To be boiling with rage at my 'landlady'?

[FrameyMcFrame]

I've posted on here before about my horrendous landlady, she's always popping round to 'check' things in the house.
This time she said she wanted to check 'the state and condition of the house and garden'

Ok, fair enough. I tidied up a bit and around she came for a good old snoop.
I left her to it and sat in the living room with my two DC.
After 20 minutes of snooping she came back to tell me that the inside of the shower cubicle was dirty... so dirty that if I didn't clean it soon it would 'damage the glass' Not sure how a bit of old shower gel can damage glass
Then she went on to say that the inside of the oven was filthy...and again it was going to damage the glass if not cleaned. It wasn't that dirty, I'd just used oven pride on it the week before!!! When I said this she went through to the kitchen and opened the oven and ran her finger along the back of the oven door and showed me that it was dirty.... obviously I'd missed a bit.

At this point I had to physically restrain myself from telling her to fuck off...
I was so angry afterwards I had to have a glass of wine to calm down

People with obsessive compulsive disorders really should'nt become landlords! Granted, she gives you notice when coming round but I'd say anything more than quarterly checks is OTT, unless you are calling her round to fix stuff. I think best to tell her you find her behaviour unacceptable and if she doesn't stop, look for somewhere else. I couldn't live with constantly being interrupted like this.

On the other side of the coin, many tenants don't look after things because they are not their own. I've had one in for 18 months and I've just spent two days washing a brand new carpet because he didn't hoover and so all the grit got trod into it. This is fairly typical. I've also had to repaint all the walls and skirting boards. Again typical. However you don't actually sound like this and she sounds rather OCD!

Email her back saying.

The garden and the shrugs are fine to me, if she wants it done professionally, she need to do that herself and pay the bill.

I did have words with LL about his attitude to my DD. He is an arrogant wanker though and still sees us as merely scum. Despite the fact that I'm paying his mortgage (they appear to have moved in with extended family) and he also seems to be on the fiddle somewhere. I don't think his mortgage company know he rents out the house as not only do the letters relating to it still come to my address and he has asked me to hold onto them for him. I once chucked a handful out in a big clean up frenzy and when he asked about any letters for him I bluffed and said I'd marked them as "return to sender, not known at this address", the colour drained from his face and he he seemed to panic slightly. That was fun.

Aww OP my LL keeps going on at me to trim the fir trees in the garden. I can't. Would be pretty dangerous and I can't afford to hire someone (tree trimmers cost alot). Oh, and I "broke" the boiler apparently. Bullshit. It's about 15 years old and the parts are getting tired. Twat.

Oh and I've learnt my lesson. No way are his wife and kids setting foot in this house again til after I move out. I only allowed it before to be reasonable. But being well mannered and reasonable is a 2 way street and they weren't well mannered and reasonable to me last time. So they can kiss my arse wait outside from now on.

She shouldn't be a landlady. She is unable to detach herself from the house. It is your home for as long as you are renting it. She needs telling.

Do you have a contract? If you do it should state who is responsible for major gardening work (ie if you need to hire someone to do it). This would usually be the landlord.

She definately needs to give 24hr notice for visits, and more than 2 a year is a bit unreasonable.

Is your deposit held in the government scheme (which I believe is now law?). It will protect you should she prove "difficult" when you move out.

Some who's so prissy shouldn't be a landlord.

I've never met my landlady and we've been here 4 years.

The agent hasn't set foot in the house since we rented it either... we have to hunt him down if there's a problem. Which there often is and most of which never get fixed.

All my prvious landlords have either been constantly about or never seen.... I have yet to find the middle ground!

"We keep the condition of the property in good order. As sole rental occupants of the property, we have the freedom to live in the property undisturbed. We feel that the level of inspection (e.g. how tidy the property is, how long shrubs should be left) and frequency of visits is unreasonable.

Having checked our contract, any external gardening work is your responsibility. We?re happy to help out by trimming them back where we can, but we disagree that the shrubs are a problem at the moment. As such, if you disagree, you will have to organise and pay for a gardener to do them to your standard. We will make a reasonable attempt to accommodate your preferences, and of course allow him or her access to the garden when we are able.

Please continue to let us know 24hrs in advance of your visits. We would like to remind you, however, that we enjoy living here but continued comments on how we are living here, and whether WE should look for and privately employ a gardener, is making us increasingly uncomfortable. Please respect the boundary between rental occupier / landlady that we're embarassed at having to point out to you."

There you go!

I might add a bit about "continued good relations", not sure.

did my property law exam on wed so this is still all fresh in my mind.

a key feature of a lease is that the tenant has exclusive possession of the property, and the right to allow or refuse entry to the property to anyone including the landlord. there can be certain conditions in the contract but these must be reasonable, i.e they can't inspect the house every week or turn up unannounced.

i only rented for one year. the LL was just renting out his mums house as she had gone into a home. he had no clue about what was/wasn't allowed. one day he turned up knocked the door, i was in the shower and couldn't really answer it so he let himself in with his key. after the bollocking he got from me in a towel he never did it again.

OP your LL sounds like a nosey cow with nothing better to do with her life.

saffy85 " Despite the fact that I'm paying his mortgage"

Whilst I agree with much that you say in principle, can I just take this opportunity to point out that unless you bought property years ago, making a statement like this is just as crass as me saying I provide subsidised accommodation to people who rent. Most landlords I know, including myself, do not have their mortgages covered by the rent, and when you take into account maintenance jobs, major roofing work and tax, are actually subsidising their tenant's housing costs from their own salaries. Thank you!

nijinsky. I very much doubt that any landlords are making a loss in the amount they charge their tenants. That wouldn't make any financial sense.

Seriously Hammy? You seriously think no landlords are in the position that their rent doesn't cover their mortgage? Have you ever been to Edinburgh? LOL!

If a property costs £250,000 and has two bedrooms. And the rent is £850 pcm. The landlord has put down a 20% deposit. What do you think the monthly mortgage is likely to be?

(And in actual fact, it makes great financial sense to run at a slight loss, since it is tax deductible).

Thank you nijinksky. Our tenants don't come close to covering our mortgage. Unfortunately we can't sell now, the house is worth less than we paid for it.

"Whilst I agree with much that you say in principle, can I just take this opportunity to point out that unless you bought property years ago, making a statement like this is just as crass as me saying I provide subsidised accommodation to people who rent. Most landlords I know, including myself, do not have their mortgages covered by the rent, and when you take into account maintenance jobs, major roofing work and tax, are actually subsidising their tenant's housing costs from their own salaries. Thank you!"

I am paying his mortgage. He has more or less told me so. He does fuck all to fix up his house and in no way does he subsidise my living costs.

There is mould/damp in the bathroom and kitchen and also my bedroom which for his own reasons he will not sort out. The boiler needs replacing (fair enough that is pricey) as parts for it are no longer available and it keeps breaking down. I pay him £900 a month for the privelege of living in a 2 bed terrace with rising damp, a kitchen and boiler that need replacing and a LL with waaay to much emotional investment in his house. Not to mention other, less serious issues. I sadly couldn't move out last year when I wanted to as the council had nowhere else for me to go (housed via them in private let) and I could not afford to rent without their help.

"Whilst I agree with much that you say in principle, can I just take this opportunity to point out that unless you bought property years ago, making a statement like this is just as crass as me saying I provide subsidised accommodation to people who rent. Most landlords I know, including myself, do not have their mortgages covered by the rent, and when you take into account maintenance jobs, major roofing work and tax, are actually subsidising their tenant's housing costs from their own salaries. Thank you!"

If it is inconvenient for ou to be a landlord, sell the house.

Even if I don't cover his entire mortgage it's pretty fair to say that if a property with a hefty mortgage to pay on it must be a pain in the arse to the LL if it goes empty for too long. Which is preferable to a LL? Someone stumping up close to a grand a month (some places round here) to help cover the mortgage, or no one stumping at anything so LL pays for it out of their wages (assuming they have a day job) or defaulting on it entirely and having the property repossessed?

OP - check your tenancy agreement carefully. Mine states that I'm responsible for the upkeep of the garden, either by employing help or by personal endeavour. However, as long as you feel the garden is in a decent state when you leave, that should be fine. If you think your LL will be awkward with giving you your deposit back, take photos of the garden etc before you leave in case they try to claim it's a mess.

Saffy Be very careful, because if your LL doesn't have permission from his mortgage provider to rent the property out and they find out, you could be evicted without notice.

There's a great house renting, buying and selling board on moneysavingexpert.com for anyone having difficulties.

My friend said same thing SoftKitty. However it would be the councils' responsibility to house me elsewhere as they put me here, apparently without checking these details. Which is about typical for them. Even if I am evicted without notice, it would be worth it just to see my LL squirm Yes, I hate him that much.

If it is costing YOU to lease a house, surely you would sell it? I know prices are low but predictions for the forseeable future are that prices will come down.

... and then add onto the cost of the mortgage the typical maintenance costs, I average around £700 per year for a 2 bed flat, which is on the cheap side because I do a lot of routine stuff myself so its mainly just things like roofing, replacing guttering, a bit of repointing, door repairs, etc (just the random things you have to pay for a with a property that tenants don't have to worry about). I also do any repaiting myself and fix things like hoovers and taps and door entry systems when they get broken but if the tenant was paying for all of these I would estimate it would cost them around £2000 a year in total.

So add £2000 a year to the monthly cost of the mortgage. No way are my tenants even coming close to paying my mortgage. Which is fine, because thats my choice and in 10 or 15 years I will hopefully make more money or more likely sell these properties. And I choose not to operate in the sector of the market where I buy a property for 100k and rent it with mould, etc..

(thats not taking into account voids where you have no-one in paying rent or nightmare tenants who don't pay rent, although I generally avoid both of those scenarios because I manage them pretty tightly).

The point I am making is that unless you bought years ago or were given a hefty deposit by your parents, ordinary people like me who have to finance it from their salary and bank loan for the deposit, are not "having their mortgage paid for them" by the tenants.

Ironically Saffy85 I'd rather have my property empty than have a nightmare tenant who doesn't pay rent and wrecks the place. That would cost me far more than they would ever pay in rent. Hence I've turned people down and kept the property empty until the right tenant came along as its cheaper in the long run.

"Ironically Saffy85 I'd rather have my property empty than have a nightmare tenant who doesn't pay rent and wrecks the place. That would cost me far more than they would ever pay in rent. Hence I've turned people down and kept the property empty until the right tenant came along as its cheaper in the long run."

Obviously. But surely you'd rather have a tenant who didn't wreck the place and who paid their rent in full, on time (I always do, never been in arrears yet) than the place go empty? Which was what i meant. I wasn't referring to the feckless buggers who don't give a shit and blindly destroy everything and anything.

My tenants don't cover my mortgage either, we pay that out of salary and bank the rent to do any repairs needed on the house. The rent would just about cover the rent and bills we pay for our MQ.

We don't sell up because we may need to live there when we return to the UK and it is an investment for us.

nijinsky "Most landlords I know, including myself, do not have their mortgages covered by the rent, and when you take into account maintenance jobs, major roofing work and tax, are actually subsidising their tenant's housing costs from their own salaries. Thank you!"

As scaryteacher points out, your property is an investment, so even if the rent doesn't cover your mortgage, you aren't subsidising your tenants housing costs, but they are paying towards your investment. Surely??

Otherwise you'd just sell up & get out of the letting game, unless (like scaryteacher) you thought you might need that specific property in the future, in which case your tenants are helping you to keep hold of it.