To refuse the landlord to do viewings?

[charlieandthechocolatecake]

I am moving home soon. The majority of my belongings has been moved into storage until I take up my tenancy next month. I surrendered my tenancy during a 6 month AST. It was only after this that I found out I never had to sign a new 6 month tenancy. Now i have to pay my private LL 'fees' not listed in my contract. Anyway, I moved the majority of my belongings about a week ago. Landlord asked if she could do a viewing the same evening I moved. I allowed her but let her know I wouldn't be able to clean/repair any damage yet. Landlord emailed me the same night saying I needed to redecorated the flat. I came home to find the rest of my things moved to a corner. I didn't allow this. I still live there! In my opinion it doesn't need redecorating, I just need to clean and fix damage (screw holes etc). I didn't give her permission to do an inspection! I am spending the time between moving to my new house caring for my terminally ill aunt who will pass very VERY soon. Landlord has emailed me several times telling me she wants access to the flat for this that and the other. I have a month left on my tenancy and I would prefer it if she didn't access it freely until the last 2 weeks when the rest of my belongings have been removed and I can clean and repair any damage. Is this acceptable? I was open to her doing viewings without me present until she sent me an inflammatory email after the first day I moved my things. I'm not comfortable with anybody going back until I am ready. I feel like my landlord may think I'm being unreasonable but I've been a good tenant and now she feels she can come and go as she pleases. Please help!

Slottedspoon the advice about landlord right of entrance is only ever given in cases where the landlord is being unreasonable or breaking the law.
In general, of course it makes sense to allow inspections. Contrary to the impression I may give on private renting threads I'm an amazing tenant and I understand the relationship works both ways. If my landlord was a shit (like some I have had) and I wasn't invested in staying I would be sticking to the law like glue.

I'm a landlady. Yours is taking the piss OP. You don't have to grant her access, she can't insist you redecorate (unless damage way beyond regular wear and tear), and what are these charges you suddenly have to pay? Please get onto shelter for advice on your rights - she sounds like a bully.

Fleur is talking nonsense.

No, YANBU. Continue to refuse.

Amazed how wrong somd people are here. Glad fleur was never my landlord. You can refuse viewings as you allowed quiet enjoyment. Whatever is written in the contact doesnt matter in this as a tenant uou allowed quiet enjoyment but ea and ll like you not to know this. Landlords have to give 24 hours notice. However its nice to be nice so we allowed viewings on set days and times in the final month with 24 hours notice if ll had been reasonable during our time. In fact our last ll before we left the rent trap was amazing so i bend over backwards to get viewings in, cleaning flat etc. In the end he said just enjoy your last few weeks and ill do a block viewing day you move out. Flat rented day we left as we knew it would as we left it like a show home. Only one out of 12 was unreasonable which shows you ll arent as bad as you think. Op talk to cab but ll should not ask you to redecorate. You need check out when you leave to get your deposit back. We have a 100% record of all our deposit back on all our properties and we certainly refused access to viewings even through written in our contract.

I too am staggered at the amount of ll who have no clue about what they are doing. Tenants rights outweigh what you have in your lease. If your lease (as Fleur states) has different clauses then all it is is toilet roll. The law will come back on the tenants side.

As a landlady I have had tenants in a similar situation to you (ie. crossover of 2 tenancies). BY AGREEMENT the tenant let me in to decorate during her final month of tenancy (at my cost as it was just wear and tear) but as it had been done and a new tenant could get in earlier than the end of her tenancy (again BY AGREEMENT) I was able to give the tenant a 2 weeks rent rebate. we were both happy bunnies. I had no void and she had a rent rebate.

I have always been what I consider to be a good landlord. replace or repair anything that the tenant notifies me of asap and by the same token the tenants have always been willing to allow me showings etc when they have given notice. I believe you reap what you sow.

One thing she may want decorating for is if you have used blue tack because it leaves behind a greasy mess and also if the holes are such that when they are filled they are still very obvious then it may need a quick paint job that it otherwise might not have.

If you believe she is pulling a fast one re decorating ask her to meet you at the property and discuss because it is harder for her to argue if you can ask her to point out the problems to you rather than reel them off in a list after you have gone.

If they're being unreasonable, just make good, and go to the TDS (or whoever you're with) - I've done this both as a landlord, and a tenant and they've been very fair in each case.

One lesson I learned is that if you make an offer the TDS will probably fall back to that (I had cleaned the property well, including shampooing carpets, but they felt more could have been done and wanted a £250 clean - I offered to pay £100 as a full clean wasn't needed which they refused and we went to TDS who decided my offer was fair)

The notion that the LL must give 24 hours access BUT is over ridden by "quiet enjoyment" is an odd one. This is copied from HM Governments website as a typical model contract so one would assume HM gov have got it right.

Here it is in case anyone is interested.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/model-agreement-for-a-shorthold-assured-tenancy

*

6 ACCESS TO THE PROPERTY BY LANDLORD OR AGENT

Routine access

6.1Provided the Landlord has given the Tenant at least 24 hours’ prior notice in writing, the Tenant must give the Landlord (or any person acting on behalf of the Landlord) access to the Property at reasonable times of day for the following purposes:

(a)to inspect its condition and state of repair;
(b)to carry out the Landlord’s repairing obligations and other obligations under this agreement; and
(c)to carry out any inspections required by law including (but not limited to) gas safety inspections, fire safety inspections and inspections of any smoke or carbon monoxide alarms installed in the Property and to carry out any works, repairs, maintenance or installations (including the installation of any smoke or carbon monoxide alarm) required by law.

Access for the purposes of selling or re-letting the property
6.2Provided the Landlord has given the Tenant at least 24 hours’ prior notice in writing, the Tenant must give the Landlord (or any person acting on behalf of the Landlord) access to the Property at reasonable times of day in the following circumstances for the purposes specified:

(a)where the Tenant has given notice under clause F2 (Tenant’s rolling 3 month break clause), to show prospective tenants or purchasers, letting agents or estate agents around the Property, but only during the last 3 months of the Tenancy;
(b)where the Landlord has served a notice on the Tenant under clause F3 stating his intention to sell the property, to show estate agents or prospective purchasers around the Property; and
(c)during the last month of the Tenancy, for any of the purposes mentioned in paragraph (a) above.

Appalling attitude some landlords have
We own all the homes and we can have you out on your ear you peasants

The notion that the LL must give 24 hours access BUT is over ridden by "quiet enjoyment" is an odd one. This is copied from HM Governments website as a typical model contract so one would assume HM gov have got it right.

In practice, it tends to mean something like,
"We need to do the gas safety check, Wednesday at 11am would be good."
"I'm on night shifts at the moment - can we do the week after?" Or variations on the theme, so you're not refusing access, but equally, the landlord isn't coming round until it suits you.

Obviously if you refused for a whole month or something, that would probably be unreasonable, particularly over things like legal requirements as the gas check would be, but most landlords and tenants are capable of negotiation to find a time which suits all involved. (Most. Not all )

Gas safety is really the only thing where its a bit and dried court order for access. The only way to enforce entry to a tenanted property legally is by court order. And we all know that will take months. The landlord doesn't hold much power

You landlords on this thread are coming across absolutely charmingly. Good work.

here being the exception to my obvious sarcasm above.

Justaboy the tenancy agreement is useful to document agreement between landlord and tenant, and set out both parties' expectations of the other. However - the clause you have highlighted isn't legally binding, because tenancy law states that quiet enjoyment is paramount and this has been tested by case law.
A rented property is the tenant's home and nobody can be compelled by law to let anyone into their home unless a) they have a warrant or b) it's a life or limb emergency.

Blah di blah....

If both sides reasonable, access negotiated for fixes/gas safe at mutally convenient times. Note that viewings are not listed as a reason on gov.uk

But tenant can refuse all access, and only legal remedy is court.

Op might want to read the how to rent booklet. And not decorate.

Unsuccessful wtf are you talking about. I'm a landlady. I've not given shitty advice. Your message really is ridiculous.

This is really interesting. Just had a look at my short hold tenancy agreement (have lived here for five years) and it says : "To allow the Landlord or his contractors to enter the premises for the purpose of carrying out maintenance, upon being given 24 hours notice (unless in the case of an emergency"

and:

"Within the last two months of the tenancy, to allow the Landlord or his agent access to the property for the purposes of showing to potential tenants. Such viewings can only take place upon the tenant being given reasonable notice".

What would be reasonable notice? Fortunately it says nothing about routine inspections (my LL is pretty slack anyway - took over a month to fix the shower; that was pretty grim)!

IShould. Reasonable notice for viewings is 24 hours notice at least at a time, you find convenient unless you're happy for them to visit in your absense. You are allowed legally to refuse as many have pointed out.

Over a month to fix a shower. That's rubbish! Did you have a bath? I'd have been disgusted and seeking advice.

Fortunately I had a very generous neighbour! He's useless when it comes to repairs, but then he's very laissez-faire in other regards. A couple of times, I was a few days late with the rent so it's swings and roundabouts. I'd like to find somewhere with a garden though, but am worried about the carpets in my place. Have been here for five years with small DS, and while they're not filthy, they don't look great, either. Would it be on me to have them cleaned? I'm fine with that, and if I did move, I obviously want to leave it in a clean, acceptable state but just wondered as a landlady, what you would expect? I'm repainting this month anyway., but am paricularly worried about the floors. I have a deposit bond, which further complicates things.

PoldarksBreeches So that one issue has been tested in the courts then and its just that issue of access at 24 hours notice?.

Where in written law does it say that a tenant has the right to enjoy the premises? OK that's in most all agreements but this seems very contradictory and if that's the case why bother to have an agreement if it can't be used?.

www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2011/06/14/the-six-most-important-elements-of-a-tenancy-or-lease/?doing_wp_cron=1475615407.1639020442962646484375

This is a very good blog aimed at landlords. The purpose of an agreement is to set out the expectations of both parties and to keep a written record of that agreement. Written contracts aren't legally binding or enforceable if the clauses in the agreement contradict the law. You could sign an agreement stating that you allow me to kill you but that doesn't mean I don't go to prison if I do.

Why do you think that the police need warrants to enter your home? Because your home is your own space regardless of whether you rent it from a local authority, a landlord or the bank.
A landlord can take a tenant to court to evict for not allowing inspections but courts absolutely do not automatically grant eviction notices to landlords just because the tenant has breached a clause in the tenancy agreement.

Here we are don't we really lurve reading this legal stuff;)

Must powder me wing and dust down my gown its a real turn on;(

www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1985/4.html

Dear landlords - you can put what you want in a lease, it doesn't make it legally binding...

That's a judgement from 1985 about tenancy agreement made in 1983
I can't be arsed to read it (legal judgements are too difficult for my little brain) but I can tell you wherever it says is likely to be very out of date.

I'll clarify because this is MN and I know someone will pull me up - the tenancy contract itself is a legally binding document BUT if a landlord puts something in there that conflicts with the law then it doesn't override the law.

This was what Shelter told me whilst I was dealing with a scummy agency - they had put a load of caveats in my contract which went against my rights. They thought adding them to a legally binding contract meant they could enforce these caveats - but actually it meant that they had invalidated the whole contract and none of it was binding at all.

So, you can put what you want in there, but you're relying on your tenants not knowing their rights and following the contract on blind faith. If you've put something in there which causes issues at a later date and the tenant has to sort it out themselves, you may end up finding out that you have accidentally got yourself in a whole heap of extra mess.