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

.

A tenant cannot leave a tenancy within the fixed-term without penalty. If a tenant has contracted to a fixed-term he is liable to pay rent for the whole of the term, unless either the landlord is willing to release him from the contract or negotiate a settlement.

Where the tenancy has become a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (where the fixed-term has ended and no new agreement signed for another fixed-term) the tenant must give the landlord notice (see notice to quit) if he wants to leave:

The notice must be in writing
It must be delivered at least 4 weeks before the notice period ends or 1 month if rent is paid monthly
It must bring the tenancy to an end at the end of a full rent period.

Yep that's wrong - you are right, you don't have to give notice, if the LL hasn't said anything to you it seems you can either leave or stay at the end of the tenancy without telling the LL either way.

Are you sure, OP, that you are not living in my former rented property? As I have a whole FOLDER of similar letters re: gardening, tidying and more, including the classic "Your top drawer is untidy and disorganised". Refering to my KNICKER DRAWER!

Thank God for my council house - I used to have this with a private landlord and my Dad had to talk ex-DH out of going round to punch our landlord who bitched about the state of our fridge whilst I was in hospital giving birth.

Are you on a housing list?

Oh, this is crap. I'm so sorry she's being an arse.

Can I say, please take lots of photos of everything before you move out (and it might not be a bad idea to take photos of the 'overgrown' shrubs now) - photos are really good if you end up arguing about the deposit, as you are not responsible for normal 'wear and tear', only for damage above and beyond that.

^ agreed with the photos but PLEASE make sure that you use the time and date stamp function on your camera, otherwise the photos are inadmissable I believe and will not prove the condition when you moved out.

Yes agree with the photos and date stamp them... that was one of the new guidelines for us clerks and I forgot to do it today! Doesn't matter though the report is dated today and visit attended by tenant! phew!

Get the carpet and oven cleaned professionally and keep the receipts.

If you can't afford to get the oven cleaners in, Oven Pride is the best thing since sliced bread. Costs about £5.00 Make sure all burnt on marks are off, photograph the inside with the flash on to see what will show up.

Make sure you don't miss the backs of doors for dust. skirting boards for same, door have both sides, and so do door frames, we look at everything. (yes I AM cross eyed at the end of the day!)

Washing machine: powder drawer, one of the favourites to pick up on is the powder compartment and the rubber seal. Before you move out, pour bleach into the powder compartment and leave to soak over night. The next morning put the machine on the hottest wash you have, and it will ensure your drum, the rubber seal and the powder compartment should be sparkling. Good time to stick your white towels in for a good boil wash!

Extractor hood, change the filter and make sure it's not sticky. make sure all bulbs are working. Cillit Bang is great for this one!

Clean all cabinets, wipe them out to make sure there is no debris.

Fridge - same

Freezer defrost and make sure it's clean, no stray peas

Windows - cleaned inside and out.

Bathroom/Sinks - Make sure all limescale is removed from bath, basin and drainages/taps - viakal is good or cillit bang apparently. Jif Spray mousse is AWESOME in the bathroom, spray it on tiles, bath, taps, shower risers, leave it for 15m and rinse off. To restore your tiles to pristine, give the tiles a bit of a scrub with a scouring sponge while the product is still on and dry the tiles after rinsing them off.

Don't forget the underside of the wash basin and the loo. Don't forget the WC seat and lid either.

Shed/Garage - make sure they are swept out and as free of cobwebs as poss.

Make sure all bulbs are tested and working

The only other suggestion I could venture is that you could ask their handyman (seeing as he hates her) if he could go round with you to make sure that there is nothing untoward with the property and write you an email to that effect.

When you have finished, you want to be able to say, could someone move in here after me and not know I had been here?

Did I miss anything?

When DD2 was a baby (she is now 19) my H "at the time - he is no longer a DH" and i were renting from my brother in law. I was breast feeding at the time and my boobs were very painful. Before i did the morning feed i would go down stairs and make a cup of tea. One morning i walked into the kitchen to find my BIL sat there having a cup........

oh forgot to say....cos my boobs were so sore i would go down topless!

that was a moment i can still see when i close my eyes

so OP, I take it notice has not been served today?

Your LL is a fruit loop!

No not heard anything from her yet and haven't replied to the email yet but I guess I'm going to have to tonight. Stressful day at work so now having a large G&T :)

Interesting to know that we don't have to give a months notice. also good advice about the cleaning. I've taken some photos of the shrubs and garden, I would do a link to them on here so you can see how 'overgrown' they are... but I don't know how to do photos on MN.

The house wasn't amazingly clean when we moved in, when we moved the sofa there was all sorts underneath it and I took a few photos at the time as I was already aware after meeting the landlady for the first time that we might have problems with her. I don't know if they'd be date stamped, they're on my iphone with the date though.

I'll get on with emailing her back now but not sure what to say. DP says we shouldn't tell her until we have to that we're moving out as that will cause her the most inconvenience!

your DH sounds funny!

Can you say that you have always kept the shrubs in an acceptable state as per the tenancy agreement, abut you object to doing extra work above and beyond this, and that is what she has asked you to do?

I thought that was pretty clear in all the versions of what you were saying, but she's obviously chosen to ignore it.

We had a six month tenancy a few years ago through an agency. In that time we had no less than 14 visits for checking and maintenance. For the maintenance the agency expected me to stay in all day to supervise the workmen. It was appalling. As it was I was stuck at home anyway with a catheter bag and 15 month yr old, but it was incredibly intrusive. Some people just shouldn't be landlords/ladys. I think you need to start being firm with her - but I guess that could spectacularly backfire.

I've written her an email back but I'm a bit pissed now it's probably not very good. Think I'm getting a bit bogged down with the shrubs.

Dear ...
Thanks for your email.

I think there has been some sort of misunderstanding here. I thought when you said in your previous email that 'I think you're going to need to employ a qualified gardener as there is a real skill to pruning a shrub correctly.' you meant that we could not do this job ourselves. But now in your subsequent email you say ' it is your responsibility to look after the garden, whether you do it yourselves or you whether you choose to employ someone to do it for you.'

So is it ok if we cut the shrubs back ourselves then? I just think it's important to get this really clear now as I really wouldn't want to cut the shrubs back and then for you to say we'd done it wrong and hold us liable to replacing them.

I assure you that we are not intending to shirk our responsibilities as tenants, just that I don't remember the tenancy agreement stating that we had to 'employ a qualified gardener'.

Regarding the shower and the oven, obviously you feel that they have not been kept in a reasonable condition. Are you intending to come back for another visit to check that I've remedied the situation and cleaned them to your standard?

Regards

Haven't sent it yet by the way...

Maybe "were not very clean at the time of your visit" rather than "had not been kept in reasonable condition"?

Cos "condition" sounds like damage or something permanent, "clean" is clearly temporary.

I wouldn't even reply to her - just wait and give her a month's notice before you move, end of. Let her sweat!

If you think she's going to stiff you for your deposit, simply dont pay her the last months rent.

I'd like to see her try to pursue you for it.

yes I'll change that bit ThisIsANiceCage.

But I don't know if I'll send it, maybe you're right Toughasoldboots, just I'm worried that if we don't do something with the shrubs then she'll claim we've damaged them and take money off the deposit.

The funny thing is, the oven was really quite clean... it's been much worse!!! I'd oven prided it quite recently. :(

Dont pay her the last months rent OP, then you don't have to worry about the deposit.

The deposit was more than a months rent unfortunately DontGoCurly. :( we had to borrow money from parents to afford it.

Damn! It's just I sense with all this nonsense she is working up to scamming you out of it.

Im not sure they were allowed to take more than a months rent deposit, it also has to be held in a specific type of account.

Might I suggest you get a gardener to cut the shrubs? It would only cost £20 all you want them to do is cut them back properly and it would be worth it to get your deposit back.

She cannot withhold deposit on the grounds of a dirty shower screen!.