Page 6 | AIBU to think my tenant might be subletting

landladywithmissingtenant · 2025-07-04T10:58:56+00:00

I live in a flat in a large block (60 flats in all) I own the one I live in and one other, which I rent out. I used to see my tenant now and again, probably twice a month or so but I have realised that I haven't seen her in about a year or more. My daughter lives nearby and also used to bump into her quite a lot at the local shop and she says she hasn't seen her in ages either. She's a retired single lady and it's a single occupancy studio flat. The other day I was locked out of the main building and I rang her buzzer to ask if she wouldn't mind letting me back in and a man answered and buzzed me in before I'd finished my sentence. I tried the buzzer again the next day and no-one answered. Am I being unreasonable to think she might have left the flat and be subletting it? or something more sinister? And WIBU to go and knock on her door and see if she's there? I'm worried I might come across as harassing her. And what do I say if she answers?

JustAnotherManicMomday · 05/07/2025 22:11

Knock asking if a parcel has been delivered as you think you accidentally put the wrong flat number on the order.

Londonrach1 · 05/07/2025 22:11

Give 24 hours notice as do your twice yearly check which I'm sure you do as a responsible landlord.

daleylama · 05/07/2025 22:08

landladywithmissingtenant · 04/07/2025 12:25

I was friends with her at first when I first letted it to her. I trusted her, she's a nice lady, bit quirky, likes to be left to do her own thing. I purchased it as a fixer-upper, decorated it as requested by her and let it to her at HB rates so she would be able to afford it. She's always kept it nice and we worked on a mutual trust kind of relationship, I never felt the need to inspect it. But over the years we've drifted apart, we don't socialise. I really should have done checks.

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You should be doing condition checks annually. And that's a good excuse to contact her now

Utterlyconfusednow · 05/07/2025 22:07

ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself · 05/07/2025 21:55

I’m genuinely baffled on so many threads, not just this one. It’s the easiest thing in the world to click ‘see all’ and there they are, and yet when you ask people all you get back is ‘well I’m busy I don’t have time to read everything in a multi page thread, I have a job you know’. Do people not fiddle with their settings to have more posts per page? I have everything on one page but I understand that is no longer an option for people who joined after a specific date, but surely people can set it so they have more than three posts per page? And if they don’t have time to read it, surely they don’t have time to post either? And reading the first post they sometimes don’t even notice that the first post was years ago and the small child you are writing about has just taken her bloody GCSEs.

And breathe in and out and in and out……..

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You and me both! It’s truly bizarre. I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people are being deliberately obtuse but don’t ask me why because that’s a mind spinner.

ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself · 05/07/2025 21:55

Utterlyconfusednow · 05/07/2025 19:19

It would seem people still don’t understand the concept of reading all of the OP’s posts.

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I’m genuinely baffled on so many threads, not just this one. It’s the easiest thing in the world to click ‘see all’ and there they are, and yet when you ask people all you get back is ‘well I’m busy I don’t have time to read everything in a multi page thread, I have a job you know’. Do people not fiddle with their settings to have more posts per page? I have everything on one page but I understand that is no longer an option for people who joined after a specific date, but surely people can set it so they have more than three posts per page? And if they don’t have time to read it, surely they don’t have time to post either? And reading the first post they sometimes don’t even notice that the first post was years ago and the small child you are writing about has just taken her bloody GCSEs.

And breathe in and out and in and out……..

Frillysweetpea · 05/07/2025 21:34

Following....secretly hoping someone else mentions a gas check as it's giving me a titter every time. 🤭

Dahliasrule · 05/07/2025 21:10

landladywithmissingtenant · 04/07/2025 19:57

Separate entrances. It's a big building and her entrance is round the front, on the main road.
I live round the back on the ground floor and I have my own private entrance directly into my flat. She parks on the main road and I park in the underground carpark.
I'm actually more likely to bump into her at the shop near the building than in the building.

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If you have a separate entrance at the back, why did you have to buzz her to let you in to the building at the front as you stated in opening post.

Utterlyconfusednow · 05/07/2025 19:52

PinkyFlamingo · 05/07/2025 19:18

Why are people going on about this without at least reading the OPs posts, there is no gas!

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🤣

50lbstolose · 05/07/2025 19:51

Brilliant thread

GiveDogBone · 05/07/2025 19:38

Defitnely check on what’s going on. But you can’t just barge in there (or knock on the door) you have to give reasonable notice. Google will tell you what you can or cannot do.

Utterlyconfusednow · 05/07/2025 19:19

PinkyFlamingo · 05/07/2025 19:18

Why are people going on about this without at least reading the OPs posts, there is no gas!

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It would seem people still don’t understand the concept of reading all of the OP’s posts.

PinkyFlamingo · 05/07/2025 19:18

Amba1998 · 04/07/2025 22:37

You do know you have legal requirements like carrying out gas safety checks annually?

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Why are people going on about this without at least reading the OPs posts, there is no gas!

Skybluepinky · 05/07/2025 19:08

Of course you have the right to know who is living in your flat.

Utterlyconfusednow · 05/07/2025 18:44

Alltheyellowbirds · 05/07/2025 18:33

Hi OP. Not sure why this thread got so detailed with questioning about whether you were obeying letting regulations, but have you tried knocking on the door again and has anyone answered? Hope your tenant is ok. Occurred to me that maybe you could put a card through the door saying “I was just thinking I hadn’t seen you around for a long time, I hope you’re ok.”

OP updated, you obviously didn’t read it all then.

OP’s update: Right - off to work now but note to contact me has been delivered! I will check back later if there's been any developments. If I hear nothing back then I'm going to put a 24 hour notice through the door tomorrow morning and then let myself in the morning after that

Alltheyellowbirds · 05/07/2025 18:33

Hi OP. Not sure why this thread got so detailed with questioning about whether you were obeying letting regulations, but have you tried knocking on the door again and has anyone answered? Hope your tenant is ok. Occurred to me that maybe you could put a card through the door saying “I was just thinking I hadn’t seen you around for a long time, I hope you’re ok.”

Isinglass20 · 05/07/2025 18:07

From website:
Lls have a responsibility to ensure their rental properties are safe and well maintained including conduct periodic inspection. Frequency at reasonable intervals ie 6 months or annually with 24 hours Written notice, there’s more….

Inyournewdress · 05/07/2025 18:05

ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself · 05/07/2025 12:22

Plot twist - the man who let OP in was the gas fitter.

OP, you have gas now, better arrange a gas service 🤣

😂🤣🤣😂

LavenderLavenderBlue · 05/07/2025 17:36

As a LL why are you not doing quarterly /6 monthly checks on your property ?
Or get an agency to do it

whackamole666 · 05/07/2025 16:58

AuntyHistamine · 05/07/2025 14:32

I had no gas and no boiler for 4 years. I still had to get a gas safety check and was given a certificate every year. Perhaps the council don’t know the law or something eh?

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How very Kafka.

I guess you would have been confident of passing the stringent gas safety checks each year as no gas was ever detected.

murasaki · 05/07/2025 15:04

AuntyHistamine · 05/07/2025 14:45

There was nothing to cap off. There was no gas. It made no sense to me either but I still had to faff around waiting in for them just to confirm there was no gas and give me a copy of the certificate.

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Another one where we need the laugh emoji back. What a waste of time and money!

ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself · 05/07/2025 15:01

AuntyHistamine · 05/07/2025 14:45

There was nothing to cap off. There was no gas. It made no sense to me either but I still had to faff around waiting in for them just to confirm there was no gas and give me a copy of the certificate.

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Yeah, this was someone at the council making some money, or a manager not doing their job properly or something. There is no requirement whatsoever for this, and OP has no problem here. No gas = nothing to check.

Utterlyconfusednow · 05/07/2025 14:52

AuntyHistamine · 05/07/2025 14:45

There was nothing to cap off. There was no gas. It made no sense to me either but I still had to faff around waiting in for them just to confirm there was no gas and give me a copy of the certificate.

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Sounds like a brown envelope job, a pointless exercise where some nob was pocketing the money for the ‘enterprise’.

AuntyHistamine · 05/07/2025 14:45

ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself · 05/07/2025 14:38

Do you mean you technically had gas but it was capped off? That’s the only way your comment even vaguely makes sense, although what exactly were they doing? Saying ‘yes it’s still safely capped off’?

Theres a difference between ‘our gas is capped off’ and ‘we have no gas, never did, never will’.

Edited

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There was nothing to cap off. There was no gas. It made no sense to me either but I still had to faff around waiting in for them just to confirm there was no gas and give me a copy of the certificate.

W0tnow · 05/07/2025 14:45

I think you should cancel the cheque.

AuntyHistamine · 05/07/2025 14:44

K0OLA1D · 05/07/2025 14:35

Sounds like a massive waste of money to me.

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Me too but they still did it every year. That was a tower block with no gas or boiler. They said they still had to check I hadn’t tried to connect a gas supply and provide a certificate.