl

Just wanted to say as well, that as a letting agent, we're not there to check up on how you're living. It really didn't matter whether the place was tidy or not, all we were there to check was that you weren't doing anything detrimental to the fabric of the building. I/we would never comment on somebody's lifestyle, or the tidiness of the house. It's also to check for things like a leaking overflow, or a damp patch, or rotten windows (obviously nothing to do with tenants), but things that tenants quite often don't notice or mention to us, which could actually affect the house. We would also report to the landlord, that for example, the hallway carpet is looking a bit dated, we reccomend you consider replacing it in the near future, so we were actually there for the tenant's benefit as well.