Hi I've written an email incorporating lots of what you have said on this thread, I'll copy and paste it, any opinions or ideas gratefully received.
Dear ...,
thanks you for your email regarding your recent inspection of....
I was rather upset by your visit and your comments about the cleanliness of the shower/inside of the oven. As far as I understand, provided we leave the property in a good and clean condition when we move out, the cleanliness of the shower/oven at any given point of the tenancy is irrelevant and therefore comments to myself are unnecessary, rude and upsetting.
As far as the garden is concerned I agree we need to weed the patio and the front and back, continue to mow the lawn regularly and weed where necessary. But as far as the shrubs and bushes/ trees are concerned I feel that they are fine and not at all 'very overgrown'. Obviously we are not experts in shrubs but we?re happy to help out by trimming them back where we can, but we disagree that we should have to organise and pay for a gardener ourselves just because we do not have specialist knowledge. 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.
I'd also like to remind you that after your last inspection of the property you said that the garden and shrubs looked nice enclosing the garden and when I asked you what should be done you mentioned cutting back the two shrubs that grow close to the house windows (the one by the living room window and the one by the kitchen window) both of which we cut cut back in the Autumn.
I am sorry that you were not satisfied with the state and condition of the property. I feel that 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 throughout the tenanacy as a whole (e.g. how clean the property is, how long shrubs should be left, inspections of the windows, demands to look in the bedrooms when only an inspection of exterior paintwork has been requested and refusing to leave our home when asked to by ourselves) and frequency of visits has been unreasonable and has compromised our right to live in quiet enjoyment of our home.
Please continue to let us know 48hrs 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.
