To be livid that letting agent made unannounced inspection and took photos of our bedrooms!

[weatherall]

Surely this isn't legal?

They have said the inspection dates wee on the lease but we haven't checked that yet.

The flat was in the normal state you'd expect on a school day where we've all rushed out in the morning eg beds unmade, 2 towels lying over toilet/bath, clutter in surfaces. No damage to any fixtures or fittings. They even took a close up of a hair band on the floor!!

I feel like my privacy has been intruded- this can't be legal, can it?

At the last inspection we gave ten a list of repairs needed but this was ignored.

I'm guessing this is now the landlord trying to force us out (lease up in 4 months)

Exactly what business is it of the lls if there is clutter?!

There are 4 of us here. Afaik there was only her and her dd when she lived here.

We have agreed to another inspection next week " to reassure the ll about the clutter".

I hate private renting do much.

We are going to apply for social housing so hopefully we can move somewhere secure and not a rip off after this (and safe).

Fwiw I think both the ll and la are not v good.

Eg the la lost mail we handed into them for the ll.

Then the ll turned up at the flat a few times in the evenings looking for her mail.

We have then a list of repairs months ago and they have ignored our request.

DP has asthma and can't live another winter in such a damp filled house. The windows don't have vents and the outside vents were blocked when we moved in so we know it's not been well maintained. There are also signs of faulty wiring. Also there is no fire door between the kitchen and bedrooms.

The only business of the LL's it would be regarding clutter would be if there was so much of it and stuff pressed against every wall then there would be an issue of damp as the air can't circulate....however, there would need to be an awful lot of clutter for that!

The LL wouldn't need an excuse to not renew the lease though, once it's finished if they don't want to renew they don't have to.

Private renting can be ok, sounds like you have been very unlucky with a crappy agent and LL. They both sound very unfprofessional. I would never turn up at my property, whilst they live there whilst I still own it, it is their home not mine!

Re her mail -not your problem, she should have changed her address or had her post re-directed.

"so why would you change the locks?"
I'd want to change the locks on any house I'd moved into because I have no idea how many people have keys and I wouldn't feel secure otherwise. It's the first thing I'd want to do actually. I only want people coming in when I'm home so I'd let them in anyway, so no-one actually needs a set apart from me (and anyone I trust to have a set).

I have a rental place that so far has had 3 lots of tradesmen working on, each needing the keys from the LA. Any one of them could've easily made a copy if they were inclined, and I would be fine with my tenant changing the locks provided they reinstated the originals when they move out.

"Tenants will stop complaining about shit landlords, when shit landlords stop being shit. Mine are fucking brilliant."

Fantastic OldLady. Point well made. I'm on my 8th landlord(!) and he is lovely and really prompt at getting things done. The previous 7 were dreadful and 2 resulted in court cases.

Yes there are some gems out there but the majority of MNers experiences seem to be of crap landlords. People need to understand this.

We have agreed to another inspection next week " to reassure the ll about the clutter".

Bollocks to that! If they hadn't let themselves in illegally then they wouldn't know about the clutter.

The worst they can do is kick you out but you want to go anyway.

Same for the tenants though - I have had some great ones and then I have had some really shitty ones, one of them ending in court.

Works both ways, some people are just plain arseholes in all walks of life!

Letting agents are definitely not allowed to enter your property for viewings without giving 24 hours notice, I researched this after being off sick with D&V and sitting on the loo when a letting agent walked into my flat with prospective tenant and got a perfect view of me from the open front door, I'd been in too much of a hurry to close the bathroom door and as it was just me & the cat didn't think it would be a problem.

I moved out soon after!

Erm ... the clutter is none of their bloody business!

Cheeky sod.

I have had really good landlords, but honestly, I don't think I've ever had a letting agent I'd describe as good. They never seem to understand that you might actually mind someone coming into your home unannounced. Someone turned up when I was in the shower and when I rang to complain they told me snootily 'well, I'd expect you to be glad he checked the boiler safety, it needed doing!' Er, right. I'm so glad you carried out your contractual obligations, now it would just be lovely if you'd remember the 'asking permission' bit too.

The la emailed me the pictures asking for mother visit as the "ll is concerned about the clutter".

What an idiot LL you have

There That's why I wont give the LA the spare keys. My mum has the keys for an emergency.

Apart from anything, if you discovered something was missing, i.e. stolen or broken, and they'd been in there without your knowledge, the letting agent would be on dodgy ground. They have no reason to go in without notifying you first, properly as per the terms of the tenancy agreement.

My LA are absolutely useless, they take ages just to contact the landlord about anything.

Also in my TA, it says quarterly inspections, once a year they come round.

YANBU. Clutter doesn't come into it. Its not part of the sodding property FFS.

I hate LLs, we have rented many properties and every fucking LL has been a shithead.

After being evicted by a charming LL, because I was then pregnant and asked (yet again) for them to fix the heating as our baby was due in the winter, we rented from the worse LL yet. Purposely went through an agency this time as we didn't want to deal with LL directly anymore. Few weeks in the LL wrote asking if we would mind him leaving the LA and dealing with him. We said we would prefer not to so he said he would go to a different one because he was having trouble with the LA. Turns out that he was a nightmare, the LA hated him and he ended up asking to go back with them and they refused and told us as much. There were many problems with the flat. We got the council around to inspect it and they picked up on things that we didn't even know about. He then came around and said he wouldn't fix anything because the grass was a bit long!

It was February and we had a newborn. Slightly long grass was not our concern but DH went and did it anyway. Did the LL get anything fixed? Did he fuck. We left after 5 months and I think it contributed massively to my PND. He phoned up one Saturday night to shout at me as to why I was causing problems for him (asking him to have working heating, complaining that a very large kitchen unit came crashing off the plasterboard wall at 3am, directly down where DS would have been in his pram had I taken him for a walk and he had fallen asleep, I was utterly hysterical, telling him that the waste shower pipe was just going out onto the roof of his shop where the kitchen was, asking for a living room door). He then accused my DH of going in his shop and cutting the radio wires because I complained that the radio was loud in the shop, ALL day, EVERY day I could here that damn radio when I was utterly sleep deprived. He even said he was going to the police as he had CCTV (DH didn't do it btw).

Tell them to go fuck themselves, well maybe not in so many words but get the legal wording of tenants rights and quote it to them. It is disgusting that they have done this. I would have felt exactly as you do.

Contact Shelter's helpline OP and get some advice from one of their legal advisers.

"The LA emailed me the pictures asking for another visit as the "ll is concerned about the clutter""

Why have you agreed to another visit? You are not obliged to reassure the landlord of anything. In your place I would WRITE to the LA, sending a copy direct to the landlord, and tell them that you are not giving them permission to carry out another inspection so soon after the last one.

There are a number of issues here. The first one is that the landlord needs to carry out periodic inspections in order to fulfill their STATUTORY repairing obligations. But this conflicts with the tenant's right to "quiet enjoyment". As there are issues with damp etcetera which the OP has made the LL aware of, it's only fair that they inspect. But the LA/LL needs to have the tenant's consent. If the tenant doesn't want inspections carried out without them being present, then they need to inform the LA/LL this IN WRITING.

The purpose of the inspection is to check that there are no repairing issues which the tenant may not have brought to the LA/LL's attention. They are not carried out so they can critique the quality of the tenant's housekeeping!

The tenant is required to hand the property back at the end of their tenancy in precisely the same condition as it was at the start, less wear and tear if they don't want to suffer deductions from their deposit. In the meantime they could keep coal in the bloody bath if thy want to.

OP, in your position I would not allow any future inspection unless I was present but you need to put this in writing. You can unauthorised access by changing the barrel of the lock. Keep the current one somewhere safe so you can swap it back when you leave.

If you really wanted to be vengeful you could not allow any viewings once you've given notice, and ensure that the landlord suffers a void at the end of your tenancy.

Why on earth have you agreed to another visit?

You know what they did was wrong, you know you are going to leave.

You have had excellent advice on here.

Cancel the visit.

The clutter is irrelevant unless it poses a risk to the fabric of the house, like another poster said above. The request to reinspect is arguably interference in your quiet enjoyment.

I'd say no and contact the landlady direct to invite her round: I wouldn't be surprised if the agent is winding her up to justify their fees. (are they charging her per inspection...?) She'll see you're a perfectly reasonable tenant and get the agency off your backs.

Private renting is awful. It's your home ffs - you have a right not to have people letting themselves in without your knowledge or permission, and it's extra ridiculous that they think a hairband on the floor warrants photographic evidence and huffy emails.

I'd put most of the blame on the agents rather than the landlord, though. They're the ones that are supposed to know the law, and if all the landlord's got to go on is "the place is so cluttered we are very concerned and emailing you about it" she's maybe imagining hoarding levels of stuff?

And if you ever want to swap renting horror stories, I have some good ones. Like the sweet cosy middle-aged landlord couple who ended up calling my mother to complain about me leaving used condoms under the bed (which there weren't! But they'd seen a couple of used tissues and "didn't want to look too closely"), bollocked me and flatmates for having the wrong colour bed linen, and ended up standing on the doorstep screaming and threatening me until I called the police. We found out later that they'd regularly been letting themselves in to use the shower when everybody was out.

We found out later that they'd regularly been letting themselves in to use the shower when everybody was out.

no-one can come in without your permission except in an emergency - same as if you owned the place.

tell the landlord that the agents are breaking the law.

as the place is evidently a dump, which for some reason you have kept renting, give notice and leave.

I am also very bored with the endless vicious abuse of landlords.

btw the 'majority of MNeters experience of crap landlords' seems to be when people rent dumps with no clue of their rights, and then magically expect things to get better.

yes, of course it is wrong. So stop giving business to slumlords!

"I am also very bored with the endless vicious abuse of landlords."

That's great. Lucky you who hasn't had the unfortunate experience of dealing with shit LL after shit LL. Its hardly our fault that we had to keep moving or getting evicted because of LL problems.

Not sure why you have agreed to "to reassure the ll about the clutter." By doing that you have appear to agree that you are in the wrong rather than them. You need to make it clear to them that you know they had no right to enter the property without asking you first.