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!

Having once worked in the letting industry I can say with some confidence that for every bad landlord there is an equally bad tenant. We tried our best to avoid both as it is simply not worth the hassle.

Pan, whilst that may be true, the balance of power is definitely in the hands of the LL - and this is especially unfair when DC are involved in my opinion. I've rented in 4 countries. The only one in which I've been harassed, bullied, made to feel unsafe and made to feel like a second class citizen is the UK. I suspect if renting laws were better in this country then tenants would behave better too - the overriding feeling among many I know who rent is 'why bother' when you feel you have no power and won't be treated well anyway. Maybe the tenants behaved badly after bad experiences with previous LLs?

I don't reckon my landlord has financial problems. I think all this is purely because she wants tenants in the next day if possible. This is why she wants me to completely redecorate. I won't be doing any redecorating. What I will do is clean and repair damage. On her inspection she said I had damaged the banister. What she means is that some of the gloss has worn away to reveal the wood underneath. This isn't damage in my books. I'm still trying shelter but nobody is available yet. The thing is if she didn't behave like this I would have allowed her to let herself in to do viewings and she would have a tenant by now. But she completely betrayed my trust by doing an inspection and moving my things around. Thank you for all your advice. I feel a lot calmer now.

Grabbiness, then. Trying to charge you for general wear and tear is just mean too.

Is there a website where people can post reviews of landlords?
Something along the lines of TripAdvisor?

Harassed?
Bullied?
Made to feel unsafe?
Treated like second class citizen?

Did you rent via an agent or privately through say an ad in the paper?

At our agency we refused to take on landlords as clients if they failed to meet a raft of legal and other criteria. The only time we applied for access was for gas safety certifications, any maintenance/repairs that were needed and maybe viewings during the last month of the tenancy. We always politely asked with plenty of notice and most tenants were flexible in providing access. There were a minority of tenants who flat out refused any access 'on principle' despite their contract stipulating they needed to provide this on occasion. We were often cited the 'right to peaceful living' despite the fact we wanted to send an engineer to check the boiler and renew the legally required gas safety certificate, you know, a good thing. Got to the point when all our repeated requests were ignored till she came storming into our office one afternoon claiming we were harassing her.

Believe it or not most agents and landlords want to keep things hassle free, they don't just decide one day to bully or harass their tenants, why would they? As with everything there is two sides for every story and in my experience most tenants moaning about ill treatment are usually omitting their part in what led to the confrontation.

Shining, as far as I know there is not. I would LOVE to give my honest feedback about all my past LL and agents (both good and bad). I would love to help other families avoid the bullies and cheats and similarly help them find good, decent landlords who'll treat them and their DC like actual human beings.

I've been serously bullied in Belgium Ineed.

I don't understand why she wants tenants in the next day. If you have paid her insurance, she can claim on that can't she?

If she wanted tenants to move in the next day, she should not have agreed to release you earlier from the contract. She would have been within her rights to make you pay until the day before the new tenants move in or refused to let you go early.

I think the way she probably sees it is that she's doing you a favour for letting you go early. Which she actually is according to the law. And if she just wanted to do viewings, it seems like you would have had no issue.

When are you due to move out?

PS

Maybe the tenants behaved badly after bad experiences with previous LLs?

So with that logic should I treat all waiters like shit when I eat out because I had a bad experience in a different restaurant? Seems very childish to me.

What led to this confrontation pan is my landlord doing an inspection and moving my property around when I allowed her in without me present to do a viewing. For this reason I am not happy for her to have access without me present and I won't be available until the last 2 weeks of October. Is that an unreasonable request? Does that make me a bad tenant? Worth threatening?

Pan, some of the worst treatment I've had is through the agents. I think it makes families with DC in local schools feel pretty threatened and unsafe when it is 'standard practice' to issue a s21 eviction notice at the end of of every 6 months / 1 year tenancy and this eviction notice is used as a threat to negotiate better terms for the LL (higher rent usually) knowing that the tenants will not want to uproot their family. This is 'standard practice' according to several letting agents in the part of the country I live in (SE England). Doesn't happen in other countries I've rented in. Having said that - your agency sounds pretty good. I've had letting agents doing an "inspection" take pictures of photos of my DC, as well as of all my valuables. Why on earth is that necessary? Have rented through many, many agents and sadly this has happened time and again, but only in the UK.

Pan, but if you'd had lots and lots of really bad experiences with waiters, maybe you'd decide not to eat at restaurants any more - but of course renters don't have that choice do they? It's rent or don't have shelter. I'm not saying there aren't bad tenants - I'm sure there are - just that a LL has all the power. After all, with bad tenants it might be a hassle to get the tenants out and maybe they'll have to redecorate, but they still go home somewhere warm and safe - it's hardly on a par to having the roof over your head (and that of your DC) taken away is it?

Bloody hell Ineed. My agents chase me to renew just over 3.5 months into a 6 month initial term. (I only ever do 6 months now at first). Then I get tenants to renew for 12 months unless they request otherwise - for me, it gives the tenants the security that I'm a serious landlady. I then let them go on periodic (month to month) if they are happy to do it. This gives tenants the flexibility to leave and only give me a months notice. I don't usually ask for a rent rise during the first 2 years because it's in my interest to keep the tenants. I want them to be happy, not harassed. I'm not a big time owner or anything. My properties are in the south east. One tenant is paying £125 below current market rate.

Wow Mummy - wish you'd been our LL! We live in an area with very high demand and I guess that's why these practices exist - but I really don't think it should be legal to do this. The stress the eviction notices put on our family and our DC was what convinced us to put all our savings into buying and we just managed it (even though DH is convinced there will eventually be a crash). In our last tenancy our agent sent us the s21 eviction notice first, then contacted us about renewal and put in writing that we were 'model tenants' and stressed the LL 'wanted us to stay' (funny way of showing it) but that the s21 was just 'standard practice' and how they wouldn't let us go onto a rolling contract (which we asked for) as 'market conditions may change' and the LL wanted the option to 'put the rent up substantially' should that be the case. This was through a letting agent that claims to have won awards!

it's hardly on a par to having the roof over your head (and that of your DC) taken away is it?
The landlord has the tenant over a barrel

Ineed. It's probably why I don't have more properties - I'm too nice . But the ll can put up the rent substantially whenever they want if you're on a rolling contract (just to make you aware). Our agents write to the tenants asking if they want to renew. I've seen the sample letters. You poor thing. No one should have to live like that.

Mummy, yep that's the thing I didn't really get about our situation - I thought maybe there's some sort of rule that you can only put up rent by X% every Y years in a rolling contract? We're well out of it now, but I feel really badly for those stuck renting who have no choice - particularly those with DC - absolutely no security and can be turfed out at with 2 months notice at any time with a s21 - no consideration for point in the school year or anything like that.

Does anybody know if the landlord can re-establish the ast by applying through their rent guarantee insurer? This is what I am most worried about. I have already paid the break clause fee. She said she will now make me liable for the rent until she finds new tenants.

Ineed. It is shit. I know I'm not a well liked breed. I have had to serve notice once on people with children. I hated doing it but needed to protect the parents of the renters, who were guarantors. They couldn't afford to pay the rent. The parents promised faithfully to put the family up until they got on their feet. It was awful. A toddler and a baby. And the parents were fully able to buy alcohol. The demographic has changed from when I started as a landlady in 1997. Dh and I chose 2 beds to house young couples/professionals not yet ready to make a purchase and the average stay was 18 months, no kids renting for a short while until buying or relocating. The only other time I served notice was when tenants got dogs, didn't look after them and they trashed the house.

I honestly didn't know there were such unscrupulous letting agents.

If you have it in writing that she is agreeing to release you on X date from the contract, I don't see how she can change her mind. She's accepted monies off you as well for this transition.

Agents we used in another country, turned off the water and electricity to the house, I think spiked my tyres although that may have been the landlord - 4 children in the car - and threw lemons at the window - I could write a book. We also had tenants who didn't pay rent for 6 months leading elderly parents to pick the bill up as guarantors

I have an email that says the fees are calculated using the 3 months after I end my tenancy. The fees do not include paying rent until she finds a new tenant. This is something she has added after the agreement. She also asked via email if I could checkout 1 day after the end of this rental period. I said that I'd like to do it at the end of the month or beforehand as doing it after would make me liable for another months rent. She accepted this and agreed to do the checkout inventory beforehand. Is that proof she accepted I'm no longer liable for the rent? I've been very naive. This is the first property I have rented. I really thought she'd be reasonable. You hear so many horror stories about bad tenants and unpaid rent but that's not me.

And for you landlords out there, I completely understand your need to be ruthless sometimes, you are protecting your own interests after all. But when I hand over my keys my LL will see there was nothing to worry about all along.

My LL's actions right now are just premature in my eyes.

Charlie - I'm not an expert but I seriously doubt that there is ANY kind of insurance that can reimpose a contract (which has been agreed, in writing, would be terminated) on a third party. Her contract through the insurer is with them and has nothing to do with you, as far as I can see. She's confirmed in writing that she's letting you move out on a certain date. Maybe she can get some money off her insurer if she ends up with a void (although probably not if she's agreed to you moving out early). I could be wrong, but I think she's trying to intimidate you. However, it might be worth being reasonable about access for viewings if you feel you can be, as if you are they really have no leg to stand on (and being reasonable does include ensuring you or someone representing you is there since they've already moved your things without your permission - hope you checked there was nothing missing!). Have you got through to Shelter? This is exactly the kind of question that they should be able to answer. I know it's difficult to get through but do hang on in there.

Mummy, you do sound like a lovely LL. I honestly think better laws would be better for both good LL (like yourself) and tenants. In one country where I rented, everything was like a dream - but the tenants as well as the LL both had to adhere to much stricter rules about what was and was not allowed. As a fairly boring individual (!) I found this all brilliant - never had a problem with noisy neighbours as it was pretty clear in the tenancy agreements what was and was not allowed and non-compliance enforced very strictly. However, the LL couldn't just get you out with 2 months notice if you'd done nothing wrong - you had the right to stay there ad infinitum as long as they were renting it out (as far as I could tell from the contract with my rubbish foreign language skills - certainly there were people in my apartment block who'd rented their entire lives). Everything was clear and above board and plenty of notice required on both sides for pretty much anything. Allowed you to plan your life without so much stress and trauma. Ah, how I miss it!