I've been renting my present flat for almost a year now and been loving it. The only blemish in this experience has been some complaints by the downstairs neighbours about a leak into their flat from my bathroom.
They have claimed that the leak has damaged the walls and roof of their bedroom. I've seen the pictures they've shown me and from what I could see they were very minor stains. Nonetheless, as soon as they complained to me I got in touch with my landlord and requested him to send someone overt to address the issue. I also gave the neighbours his contact details in case they needed to speak to him directly. I did everything I could to help.
The landlord sent someone over to seal around my bathtub and he said this should fix the issue. Apparently it didn't fix the problem for my neighbours. Instead of coming back to say that issue wasn't fixed, the neighbours went straight to the environmental health council and filed a complaint. I was given no warning about this.
Just as I was leaving for work one morning, a person from the council knocked at my door and demanded to be let in. I asked what this was for and explained that I was on my way to a meeting that I couldn't afford to be late for. I had been given no prior notice about this visit and no efforts had been made to arrange a mutually convenient time. I was told I didn't have a choice but to let him in and allow him to inspect the property. I was subsequently 45 minutes late to work that day. I missed the meeting and had to face an extremely unhappy boss. Should clarify that I live alone and don't have anyone living in the flats adjacent to mine so couldn't have asked a flat mate or neighbour to let the council representative in and stay through the visit.
A legal notice was served on my landlord to conduct the repairs necessary within 21 days. So he sent a plumber over who replaced the plumbing in the bathroom. Again, as I live alone with no family in the city and all my friends working full time, I had to take time off work to supervise the repairs. The repairs also meant I couldn't take a shower for 3 days.
After these repairs there were no more complaints for a while so we assumed that the issue was fixed.
However, a letter was delivered few days back stating that the council wanted to come back and check if everything was actually fixed. I immediately contacted the person on the letter to arrange a mutually convenient time. I explained that I live alone, work from 9 to about 6:30 or 7 ( yes, I know these are long hours ) and don't have family in the city to let them in in my absence. So I said that they could come on a weekday before 9 (with notice so that I could make sure I wasn't late to work) or on any weekend that I was in town. I was happy for them to come after 6 as well, but I realise they don't work those hours.
The gentleman I spoke to was very rude to me and not understanding at all. I'm new to this city and I can't help my work hours or the fact that I don't know anybody else who could let them in.
My landlord lives in a different city and not particularly helpful so he isn't going to be coming to town just to let them in.
Anyway, the next day I got a call from the council to say that they weren't going to come for an inspection. Instead they issued a new warning over the phone. They said that the neighbours had now advised that the issue still wasn't fixed so he wouldn't come over to confirm repairs. And this is when things got so horrible that I was literally in tears. He said he didn't care about my problems and threatened to force entry into the flat and send his repairmen over to conduct repairs. This made me especially stressed because I'm going to be away for Christmas holidays and I don't want strangers in my house while I'm gone. I also don't want to be in a situation where I have to take time off work to have this resolved. I completely understand my neighbours have a problem and I want to fix it too, but I am feeling stressed and anxious as a result of this constant chasing and these threats. I get calls during work hours and they last for half an hour because it's hard to communicate with the people who are assigned this case. It's interfering with my ability to concentrate at work. And when they call, They don't let me speak or explain at all, they keep talking over me.
As things stand, I'm stressed and extremely panicked. I don't have much legal knowledge so would appreciate any advice that I can get.
Can they actually force entry and send strangers into my flat without my consent to conduct repairs? What would my recourse be? And am I entitled to notice before they do this?
I'm also very concerned about the repairs taking long. It's obviously terrible to not be able to take a shower or use the bathroom for a prolonged period of time. The three days I couldn't shower or use my bathroom last time were miserable. It appears that this time the repairs will take even longer and this is really not good news because it means I won't have a functional bathroom for possibly a week or more.
I'm also not in a position to cancel my holiday plans but I'm very hesitant to leave my flat alone and go away for fear of what might happen in my absence.
Any advice or guidance on what I can do is appreciated.