landlord help!

kymmie_2

Hi can anyone out there please help me?! my landlord believes that he is allowed to enter our property whenever he wishes. now we have taken guardianship of my partners little sister who is only forteen we now know how often he is around letting himself in. The second occasion he let himself into the property as my forteen year old was in the toilet upstairs,
Not knowing that he entered and was shouting until one of her friends in the property said that there was a man in the living room shouting that them! Now i know this is illigal and since TWO sets of our house keys went missing on the same evening me and my partner changed the locks with childservices consent and consern for the forteen year old. And of course we changed our security password for the property aswell.
Now we have the landlord coming to us in our place of work and calling us at all hours of the evening demanding us to change the locks back or so that he has a new key to access the property as it is ''HIS PROPERTY'' and that we do not have the right to change the locks without him having access to the house when he has the ''off chance'' of being in the area and he decides to pop around. Both me and my partner work long shifts in the local supermarket being out of the property from 7am until after 6pm at night and the 14 year old has a house key for getting in when she finishes school. We have set boundries but where the landlord has a friend only 3 doors away he can see when we are not here. And the fact that when the landlord allowed two of his mates in and i had a £30 towel and a £85 watch go missing, I informed the landlord and when i bring the subject up the only reply i get is ''Ohh i havent really had time for that!'' just shows how much he REALLY does care about his tennats property!

And on the first encounter with my 14 year old he barged his way in stating ''im the landlord, this is MY property so YOU HAVE TO LET ME IN YOU HAVE NO CHOICE'' my 14 year old was so scared! he said she was good enough consent for him to come in though knowing her rights she did say that she could not give him premision to come in because she is only 14! but ignoring all of that he just walked around the house shouting ''HOW CAN YOU LIVE LIKE THIS FOR GOT SAKE YOU SHOULD GET YOUR LIFE IN ORDER AND TIDY UP A BIT THIS IS NOTHING BUT A PIG STY! but there was only some folded up clothes on the table....
the thing is

When completing the tennacy with the landlord back in november he did state that we would keep a key but only use it if we was to scarper! but knowing now that he just like to pop around when he desires is just out of the question! and also shouting abuse at me my partner in work and a minor when she is here on her own im sure that is wrong somewhere. Also he made a clause that if WE leave the property BEFORE november of this year we loose our deposit of £500 and our next months tennacy of another £500.

Im sure there is more to this though because our landlord only wants cash in hand at the first of every month and wants it by a certian time we dont know and care what he is doing with the cash but isnt there a law somewhere that ALL money has to be declared and taxed? in our perivious rented home we had no trouble but we lost our old landlords address so we couldnt contact him so we said to our present landlord that we only rented a room for about two months.

sorry about the amount of typing and typing errors but PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Lorne

I could be wrong but I don't think that he has the right to just pop round when he feels like it, he has rented the space to you and needs to respect your privacy, there is something in the housing and tenancy act in Scotland on this - not sure where you are but I'm sure there would be legislation. My advice would be to contact CAB to find out about the legalities and then send him a recorded delivery letter advising him that he is in breech of the appropriate legislation and that this is distressing because of the young girl in the property. I'd also offer to come to an agreement that if he does require access that this should be negotiated with you.

Sorry for being vague, but if it was me this would be the path I would follow. Good luck with it, sounds a very difficult situation to be in.

daisykinn1

My landlord/lletting agent has to give me 24 hours notice and I have to agree before they enter.

He sounds VERY shady. I doubt you will get your deposit back or a decent reference. Move out ASAP and don't pay the last months rent.

Gorgeous_George

He has no right of entry under these circumstances. Tell him to get lost but be prepared not to have our tenancy renewed.

GG

Benefits_Blagger

first of all, if hes not already doing it, demand reciepts for any monies paid, if he wont give you one, dont pay him rent, hes not declaring it, he wont evict you as he will have to admit he is renting the place out.

as for letting himself in, this is very serious. I suggest next time he does, especially if the child is around call the police, obviously dont lie to the police but point out the implications of an adult letting themselves into a property where there is children if you get my drift.

real1314

Duplicate thread, see here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=840217

Lots more replies/advie on that one.

purpleluvbug

You don't live in Aylesbury do you? As he sounds abit like my landlord... Him having a key, Cash in hand... Etc.

This sight might be interesting to you. CLICK

This was taken from it:
Access To Your Home
Your landlord and/or someone acting on his behalf is entitled to go into your home to inspect it and to carry out repairs. However, before anyone is allowed in your landlord must let you know in writing that access is needed. You should normally be given at least 24 hours written notice and the inspection should be at a reasonable time.. Your landlord cannot enter your home without your knowledge or without your permission.
There must be someone you can report this to. If i find anything i will report back!!!

kymmie_2

Oh my god that thing of a landlord came round just a few moments ago started to shout abuse at my my fourteen year old her friend and my partner!! calling us ''f**king stupid'' and to give him a ''f**king key to HIS PROPERTY NOW'' and pointing at my partner and stating ''IM NOT F**KING LEAVING UNTIL I GET A F**KING KEY'' so of course as it started i called the police the woman on the end of the phone could hear him but i couldnt hear her she was like 'Hello can you hear me what help do you need?'' I was just like ''HELP MY LANDLORD IS VERBALLING ABUSEING MY PARTNER I HAVE TWO MINORS IN THE HOUSE AND IM SO SCARED HE IS GOING TO HIT HIM!!''

of course he took my partner outside in perfect view of my neighbours and the police pulling up at the front door... of which yeah he calmed right down stating to the police that there has been some misunderstanding and that they wernt needed!! and not to worry about nothing and that its just over a key! yeah..

Well after about 20 minutes of discussing with one officer on each side they said that he was NOT to enter the property without either my or my partners concent... and after ALL the abuse he gave my fourteen year old he only went and said in front of the officers ''well my priority is of course the fourteen year old and her privicy'' YEAH! RIGHT! so NOW he says that! infact i have to be honest i did state to the officers in front of that thing of a landlord that ''Well thats the first that you have said that are you sure that you are not telling porkys?'' lol

And now he seems to think that he will NOT enter the property without speaking to me or my partner first or if the house is on FIRE! (yeah im going to love to see this one happen!)

Lorne

Just wanted to say, well done for contacting the police and taking a stand on this.

Fionarlb

Hi
Just read about your nightmare, there is a good website called Landlord Zone which is for tennants and landlords and with experts in all kinds of fields relating to all kinds of issues including this kind of thing! As you know by law he cannot continue to act in this way. Citizens Advice as it sounds as you may have to go legal!
Good luck, thought about moving??

Diamond78

Good for you for calling the police. Make sure first thing tomorrow you call shelter. You have to get leagl advice. I have a nasty landlord do although I have not called the police on him YET.He has made mine and my 6 year olds son life hell. He has a shop above the flat and use to let himself in before until I started leaving the key in the door so he could not get in then. He makes so much noise from the shop it scares my son. My problems with him are due to direpairs. In the end I took the advice from ppl on here and contacted environmental health who came to the property.Landlord didnt like that but he made us live in this flat with problems from the drainage and for 3 months we had to put up with the smell of sewage kind of thing. It was awful as it was making us sick. The council gave him a letter instructing him to do repairs which he has not done nor has he responded to the council so now they are going to write to him again,but he doesnt and wont do the works as he doesnt want to pay out so he gave me my notice last week. Im happy to go as I cannot take no more S@@@ from him as its affecting my son really badly. I was worried at first when he gave me the notice, I had already contacted shelter before and saw a solicitor from there. But hopefully and fingers crossed I am going to move from here. I went to view a place yesterday and I told the landlord what we was going through and he was really nice and said he would be happy for us to move in. My previous council I was under paid my deposit for here, I know he wont pay it back as he is in sooo much debt but I will ask and if he doesnt then I wont pay him the rent and use it for the new place I will move in.
I really hope you look else where, you shouldnt have to live like this. Like so many ppl have said you have a right to live in peace and in your own privacy.
Not all landlords are bad, in fact there is a lot of nice landlords but some can be bullies.MAke sure you note things down and phone shelter tomorrow morning. Good luck and all the best.