Since when does having a lot of books constitute not looking after your home?

[PeaceofCakeAndGoodWineToAllMN]

This is a rant!

I was sent a letter a week ago from the agency who 'look after my house' telling me that they wanted to visit. That's fine, I look after the house, clean the carpets/arrange for the windows to be cleaned, walls are spotless etc. I don't ask them to do any repairs as they have yet to do anything that I've asked them to do apart from the boiler. I've been here for 9 years, the kitchen window doesn't close if I open it, the cupboard door was falling off so I removed it, that's about it.

Anyway. I have a lot of books. I write for a living so most are reference books and things which publishers have sent me. The books have outgrown the 3 book cases so I have three piles on the floor in the living room. It turns out that the owner of the house made a visit when I wasn't here and has complained to the agency that the house is a mess! Outside by the front door were four bags of newspapers for recycling, there's also a strip of dirt with some plants and a few (3) weeds. In the kitchen (visible as it's at the front of the house) which has 3 small tubs of nick nacks on the floor and 6/7 unwashed glasses. She must have come into the house as they commented that the rest of the house was a mess (books) and the back garden needed cutting. The back garden isn't accessible apart from through the house as there's a 6ft locked gate at the side of the house.

AIBU to think that a few piles of books doesn't make a messy house and that she had no right coming into the house when I was away? They have asked me to 'declutter' and are going to return in three weeks. AIBU to tell them to piss off?

Thank you crunch

The agency said they are going to send someone round to price up the boiler and price up the cost for the back garden (which they want me to pay for!). It's not full of rubbish (there's no rubbish on there at all), it's just overgrown with brambles. I do cut them back but they grow. I want to move out, I have done for ages as I need an office and the next door neighbour is a nightmare.

It's just not practical to live like that. There was a bottle of milk on the side in the kitchen, which they moaned about. I have 2 small boxes of paints (for work) by the sofa, 'surely you don't need those!'

That's outrageous!! I thought landlords had to give you notice before a visit? I would give them the list of things that need doing and demand something be done about them before unlawfully entering your home without notice then having the audacity to complain about mess!

I would move, and use another agency. After 9 years, I guess you don't have your deposit protected? Dig out your copy of your Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement and look up the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985...

I think I may have to lose the keys. They are supposed to give you 24 hours notice. I suspect she turned up just before Christmas as there was a large chip of wood knocked off the cupboard door (it's outside next to the front door). We take really good care of the house and it certainly wasn't broken off when we went out. I'm so angry!

I don't have the tenancy agreement any more Purple. They should have given me a new one when they increased the rent a few years ago but they didn't. They are incredibly slack. The gas safety certificate has never been done on time.

You have got me all worried now, I thought the LL needed your permission to enter?

No, they just have to give you at least 24 hours notice. Renting sucks!

Well thats not so bad I guess. OP, don't let them walk all over you bastards

We 'failed' a rented house inspection last January. The agent came into the house (one room only) checked we had no problems - we pointed out that the window frames in the porch are very rotten and some tiles looked loose. And he left. Couldn't have been with us more than 5 minutes at the outside.
We then got a letter to say there was unacceptable rubbish in the back garden. Impressive since he hadn't been in there. Turns out as he knew I wasn't in (he arrived early) he had been for a snoop - found our rubbish pile that was on the way to the tip (just waiting until the weekend as tip only open in daylight hours and if agent had said something to me on the visit I would obviously have explained).
To say DH went mental on the phone as they aren't allowed in uninvited would possibly be an understatement . Anyhow, they refused to apologise for their letter.
Next time an inspection letter arrived we phoned up and said weren't happy as work we had said was needed hadn't even been looked at. They had come in uninvited etc. They said they would contact the landlord and see if she still wanted inspections.
Haven't heard from them since .

A pipe is leaking (I called them first thing this morning to tell them so they could sort out a plumber before they turned up), I took a cardboard box out of the cupboard as it's wet (dripping pipe is in the cupboard).

'You'll have to get rid of that!'
'But I've just put it there because you said you wanted to see the pipe and the pipe's dripping water onto it!'
'Yes, but you'll have to get rid of it.'
'Erm...that is the plan.'

Duh! I'm not being dense here am I?

When you rent a home it is your home. If you want to live in clutter or have a messy home then it is totally your perogative. Not saying you do by the way, OP, but just that you could if you so wished.

If on the other hand there were kitchen cupboard doors hanging off, the garden lawn was 6ft high and the windows were boarded up, well then it would become the landlord's business but until then it's nothing to do with them.

I would make a complaint about the landlady just entering without your permission. There are definitely laws about landlords entering properties. They have to give you notice (not sure how much) and it has to be at a mutually convenient time.

And I would go absolutely beserk at them for telling you that you don't need things that you have in your home. What do they think you are? A teenager with a messy bedroom?

Even the agency didn't visit at a mutually convenient time. I received a letter 5 days ago saying they were going to visit today at 10:30. I called to say I may not be back from the school run at that time so they said they would come later. They turned up at 10:15, when I was washing up (hence why there were glasses on the side).

Keeping the garden maintained is in the tenancy agreement if I remember correctly, everything else isn't. I asked them if I could remove the cupboard door as the top hingey thing is broken and I didn't want it to fall off onto someone's head. They said they were going to sort it out (this was 8 years ago). Garden only has brambles, there's no grass. It's paving slabs in the middle, small bits of foilage at the either side.

I did explain that it was all work. I review books, as well as write and (am attempting to) illustrate. Ds also reads a lot, which is no bad thing.

try posting in legal. or see the cab for advice.

Post a pic and we can judge if it's messy! Seriously, your Landlord or agent cannot enter without notice or your permission. You need to chase that up.

I'll search through the shelter web site in a minute. I'm just waiting for my blood to stop boiling.

Thank you.

I've no idea where the USB connector is. Ds had it last so it could be anywhere. It I want to lose anything I just let him use it.

Neither the landlord nor an agency have the right to bully a tenant in this way. Legally you have the right to peaceful enjoyment of the property. Ie. to have loads of books.

They only have cause to complain if you are endangering the health and safety of surrounding neighbours.

It takes a long time to ge an eviction. We had to evict a tenant who smeared excrement all over the walls, attempted to murder her boyfriend by stabbing (Ie. bloodstains in the kitchen) and didn't pay rent. It took us months to get an eviction. Trust me, a few books is nothing.

The agency are up their own arse. Contact citizen's advice bureau. They have no right to harass you in this way.

Goodness, tenants from hell!! I think I'm going to send them a letter and save up for a deposit so I can move. I can't believe that the owner wants to buy a new boiler and do some repairs. I've been here for 9 years and they have done nothing so why now? I do need an office and the next door neighbour makes my life miserable. I have MS and he's up at all hours slamming doors/spitting in the garden/playing the stereo. Sod 'em.

Give the agency one month's notice you are moving out. Legally that is all a tenant has to give with a rolling contract. Find a new place with a different agency. Don't pay the last month's rent. That way you don't need to worry about a desposit. Your desposit will pay the last months rent.

You can argue that having the landlord entering the property unannounced is breaking the contract. Also the agency and the landlord have failed in their legal duty to keep the gas safety certificate up to date. In theory a landlord or agency can go to jail for not doing the gas safety certificate. Certainly it is grounds for a tenant to leave a property mid contract.

If you landlord wants money back then they will have to take you to the small claims court. Provided you turn and represent yourself a court is unlikely to agree to unreasonable demands.

I have a suspicious mind but sounds to me like she wants to sell and wants you to get the place up to 'viewing standard' before she puts it on the market.

It's absolutely none of her business what you have in your house, as long as you aren't damaging her property.

In landlord terms you have the right to something called peaceful enjoyment of the property, i.e. your landlord cannot call around without notice like this, for exactly the reasons you have outlined, as frankly you'd expect washing up to be here and there, etc. I would make a formal complaint and then give notice.

She'll end up with a big void this time of year if you do go, hahaha!