to think landlords should be crb checked

[Unwind]

I don't imagine it would have helped protect Jo Yeates, even if her LL is found to be guilty, but it has made me think about the powerful position private landlords are in. There are too many stories, on here and elsewhere of them abusing that. Prospective tenants have to provide references, but landlords provide nothing, and they keep a set of keys.

My current landlord has threatened to have my neighbours killed. A previous landlord (who lived in the same building as me) once let himself in to my flat when he knew I was in there alone.

Agree re. the credit check. Friends of mine found themselves suddenly evicted as their landlord had not been paying his mortgage. They had always paid their rent on time, and had no idea that they were about to lose their home.

Manatee All it is seen as is a breach of the contract (no punishment) and when you call the police it is a civil dispute with no witnesses (as it is in your own home - no punishment)

So basically, they get away with it easily. There is nothing in place to help tenants in this situation.

When I had the really nasty landlord, I went to the council as I was applying for council housing, when I mentioned who my current landlord was they asked if I wanted to make a complaint (I didn't). So there is a complaint system of sorts that perhaps you could look into?

Not all people will want to make a complaint(you didn't) as a LL will have your new address and a lot of info from your previous application.

Not sure a non police complaints list will solve anything for the above reason. The very people with something to complain about will be the ones who don't due to fearing the consequences.

Actually, he would have been checked... he was a former teacher. Anyway, he has only been arrested, not charged yet.

"But by the same token when you are a LL you are essentially saying to a complete stranger 'come and live in my house and please pay the rent on time and don't damage anything'."

No, when you are a landlord you are providing a service that you are being paid for.

The provision of that service should not require that you have permanent access to somebody else's home. If you need access to your property, you make an appointment like anyone else. It is their HOME, you just own the premises. Therefore they should be entitled to privacy and that means not having random strangers walking around with the means to go into their home and rifle through their stuff on a whim.

That the law privileges wealthy people's property right's over the dignity of the people who rent that property is a fucking disgrace.

FWIW I am a landlord.

Agree with Spidookly

Ps. can you be my landlord?

If I book a hotel room for the night, I am paying to lodge myself there.

Most people would find it unacceptable, in a hotel room they have hired, if the proprietor comes right in at any time because, well, the patron has paid for the hire of lodging.

Why is it so different if the lodging in question is a flat or house?

A tenant is paying for the hire of the lodging.

The LL can't just stroll in because it's 'theirs'.

I always had personal alarms I place on the doors for just such a reason.

maybe we should CRB check all tenants as well.

You know so that when the LL makes his 24hrs notice to come and check something the tenant isn't lying in wait ready to murder him?

but I do agree that LL's should have a set of keys for the house.

I was awake for 3 weeks in the summer holidays - if there had been a gas leak, or a burst water pipe - it would have been good for my LL to be able to get in and sort it before the house blew up or all my personal property was ruined.

Expat, where can you get those?

I got a couple of them on Ebay. For the front and back doors. I also installed a chain lock on teh front door (when I was privately renting), and locks on the windows that only allow them to be opened a couple of inches when I was in private lets.

Obviously, when I was out it was a different story.

But I started doing this after a scary thing happened to a work colleague.

She moved to Edinburgh from a northern English city. She'd never lived in Scotland, so didn't know many folks and just got a wee flat in The Old Town.

A few weeks later she said something was wrong with it. She started to think it was haunted because small things would be moved from where she left them, doors open that she'd left closed, that sort of thing.

Well, I believe in that sort of thing so I gave her my mobile number and told her to ring any time if anything bad happened.

Got a call at 1AM one night, she was hysterical and roaming about in the High Street, wanted a lift as she was too afraid to get in a taxi with a stranger.

So DH went over and collected her.

She'd woken some time after midnight with a horrible feeling that someone was in the flat.

Went into the hall and the front door was standing wide open!

The fucking landlord was in the flat!

She threw something at him and screamed and he ran out.

The next day we rounded up a group of students to go with her to collect her belongings (another colleague had space to let her store her stuff until she found a new place to live) and leave.

Kaloki if you google door alarms you will find loads of places like B&Q and Maplin that sell them. They are battery operated you just stick the main part on a door frame and the contact on the door.

Christ :( I wish people like that could be stopped. It's just not on.

But thankyou for the info on the door alarms.

It is interesting to see how much outrage there is on this thread about the very idea of landlords being checked in any way.

There seems to be an astonishing acceptance of the entitlement of those who own property - and it doesn't just come from landlords. I think it partly explains why so many people, who are not wealthy, vote for the conservative party. And also why increases in the cost of housing are reported as "good news".

I totally agree Unwind it's shocking. What I also find shocking is that nearly everybody I know has a bad LL story,that is a whole lot of shitty LLs which is basically because there are no checks,regulations or anything.

The couldn't give a shit attitude because "oh well you're just a tenant" is awful.

Those of us who are homeowners and don't have to go through this shit anymore(or perhaps never did) should maybe just put themselves in other people's shoes.

I do like Sugar's central register thing too. How many of us know LLs who have dragged their heels over returning deposits for basically no reason.In this age of digital cameras it's so easy to show you've left a place in the state you found it. So many LLs think deposits are their own private savings fund.I had one who delayed paying mine because he couldn't afford to pay his mortgage due to me leaving (within the correct amount of notice).A central register could mean somebody could be struck of for such a practise and also if repairs weren't done in a decent amount of time. There is somebody on here with no heating due to a LL.

I still think CRB checks are also a good idea,it's only £40. The LL would have a copy to show everybody and as a tenant I would know I wasn't renting off a previous criminal who would have easy access to all my paperwork and valuables when I was out. You give these people all your bank details,date of birth etc. You wouldn't hand this kind of info over to anybody in other circumstances so why is is just excepted tenants should just do so with no security when renting? CRB checks aren't watertight but they will weed out an awful lot of people ,this info is better than nothing.

It's for this reason that I always sleep with a chain on the door and it double locked.

I intend to have proper chubb locks installed when I can afford to - I trust my landlord but I don't know him all that well.

I don't like the idea that someone has the keys and can let themselves in whenever they like, including the middle of the night.

Not that he would, of course, but I still feel safer this way.

I also think that this is an excellent idea, tennants are often very vulnerable and while Landlords are able to insure themselves to a certain degree, there is no similar insurance plan for the tennant in regard to protecting their deposit and belongings if the situation with a LL gets nasty.

Obviously a CRB check isn't the way to go, but I agree there should be far, far more regulation of landlords. The thing that bothers me is how ignorant of the law you can be (or claim to be), and still be a landlord. I think landlords should have to sign a document setting out their legal rights and responsibilities, and those of the tenants.

I've had an appalling landlord/lady couple who were completely ignorant of the law re. right to enter the property. It made my life a misery and they were very shocked when I showed them what the law was - I learned recently they sold the house and gave up on it all soon after I left, because I'd told all the other tenants it was not legal for them to walk in and out.

However, DH and I are now renting from a couple who seem very nice, but are completely ignorant of the law. We had to explain to them how a shorthold tenancy works, and how much notice we can give if we want to leave. I felt as if it'd be very easy for us to take advantage as they really did not know their rights. They said they just 'assumed' that we could move out any time we liked, and that they couldn't ask us to leave until a year was up.

So, I don't think I am biased in favour of tenants - I was worried in both cases and both cases show that there is real ignorance about the law, which is potentially bad for both tenants and landlords. If there were more openness about the law, I think people would take being a landlord more seriously and perhaps fewer people like Kaloki's landlord would be able to survive in the business.

I think there is a balance to be struck. I wouldn't object to being registered (as it happens both DH and I have been CRB checked for employment reasons) However, if the registration process is too costly or cumbersome then it may remove some of the smaller landlords out of the system.

The have got it right with the deposit protection scheme as it can be registered on line and then you provide the relevant paperwork to the tenant.