To make landlord wait 3 weeks?

[Clg199]

We’ve privately rented a house for just over two years. Since we moved in we’ve been telling the landlord that the windows are rotten and need replacing. We can no longer open the main windows in our bedroom as the frames are so rotten we’re worried the glass will just fall out. On three occasions we’ve arranged to be at home to let people in to quote for replacing them but nothing has been done.

We handed our notice in last Monday. On Wednesday the letting agent tells us the landlord wants us to let people come and replace the front windows up and downstairs (bedroom and living room) and the front door. We said that as we were moving out we’d rather they waited three weeks longer and did it then. The landlord is now saying it’s been booked for 2 months and the guys have booked hotels (they’re not local) so we really should let them in.

My concerns are that the house is full of boxes and is slightly chaotic, it’s flipping freezing at the moment, and despite what they say there’ll be left over mess that we’ll then have to clean before we move out and I really could do without the disruption.

The letting agents have come back quoting our tenancy agreement saying that we really have to let them in as they’ve given more than 24 hours notice (I know that we don’t HAVE to).

AIBU to stick to my guns and tell them that he’ll have to wait until we’re gone?

[HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone]

Wow I can't possibly see why your moving out (sarcasm duly noted I hope).

It would be great if they would wait but I don't think you have any wiggle room if they are determined to come on that date I am afraid. I would email the Landlord and get confirmation that they will do all the cleaning up and that if they don't turn up you cannot guarantee that they will be let in at any other point.

Also on a separate note I am baffled that these people need to stay in a hotel, are you very rural I can't imagine there are no local traders able to do this job without the need for a hotel stay.

[MauriceTheSpaceCowboy]

Only thing is whether you need a reference? Might be worth sucking up the inconvenience rather than risking a bad landlord reference.

[MauriceTheSpaceCowboy]

@HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone - under English law the tenant does not have to let these kind of workmen in, regardless of what the lease says. Tenant would only have to allow people in if it was a real emergency.

[HarrietKettle]

No you can say no. Your home to treat as you please until the final day of your tenancy. You don't have to let anybody in, notice given or not.

[TenancyTroublesAgain]

Tenant doesn't have to let them in. They can do it when the tenancy expires. Landlord has been useless until now, serves them right.

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

If your new place is all set, and you don't need a reference, tell the agent they need to stop misrepresenting the law and the landlord can wait.

You know they are wrong, they know it too. They just want to keep the landlord sweet. Tell them no! This was not an emergency when you wanted it doing and it is not an emergency now.

They can't have it both ways!

That and you know it is a lie... it hasn't been booked for 2 months, when were they planning on letting you know? You know, before you handed your notice in, when, as far as they knew you were going to be living there for the foreseeable future!

Oh... and do clean well before you leave... it doesn't matter if you know they will have the builders in, the check out will not take that into account, as the landlord is entitled to wreck, dismantle, re-model a clean house!

[AnnaleeP]

It's been booked for two months but you only heard about it on Wednesday, two days after you handed in your notice?

A likely story. Tell them to jog on. The utter cheek of expecting you to facilitate them fixing issues so they can move someone in straightaway unbelievable!

Good luck in your new place.

[Clg199]

Thanks all. We’re buying a house so no need for landlord or agent references. Usually I’ll try to accommodate people and be as helpful as I can but my patience has run out.

I’ve already said no twice on email but came home to a letter today saying ‘your landlord has asked us to point out your contractual obligations’ and ‘please confirm whether access can be provided by keys that we hold, or if you will be at home to provide access’.

I’ll tell them tomorrow (for the third time) that they’ll have to wait until we’ve gone.

[AnnieAnoniMouse]

What a lying bastard, he just wants to inconvenience you, not his new tenants. IF he’d booked them before you gave notice, he would have told you.

You need to email the Agent and ask him exactly which contractual obligation gives the owner the right to have work done against your wishes. Get him to put it in writing.

Twat.

[Mylady]

Email them and say if they acess the property against your wishes with thier oen key you will have them done for trespass.

[Glumglowworm]

YANBU

If they’d told you two months ago and you agreed it and were now changing your mind, then fine that would BU

but bullshit did the book it months ago and forget to notify you til right after you give notice! Or if they did that’s yet another sign of them being a shit LL.

You don’t have to give access as it’s not an emergency. You won’t benefit from it, and will suffer the inconvenience and extra mess to clean up before you vacate when you’ve better things to be doing.

[wowfudge]

Trespass is a civil matter, not criminal so you can't 'have them done'. If anything was taken when a trespasser had been in your home, that would be burglary. Change the lock barrels - it doesn't cost much - and put the old ones back when you move out. The LL and his agent are pisstakers, but you know that.

[blaaake]

Fucking hate cowboy landlords. Tell them in an email that they will be breaking the law if they enter the property without your consent as you have the right to quiet enjoyment, no matter what the tenancy agreement says the law stands above it. By the way, I'm a landlord and own a lettings agency.

[SweetMoon]

Be careful they don't come up with stacks of reasons to keep your deposit. They sound like the sort that would do this unfortunately.

[dadshere]

You don't need to let them in- the landlord is taking the P*. You have the legal right to tell them to wait. Use it.

[Angrybird345]

Call shelter for advice. I’d tell them to sod off!

[Ikanon]

If it had been booked earlier you wouldn't have had to give notice to the cowboy There's plenty of local window replacement companies. Your LL is taking the piss. Take the landlord/letting agent PP advice upthread.

[Juiceylucy09]

Make him wait. FS you could be doing without the hassle of moving if he replaced them when you were a paying tenant. I've seen this many times good tenants living in shitholes forced to leave and magically the 'LL thinks maybe I should upgrade the property for new tenants.

Grant him the same respect he has given to you.

I thought this thread was going to be about holding back rent. YANBU.

[PaperdollCartoon]

Yeh make him wait, it definitely wasn’t booked that long ago. Of course he’s only getting it done now he needs to get new tenants in...

[Allthebestnamesareused]

Email back - thanks for reminding me of our contractual obligations which are to allow access for emergency repairs. As we have been complaining about the windows for x months it is clear that the landlord does not consider these works as an emergency and therefore he can carry them out after we have vacated the premises.

[HotCrossBun12]

What @Allthebestnamesareused said.

But - in your shoes I would be worried that his next move would be inventing lots of weird and wonderful reasons why he needs to keep your deposit.

[dingdongdigeridoo]

What a surprise he’s suddenly sprung into action now. And that he wants to inconvenience you, rather than lose a few quid by having the house fixed between tenants. Cheeky fucker.

[HarrietKettle]

He can't invent reasons to withhold a deposit! It has to be protected in a scheme. They will make the decision what defections to make in the case of a dispute. I just went through this with our bastard former letting agent. Tried to charge £200 to repaint a tiny section of wall, £30 for a 'special' lightbulb and £40 for a cracked freezer drawer in a unit he had told us he was replacing. It took about two months to sort but the chancer didn't get a penny of our deposit in the end.

Funnily enough he peddled the 'we have the right to enter if we provide notice' line too, and went mad when I told him it was bollocks. Hate that man.

[Clg199]

I was polite, and the letting agent has responded to say they understand my reasons, which is good.

Now they want to take photos so they can market the property again. I said that as we have started packing, the house won't be of showhome standard. I also pointed out that the oven door is still hanging open because the hinge broke in January and he's not replaced it yet. We have to hold it closed with sellotape to cook anything. That'll look good in the photos...

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

Good result, ish! You can say no to the pictures too. Your possessions, however packed they may be, are not part of the deal, so should not be in the pictures anyway!

They need to wait for vacant possession, so just say no!