AIBU to be really angry that my landlord's agent came into my flat without warning, while my son was in bed asleep?

[Solopower]

Well, he did send an email, two days ago, but I didn't see it, as there was something wrong with the server.

According to my son (aged 17) he knocked on the door and called out, but when he got no reply, he just let himself in. Clearly he had come prepared with the keys.

My son, half asleep and thinking that I was in the flat and dealing with it, didn't get up (it was 9.30 am and he was on holiday) until a woman half pushed open his door. When she saw there was someone in the room, she didn't open it fully. She must have told the factor, who then called to my son to get up and get dressed so that they could come into the room. Which my son did, very quickly, and only just before the door opened fully to admit 3 strangers. No one apologised to him.

The agent was there because they were surveying the cracks in the walls, btw.

I am livid!

But aibu?? And what should I do?

Hanging pictures isn't a criminal offence either.

While there is a tenancy agreement in place, the property is the tenant's home and being able to enjoy it in peace and privacy is a fundamental right. The landlord has no right to enter without a court order, except in an emergency.

If the tenancy agreement specifies that the tenant cannot change the locks (or hang pictures, or get a pet) the landlord could try evicting them for breach of tenancy. I am not sure they would be successful though given the tenant's right to privacy in their own home. Similarly, and tenancy agreement might give the landlord the right to enter without permission, but this isn't legally enforceable - the tenant's right to quiet enjoyment takes precedence.

YANBU - Outrageous AND illegal for you

Sorry worra that wasn't aimed at you

here

I'm currently evicting tenants, you may have seen me on other threads talking about this. I needed access to get a safety check done but the tenant was refusing access. I sought legal advice from a solicitor and also spoke to the police. Both confirmed the info in the link, only 24 hrs notice was required. Since the tenant was on HB I also informed the council and I was told to go ahead and gain access as I was within my legal rights.

your own link says you must come at an agreed time, not when you like. Depend s really on how urgent and necessary your safety check was.

I was hesitant too which is why I triple checked from various sources. I managed to get the tenant to agree to a time 2 days later for access.
The reason was for a gas safety check which is a legal requirement and was seriously overdue as he wouldn't allow access.

Thanks for the link, Maisy. But I live in Scotland, and I think the law is different here.

Years ago, when I was flat hunting, my previous landlord opened the flat for me to look round it, and it was clear the existing tenant had no idea anyone was going to be coming in. When I asked (looking at the underpants on the floor) 'Does your tenant know you are showing people round his flat?', the land lord said 'He's out.' Absolutely no compunction about going into someone's flat when they are out! No sense of privacy at all.

If it wasn't so melodramatic, I would say I felt violated, but I what I feel is helpless and very angry. Particularly about my son. What if he had been sleeping naked on top of the bed? What if they had come next week when my elderly friend will be staying? She's 85.

I am trying not to overreact, but if I knew the law was definitely on my side, I might write this agent a complaint. I also thought I might copy in some of the other tenants, just to warn them. But I don't want to be a trouble maker.

Last time I saw this man (who I really dislike), he said he was going to have to sell one of the flats to pay inheritance tax. He then (after twenty minutes or so) told me it wouldn't be mine. But he could change that at any time. I really want to stay here, at least until my son leaves home (we've been here for six years already). And the other thing is that I now know something that the other tenants (presumably) don't know. He asked me not to say anything to them, and I haven't. But not out of loyalty to him. I just think it would upset and worry them.

I like the idea of changing the locks, btw, because you could do it and the land lord would never know - unless he came in again without telling you! But I would never do it - if things got that bad I think I would rather move, as it would be so stressful.

In the past we have always had a reasonable relationship, although I did have to make it clear when the land lady died that I was uncomfortable with the keys to my flat being in the hands of people I didn't know. When I asked who had inherited the flat, the solicitor told me she wasn't going to tell me the terms of the will. I had only asked who my new landlord was - nothing else.

Sorry about the long post. Could I have your advice on an email I am thinking of sending?

This is it:

Dear Scumbag

I was very upset to find out that you entered my flat when I wasn?t in at 9.30 this morning. I had not received your message as my email was not working, so I had no idea you were intending to come.

My son says that you knocked and called but he didn?t answer because he was half asleep and he thought I was in. Then a woman who was with you started to push open the door to his bedroom, while he was still in bed. Realising there was someone in the room, she didn?t open the door fully, but then you called to him to get dressed, which my son just managed to do before you all went into the room.

I cannot imagine that you would be happy if someone did this to you or your son. I thought we had a relationship based on mutual respect, and I trusted you to give me warning before you came round. Why didn?t you wait for a reply to your email or call me on my telephone and at least tell me when you were coming?

It makes me extremely uncomfortable thinking that you (or anybody else) feel that you can just come into my flat at any time without giving me adequate notice. I am sure you would feel the same.

I would like you to agree not to do this again. I am always easily contactable, whether by phone (...) or email.

The gist of it is good, but personally if it were me I would be making it sound far more formal - a formal sounding letter is always good for putting the willies up scum bags

Sorry its late, I'm wiped out & I'm on my way to bed, so not best placed to help right now, but if someone else haasn't I will give it a shot tomorrow

For a starter

Dear insert full name

It has come to my attention, that at 9.30a.m. on the morning of insert date that you & your female representative entered my property (by right of tenancy) without my consent. In doing so you not only disturbed my Son, who at 15 is still a minor, whilst he slept in his own bed. Having part way entered his room you further over stepped your legal boundaries by instructing him to get dressed.

probably not the best - but astart for you

HTH

Change the wording "without giving me adequate notice" (which he can argue he did) to "without my permission" (which is the legal requirement).

Don't ask him to agree with you on future contact mode, tell him to ring you.

"In future, please ring me and speak directly to me before coming to my home, otherwise I cannot guarantee access to the property."

No emails you don't read for two days. No voicemails you might not pick up. He has to ring you and hear your voice and agree an appointment for access.

Change the locks and let him find out the hard way if he tries it again, but at least now you have given some warning that he will physically not be able to let himself in again if he doesn't call you first.

And you should absolutely know who your new landlord is; if you have a spare £4 you can find out online via the Land Registry. It should be publicly available information, as is the Will once Probate has been granted. You can also apply to the Probate Registry for a copy of the Will if it has been settled. Whatever the solicitor told you about being unable to disclose the information only applies as long as it is confidential or privileged information, but once the Will has been proved, then there is no reason to withhold it from you. Try again.

YANBU we were renting a house and moving because landlady was a nightmare. DH works shifts so is around a lot at funny times. We were being hassled by the estate agents to allow them access to take photos so we finally agreed a particular morning that they could let themselves in and just take photos of the downstairs and then leave very quietly to not wake him after a nightshift. My husband woke to find a photographer in our bedroom taking photos of the room with him in bed asleep! It was a lovely house but I couldn't wait to move...

I would go with rockinhippy's excellent start & continue:

'I understand that you had sent me an email, which I had neither received nor replied to as of [date].

'Not having received or replied to any commmunication from you asking for access to the property, I had certainly not given permission for you to let yourself &/or other parties in in my absence.

'I'm sure this was a genuine oversight & you had no intention to breach the terms of our contract or disturb our quiet enjoyment of the property under tenancy law.

'I am also presuming that you are now aware that you made an error in entering my child's bedroom, & another error in telling him to dress so that you could inspect the property without my permission & in my absence.

'You will obviously appreciate that the way this visit to the property was handled was entirely inappropriate, & that I require a written undertaking that you will, in future, only enter the property when I have given explicit permission.

'I am perfectly happy to allow all reasonable access. Please telephone in future or wait for a response to emails, as otherwise I am afraid that I will be unable to provide access to the property.'

Thank you for all your help. Looking at it again, I think the email I wrote was a bit wimpish (but I am scared that he will decide to sell the flat). I feel I have to do something - I can't just pretend it never happened.

Just for the record, Rockinhippy, my son is 17 so not a minor. And there were three of them. He wasn't upset just very angry. If he had been less in control of himself, he could well have reacted in a way that would have seen the situation spiral. No-one but no-one goes into my son's room without knocking. I even knock when I know he's not in!

Nymia, I think I might try to find out who the new landlord is again.

They emailed and you didn't respond, depending on how you normally communicate with them would it be reasonable for them to have expected a response to an email? They also rang the bell and tried to ascertain if anyone was in but your son chose not to respond at all, even once someone has clearly come in and by the sounds of things identified themselves. They weren't coming in to nose around they were coming in to survey structural cracks which I am guessing probably need to be dealt with. We had a roof problem that needed to be dealt with and the tenants were a nightmare as they didn't respond or else gave ludicrous times when we could enter. We gave them notice, made things a lot easier.

If a tenant refused to give me access I would give them notice. I have no problems getting new tenants and dealing with maintenance issues is tricky already without someone making life more difficult. I don't go around doing gas checks and repairs for my own enjoyment, they are for the benefit of the tenants

We do normally communicate by email and I always respond, as soon as I see them.

As I said, we had a good relationship.

My son was half asleep, and thought I had let them in. Of course I would not dream of denying access to my landlord's agent! But it's common courtesy to wait for a reply to an email before coming round, or if someone doesn't answer the door to ring up or go away and come back again. Not to go to someone's flat, with your key, so that you can let yourself in if they are not there.

Also, this agent knows how I feel about being given notice. I have been here for 6 years and had to arrange for gas checks, routine inspections, etc. I have never made it difficult for him in any way, but I have, repeatedly, asked him to give me notice, and there isn't a single email that he has sent that has gone unanswered by me.

I am glad I am not your tenant, Londonone.

Londonone has made a good point, it is current very easy to find a tenant, whilst I don't think the LL has behaved brilliantly you need to be careful not to piss him/her off too much as you may risk your tenancy being renewed at the end of the period. If one of my tenants refused entry or was being awkward I would be unlikely to renew the tenancy (I'm not say you are being at the minute OP, more in response to those suggesting change of locks)

Sorry the refusing access altogether was what someone else had posted. Had you seen the email would you have said yes or no?

Yes well I'm not going to change the locks, much as I would like to. Even if it is legal, it doesn't seem right to deny someone access to their own property.

I never forget, not for a minute, that this flat isn't mine.

AFAIK the landlord only needs to give me one month's notice and could do that at any time. I work full time (I'm on holiday at the moment) and need to be able to decide when I want to move, rather than have it forced upon me. I also want to get my deposit back.