To think letting agent shouldn't have entered the house when dsd's were the only ones up.

[FontOfAllEvil]

Agent called in at about 9am to inspect house (we have no idea if we forgot this appt. or if they forget to tell us) DH was still asleep after working a late night. Eldest dd (12) answered the door and agent asked to come in to do house inspection. Dd said dad was asleep and she didn't want to wake him. The agent asked to come in anyway. So did.

I feel very uncomfortable with the fact he did this. I don't prescribe to the pedophile on every corner train of thought but I am pissed off he came in anyway knowing the adult in the house was unavaliable.

I also think he was very stupid to put himself in the position of being alone with two young girls, as a teacher I am aware of the possibility of false allegations. This being why you are advised not to be in a closed classroom with a student.

I'm also pissed off that when dh rang to tell him that we weren't comfortable with what happened he didn't take it seriously at all.

We will discuss with dsds about not letting anyone into the house they don't know. I can't imagine that they haven't been told it before but may need reminding.

Would I be unreasonable to follow up the phone call with an email as dh was left feeling dismissed or am I over thinking this?

Okay, so wibu to email to say that whilst we are aware that there was a mix up with the letter not arriving, we would prefer in future for them not to enter the house if the girls are there without an adult present. Also that I would strongly suggest that they consider not placing themselves in this position in the future as from a child protection pov it is not a sensible choice.

A 12 year old should be capable of answering a door. And capable of waking the adult up if needs be.

chipping excpet as an agent you would be expected to know that without permission from the resident...you could not enter...he did not have that permission.

mumbling you're getting hysterical now. What if the lease is in the woman's name? Would he then be breaking every law known to man if the DH had got his tush out of bed to let the poor guy in?

mumbling - why did he need permission? Normally they just send a letter and, if you don't contest it, turn up while no-one's in. No permission there, obviously.

If you do know something legal we don't, share it. Otherwise it makes no sense.

Good point squeaky

Perhaps I am more sensitive to issues like this due to child protection training.

That would be fine imo Font and you should reiterate that they cannot by law enter without the Tenants permission....and the DSD is NOT the tenant.

How is the agent supposed to know how old the child is? A twelve year old, to the inexperienced eye, could look 14 or even 16. To the agent, a resident of the household opened the door and allowed them entry at the appointed time. They obviously didn't have too many concerns about how the property was being taken care of or they'd have needed to inspect every room, including the one containing the sleeping DH!

Would people's opinions be different if the agent had been female?

It is in fact illegal for a landlord to enter his or her property without agreement from the tenant. The office of fair trading document oft356 reads as follows:

3.32 We would object to a provision giving the landlord an excessive right to enter the rented property. Under any kind of lease or tenancy, a landlord is required by common law to allow his tenants ?exclusive possession? and ?quiet enjoyment? of the premises during the tenancy. In other words, tenants must be free from unwarranted intrusion by anyone, including the landlord. Landlords are unfairly disregarding that basic obligation if they reserve a right to enter the property without giving reasonable notice or getting the tenant?s consent, except for good reason.

Irrespective of what maybe written in the agreed contract between a landlord and a tenant e.g. a clause that states the landlord is allowed to enter the property without permission; the law will ultimately overrule the clause. Not even a contract will help a landlord in court if he/she steps into their property thinking they can do so because of what is agreed in a contract.

A landlord does have the right to ?reasonable? access to carry out repairs for which they are responsible, but they still always need to ask for the tenant?s permission, and give at least 24 hours notice.

A Tenant has the right to live without unnecessary interference from the landlord. Most tenants have the right to stop the landlord from coming in unless they want her/him to. If a landlord or someone acting on her/his behalf harasses a tenant or tries to make life difficult, they may be committing a criminal offence.

font - sounds like a good letter.

I think lettings agents can be a PITA. Hope you get a good result from them.

Dsd is perfectly capable of opening a door and waking her father. She chose not to wake her dad. She made the wrong choice of letting him in. Agent is however the adult and IMO should have more sense than to put himself in that position. Please don't accuse people of getting hysterical when they really aren't.

anon he needs permission to enter...he can send 20 letters but if the tenant refuses him entry then he cannot enter...in this case the tenant was no available to offer him access...so he entered illegaly.

They dont turn up uninvited ime and I have rented for many years...I have never encountered a andlord who entered while I was out. They are certainly not meant to.

Meno you've called me hysterical twice now I think which makes me not want to discourse with you.

letting agents have no right to enter your house without your permission.

it doesn't matter if they send a letter signed by God himself. if the tenant doesn't give permission then it is tresspass.

agree totally with mumbling.

i have to hide this thread now as it is making my blood boil just thinking about letting agents, sooo many bad experiences.

Dsd looks younger than 12, so no fear of mistaking her for 16.

Thank you Auntie for proving my point....and as Font says, the agent was the adult and supposedly the proffesional he should know the law.

Font - an email to say that you think they should be aware of issues is a very good idea, to stop any chance of more hysteria like there is on this thread! And yes, I have found that I'm much more sensitive than the average person due to CP training. I raised the point to my boss that LL's saying "No Benefits" was discriminatory to those on WTC, CTC and DLA on my second day and they changed the wording

auntie - but they say they sent the letter. If (like usually happens), they arrange to do an inspection when the tenants are at work, that is always fine.

I don't see how it's different tbh.

It is different because the OP made no such arrangement Anon

I don't think there is anything wrong with sending an email stating your preferences, but I don't think it would be a good idea to go in all guns blazing.

And for goodness sake don't call the police! This agent has certainly not committed an offence of any sort. Even from a civil law perspective, the only thing that you could conceivably try to argue would be trespass and that would be a non-starter given that he may well have given the necessary notice and that he was given access by a resident of the property.

Children are perfectly capable of giving consent to all sorts of things in the eyes of the law - I don't know of anything in statute or common law that would make it unlawful for someone to enter a property on the basis of the consent of a child. Otherwise you couldn't leave a 15 year-old at home to accept a Tescos delivery.

they may have sent a letter, however when they got to the door the tenant didn't give them any correspondance to either agree or disagree

Just a thought, Font, you could ask that all arrangements are made by phone, stating the number you prefer to be contacted on, and confirmed afterwards in writing. That way you could arrange the appointments for a convenient time?

mumbling - erm, actually, she does say she doesn't know if they got the letter or not. If she got it and lost it, then yes, that's exactly what she did.

I really don't see anyone being hysterical, I've seen hysterical on here (never pretty) I think I will send the second suggested email. Thanks for your help everyone. Dh will talk to dsds.

Who on earth mentioned calling the police??!!! No chance of that!