to think the landlady and letting agency are harassing me

[squashimodo]

So the agency phoned and said the landlandy would like to inspect the property and can she come round on Saturday(today) We have various plans this weekend, so said not convenient until Tuesday.
Again the letting agency phone us today and say the landlady wants access to a shed at the bottom of the garden to remove her belongings. We said no, not until Tuesday. By now I am feeling harassed and anxious, by the tone of the agents. They then say the landlady can gain access via the neighbours, but the neighbours are away so I said no giving the reason.
Stay with me.
The agents then inform us that they will not stop us from being evicted and "I hope nothing goes wrong with your home.." in a threatening manner.

I feel very anxious now and am wondering what will happen if they just turn up anyway.

oldie imagine if you were asleep and didn't hear the door? Or on the loo? How horrible, having to tidy up every morning too!

Change the locks. Ideally tonight.

I have had similar to this.

You are entitled to quiet enjoyment of your home, pretty much above anything written in your tenancy agreement.

Speak to the CAB. Check out Shelter website, they have a ton of help sections there which will support what I am about to tell you.

Change the locks, you have a right to do this when your LL/LA has ignored your reasonable refusal to allow access.

To be 100& clear, you have the right to refuse anyone and everyone entry for any reason whatsoever, barring an emergency.

It doesn't matter if they give you a month of sunday's notice, if you don't want to allow access, then you don't have to.

This IS harassment tbh, and if they have used a key to enter your home against your wishes, that is trespass. Pure and simple.

Change the locks, retain the old ones and re-instate them when you leave. Refuse all access for all reasons if you wish, you are well within your right to do so. They may threaten you with all sorts, tell you that you are in breach of your contract (DON'T GIVE THEM COPIES OF KEYS!!) When they have denied you peaceful enjoyment, and it is clear that they have, you have every right to protect yourself and your home.

If LL wants to gain access against your wishes, they will have to get a court order.

Get thee down to B&Q and buy some locks pronto.

Of course, all this WILL incur the LL wrath, and you will end up with 2m notice of eviction, so best to look for a place to move to asap....

Sorry for you, but you have to get away, this has potential for LL from hell scenario.

Once again whne did they phone to ask for access.

really not sure she can legally change the locks on somrthing which is not her property.

Of course she can change the locks to prevent unauthorised access to her home!!

Believe me, BigBadMummy told me I could (and what she doesn't know about the lettings game literally is not worth knowing), the CAB told me and gave me a couple of print offs from the Shelter website to show me that I could change the locks.

I agree she's being hassled at the moment, but don't you think that the l/l also has legal responsibilities and has to access the property to have these carried out? The l/l can be prosecuted for not having gas and electrical checks done; will she complain when her boiler blows and she won't let tradesmen in to do the repairs?

Except in the case of an emergency, she doesn't have to let anyone in if she so decides.

Honest, I checked this myself a billion times.

By all means let the gas cert people in, that is a legal obligation, but it can and should only be with the express permission of the tenant.

I am a landlady and would only enter a tenants home once I had given them at least 24 hours written notice and then agreed a date with them. Have a look at your contract as what they are doing is wrong. LL sounds like a loon so I would find another property. She can't just kick you out. She woudl have to give you 2 months notice as a minimum. I am of course assuming you have an assured shorthold tenancy agreement.

Re: changing the locks. Has she actually entered the property without your permission? I got the impression they had rung on the phone and doorbell. If the answer is no then I don't think its necessary.
I consider myself a very reasonable LL and have never come across this but if a tenant changed the locks I would expect a set of keys because it is after all my property. SO if you do go down that route make sure you check whether you ahve an obiligation to provide her with a set of keys as well.

Access to the property by the landlord

The landlord has the right to 'reasonable' access to carry out repairs for which s/he is responsible, but s/he should always ask for the tenant's permission, and should give at least 24 hours' notice (s11(6) Landlord and Tenant Act 1985). If the landlord wants to enter the property for any other reason, for example, to show round a prospective purchaser, s/he can only do this with the tenant's agreement. The tenant is fully entitled to refuse his/her permission if the date/time is inconvienient. The tenant should not refuse without good grounds, as it may cause a Breakdown of relationship with the landlord.

The tenant has a right of quiet enjoyment of the tenancy. This means that s/he can occupy the premises without being disturbed by the landlord or her/his agents. Quiet enjoyment is an implied contractual right whether or not it is written into the tenancy agreement. A licensee does not have this right.

Entering the property without the tenant's permission

If the landlord is repeatedly entering the accommodation without the tenant's permission, s/he is committing a civil offence because:-
? s/he is in breach of contract, because s/he has broken the implied term to allow the tenant uninterrupted use of the accommodation. This is known as breach of quiet enjoyment; and
? s/he is trespassing on the tenant's premises.

Any action taken by a tenant or licensee may antagonise the landlord and cause her/him to take steps to evict her/him

The tenant should initially try to negotiate with the landlord. In some cases, it may be advantageous for the bureau to negotiate on the tenant's behalf. The tenant may be able to judge whether the landlord would react more positively to an approach from the bureau.

If the landlord continues to enter the accommodation, the tenant may wish to change the locks. S/he should take care not to damage the door and should keep the old lock and key, as these are the property of the landlord. Alternatively, s/he could just change the barrel of the lock. The tenant does not have to give the landlord a key, but s/he must continue to allow the landlord reasonable access to carry out repairs.

A tenant could also be advised to contact the local council's Tenancy Relations Officer (TRO) (also sometimes called a tenancy liaison officer or a tenancy harassment officer) if there is one. The TRO will usually be based in the local authority housing department or the legal department. The TRO is responsible for dealing with private sector tenancy disputes and should try to sort out the problem by negotiation.

If there is no TRO, or s/he will not help, or is not successful, the tenant can go to the county court to get an injunction to stop the landlord entering the accommodation without permission. S/he could also sue for cash compensation if the landlord has caused any damage to her/his property or if s/he has suffered any shock or distress as a result of the landlord's actions. S/he may be eligible for publicly-funded legal services.

Harassment

If the landlord is entering the accommodation so often and at such times that the tenant no longer feels secure in her/his own home, this could be interpreted as a form of harassment. Harassment is a criminal offence and the landlord could be prosecuted. There are also civil remedies to deal with harassment.

This is pretty much what I was told and given print offs at CAB... found this here

Shelter website here

You can email them from this site and they will come back to you very quickly.

No, you don't have to provide a set of keys. That would defeat the object.

The LL in this case has forced access, she asked, was told no, was given an alternative day, she came anyway and the LA seemingly assisted the Tenant's rights to be ridden roughshod over.

I would seriously have a look into harassment charges. If they do this again, call the police.

As a LL she owns the property, but in taking out a tenancy agreement, it is the tenant's home and that means that the LL doesn't have automatic right to entry.

OP, please answer those asking when they rang you?

I'm guessing the landlady has given her 24 hours notice then.

Irrespective of whether the landlady called 24 hours ago or not, it's a call to request access, not carte blanche to come round 24 hours later no matter what answer to their request.

All my contracts have always specified written notice as well.

What happened OP?

You CAN change the locks to prevent access, as long as you change them back at the end of the tenancy (and if you've got those UPVC doors it's a job so easy I managed to do it in the past when I had an ex making bother).

Tyler - yep, but if the landlady DID give plenty of notice of why she wanted/needed to come round, then unless the OP has a good reason for denying that access then I think she IS being unreasonable.

If she hasn't been given the notice, then I don't think she is being unreasonable.

And, you know, as this was posted in AIBU...

There was a clause in my contract to prevent locks being changes.

I think you're being unreasonable.

You should allow access. You should force her to fix stuff. You have more rights than she does and you can take her to court for disrepair. You need to get a legal letter sent.

I personally think that saying that a Saturday wasn't convenient and giving a date 3 days later which was is more than reasonable.

So in that respect the OP is NBU.

YABU, you were in, the trip to the shed would have taken a couple of minutes and at the end of the day its her house. As for the inspection, she wants to check her house - its not yours - plenty of notice given so unless you have something to hide I dont see what the problem is.

I'm surprised any landlords actually rent their houses if people behave like this.

The OP is acting in a manner supported by tenancy law.

Unfortunately too many landlords these days have HappyMummyOfOne's attitude - it's my house I'll do what I want.

Yes, I wonder if she'd feel as happy if someone was demanding regular inconvenient access to her house and then getting someone to threaten her with eviction when she upheld her rights? You do realise that when you rent out a house it is not yours to just keep popping over to visit?

HappyMummy it may not be the OP's house, but it IS the OP's HOME.

Pluls what TheProvincialLady said.

What happened OP?