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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

someone is in my kitchen downstairs

78 replies

Pendu · 19/08/2016 08:22

I probably am BU but anyway...

My boiler went wrong (again) and I emailed my letting agent (we don't deal with the landlord directly). He said someone would contact me to fix it.

It's always going wrong and sometimes I come home and I can see someone has come into the house when I've been out. I never get a message or a call. So I emailed my agent said I do not want anyone in the house without permission - it doesn't make me feel comfortable, I have no chance to have a little tidy up , I don't get to even point out the problem and DH sometimes works nights and doesn't want to be woken up with these surprise visits. (They are usually unexpected like a week after we report a problem)

Anyway 8am and I hear banging - I ignore it. I had no sleep due to one dc being sick and I have bad spd.

I have a peek and it's the damn damn plumber.(he's rude aswell but that's another story).

He kept banging, I kept ignoring because I had no call no message.

Now he's let himself in.

What shall I do? I'm reeling

OP posts:

Pestilence13610 · 19/08/2016 08:46

While chatting with him, tell him what is wrong with the boiler. If it gets properly fixed he won't have to come back.

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 19/08/2016 08:46

you can get lockable chains, so they act like a normal chain when you are in, AND you can snick them on as you go out, and unlock them on your return.

on Amazon here

QuimReaper · 19/08/2016 08:46

I lived in a tiny flat whilst I was at university with a landlord who was always doing this, and I was always asleep when he did it. He would knock a few times and then let himself in, always with a crowd from the council or an engineer to check the gas or something

It put me so on-edge. All I wanted was a tiny bit of warning so I didn't have to jump out of bed and run around trying to get dressed before strangers appeared in the room.

I've always been annoyed that I didn't know he wasn't allowed to do it, and complained to him.

MetalMidget · 19/08/2016 08:47

I remember when we rented. The letting agency would do this sort of shit quite often. Once we needed the bathroom ceiling repainted, and the guy didn't turn up on the day he was supposed to. They said he'd be around later the following week. He actually turned up at the weekend whilst we were out and did the work, leaving a note saying not to use the shower for 24 hours.

Unfortunately, we discovered this on our return, after hours of mountain biking. In torrential rain and mud. With friends that were staying for the weekend...

user1471427496 · 19/08/2016 08:48

So you're hiding upstairs whilst this man is in your kitchen and he thinks you are not in?

Go downstairs and tell him to get bloody out.

Think I'd be looking to move.

PageStillNotFound404 · 19/08/2016 08:49

If it's definitely not an emergency then yes, they're breaking the law. Since they're already there and you need the boiler fixing, I'd let them finish up then I'd write to the letting agent in calm but strong terms, quoting the right to quiet enjoyment and the legal requirement for 24 hours notice in all except an undisputed emergency.

If your lease is silent on the matter of changing the locks then you can do so. Even if there is a clause in the lease preventing you, it would depend if the clause is fair. There are two issues - the lock itself (eg if you were changing a decent lock for a flimsier one that would leave the property insecure) and access. Since your LL/LA should be giving you the requisite notice, access if the locks are changed would only be an issue in an emergency as mentioned or if you were trying to deny access unreasonably, eg not allowing the LL's tradesman to enter to carry out the gas safety certificate check despite prior notice.

Original poster

Pendu · 19/08/2016 08:50

He knows he shouldn't - I already complained about him before. He doesn't care , he's so arrogant. He even told my mum he won't tell her what's wrong with the boiler once because she was speaking (like "if your not going to let me speak in not going to tell you what's wrong with it" then mum said "sorry, go on" and he refused. She didn't butt in, just was just moaning about the landlord not maintaining the whole estate (overflowing sewers) . I wish I kicked him out there and then for being so rude.

I'm not going down, I can't face dealing with him. I just want him out.

I hate dealing with people at the best of times, never mind when I have to confront them but equally I know he will confront me as to why I ignored his knocks, or am still in bed at 8am

OP posts:

BishopBrennansArse · 19/08/2016 08:52

You can change the lock as long as you keep the original and reinstate it at the end of the tenancy. You must also not cause damage to the doors fitting it.

cdtaylornats · 19/08/2016 09:04

A broken boiler could be an emergency. Depending on what you told the agent. It could be producing carbon monoxide, leaking gas or not providing hot water.

They should have let you know, but I would complain later, once you've got the boiler fixed. The people on here saying "throw him out" or "call the poilice" are just being thrawn (Scottish for cutting your nose off to spite your face).

Trifleorbust · 19/08/2016 09:08

Oh my goodness, OP. Some tough love here: this is your house. He has no right to be there. Tell him to get out. Call the agent and tell them it is completely unacceptable that this man has let himself into your home again, and the next time this happens it will be a police complaint. Tell them to arrange a time like any normal agent and you will have no problem with it.

OnionKnight · 19/08/2016 09:12

Stop hiding and tell him to get out.

AbyssinianBanana · 19/08/2016 09:14

There is no law that allows a landlord to enter the property, even with notice.

What is written in your tenancy agreement is a contract. The landlord or letting agent cannot call the police because you refuse them entry. You, however, can. They break in repeatedly and they are a business. As is the plumber. I'd absolutely call the police - you are being harassed and intimidated in your own home repeatedly.

Trifleorbust · 19/08/2016 09:19

"I don't know what my landlord has said but you don't have my permission to be in the house. Please leave."

Just say it!

KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 19/08/2016 09:20

This thread is making me cross.

I used to rent. It was a fucking nightmare. Stunts like this. Repairs not being done. Letting agents being rude. Landlords being fuckwits. I used to feel so insecure. It's like you're a guest or they're doing you a favour.

The whole system needs to be looked at. Proper regulations put in place.

And yes, maybe calling 999 like my previous suggestion was a bit OTT but there is a strange man in the OP's house while she sleeps upstairs.

I'm sure the plumber is a nice man but what if he wasn't?

And does the OP's contents insurance cover randoms coming into her home? What if the nice plumber who doesn't knock before entering people's homes takes her laptop with him?

OP those chains linked above look really good.

burtburt · 19/08/2016 09:21

Yeah change the lock - just need to change the barrel. You're totally within your rights to do this as long as you put the old lock back in when up you leave.

PageStillNotFound404 · 19/08/2016 09:23

Trifle and everyone else who has posted along the same lines: if the builder has been told to treat this as an emergency - which we don't know, as the OP a prefers not to engage with him this time (understandably) then he does have a right to be there. That's the law.

I'm not seeing the tough love. No one thinks this is acceptable under normal circumstances, and everyone has told the OP to complain. There are exceptions re access though and as a boiler is involved, this could be one of them.

Being given the facts and the law is more helpful to the OP as to how she deals with this from now on than a load of hysterical "call 999!"s and "tell him to get out!"s. Why leave herself without water and at risk of possible carbon monoxide poisoning even longer just to make a point when she'd be picking her battle with the wrong person? The builder might be an arse but he's just following instructions - she needs to take this up with the LA, and she may as well do that in a warm safe house after the builder has finished.

Enkopkaffetak · 19/08/2016 09:23

"I don't know what my landlord has said but you don't have my permission to be in the house. Please leave."

This absolutely.

If he refuses then frankly I would call the police right in front of him.

bakeoffcake · 19/08/2016 09:24

I'd also buy a bolt as well as a chain.

Bolt yourself in and no one can open the door from the outside. A chain isn't as secure.

Trifleorbust · 19/08/2016 09:26

Page: The landlord hasn't told her anyone is coming round or contacted her about this so-called 'emergency'. Instead, the landlord told her someone would be in contact, so it is clearly not an emergency at all. She is entirely within her rights to tell him to get out of her house. If the landlord wants to take issue with that, let him. You are being very unreasonable.

Dadstheworld · 19/08/2016 09:28

You need to tell your Landord that this entering is in contradiction of your right to Quiet Enjoyment of the property.

Trifleorbust · 19/08/2016 09:28

And Page, I think you are massively minimising the anxiety that knowing that anyone might let themselves into your home at any time can cause. Yes, she might well be more practical to let him get on with it, but she has a right to feel secure in her own home and to know that her landlord isn't abusing his rights as the property owner. Clearly at the moment he is, and the tenant is entitled to take steps to sort this out.

PageStillNotFound404 · 19/08/2016 09:30

I'm being unreasonable for telling her to complain to the LA, giving her specific phrases to use in her complaint and advising her she's within her rights to change the locks?

Okay then

Brankolium · 19/08/2016 09:32

Actually calling the police is perhaps OTT but you could stand behind the door and shout "I don't know who you are in there but I'm calling the police right now".

That'll scare the crap out of him at least . And make him less willing to just enter properties on the landlord's say-so in future. You could even give him your number for future work?

It sucks OP. You are being taken advantage of. Is there any kind of renting ombudsman you can report the LL to?

Trifleorbust · 19/08/2016 09:33

Well, yes, I think so. She is hiding upstairs from a rude man who has repeatedly entered her property without her permission, who she clearly is afraid to confront, and you are trying to discourage her from asserting her boundaries in a calm and legal manner.

Anyway, I'm not going to argue about it. I just hope the OP is able to gather the courage to go downstairs and tell him to get lost, then complain afterwards.

cantshakeitoff · 19/08/2016 09:34

Don't kick him out, then you won't get your boiler fixed and he'd have to come back another day.

Do complain to the letting agent and do change the locks!

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