to find it extraordinarily intrusive for a LA to take photos of the interior of my home?

[CotesDeGroan]

Apparently this is a thing. I Googled and it appears to be legal and fairly commonplace

I've been renting my current home for a couple of years now. I keep it clean and tidy enough, but not show home pristine. Previous inspections have been quite cursory, no problems.

This time however, and without warning, the agent explained that they are now taking photos of every room in every rental to accompany the report they send to the LL. I refused to allow them to take any of the bedrooms.

AIBU to find the thought of strangers zooming in on mine and my DCs stuff unnerving? I get this happens all the time on Rightmove but at least then you get to double check you've hidden anything embarrassing before photos are published!

Apologies to anyone who has friends or family working in estate agency, but this is what I have learnt to expect from a letting agent. They have little or no respect for the tenant and their right to quiet enjoyment of the property. Most of them automatically try to photograph before vacation because they don't want to try to let with pictures showing it empty.

Unless there is written consent YANBU to refuse to allow it. The agents either have archived photos from a previous occupancy or they will have to lump it and photograph it empty. Your chattels are not included in the letting after all

I'd feel the same as you OP. Luckily we rent direct from the landlord who doesn't even do six monthly checks. He asks if everything is okay when we pass in the street (he built the entire street and lives at the end), and only bothers to come round if we ask him to deal with a specific issue (which he is very good with. Usually round within an hour of asking).

I'd consider emailing the LA and telling them that taking photographs are extremely intrusive. You are happy for them to photograph and specific issue but NOT general shots of the rooms in future, and maybe see if someone more knowledgable can advise as to whether or not it breaches the quit enjoyment rules? I'd also point out that it isn't written into the tenancy and if they have done previous checks, then it is obviously not necessary.

I've had this with a previous letting agent but I refused. It didn't affect the tenancy. The landlord (via a mutual friend) found this preposterous. Another time we gave notice on a property, the letting agent came over under the pretense of taking measurements but he was actually going to take pictures without consent. He barged into my bedroom, while I was feeding my baby, wafting the camera about. He was told in no uncertain terms that he was being inappropriate. Furthermore, I made it clear that no photos of my belongings were to be taken. The thing is I've seen photos advertising rentals with other people's stuff in and I wasn't comfortable with that happening to us.

In my DP's last flat before we moved in together 2 years ago the private agency inspected every three months and would
take photo's which we're then added to a report which gave him marks out of 10 for upkeep. He kept scoring 9's across the board and asked what he would need to do to get a 10. They said 'oh we never give a 10'.

OH and I have been idly looking at properties on Rightmove, and some clearly state they have tenants in situ and display the most detailed photographs of these tenants' bedrooms and personal possessions.

E.g. one had an otherwise neat room with an unmade bed and some nightwear draped on it, and I said to OH that I bet the tenants weren't even told about the photos happening. It made me feel very uncomfortable.

I'm a LL and yesterday I was emailed a picture of a broken window lock by my LAs following a recent inspection of my house. And that's it.
If they'd photographed the whole house I'd be telling them its completely unnecessay and ask that they refrain from doing so in future.

Tattycat, you sound like a great landlord! If you don't want the LA ripping off charging your tenant for a new agreement, just tell them you want it to revert to a periodic tenancy. No new agreement will be needed and the rights of both parties will remain unchanged.

Working with people in housing need, I've come across some appalling landlords and letting agents. Disrepair is the worst problem, and a couple of landlords have insisted on deducting the cost of new carpets from the deposit, when the damage to the carpets was caused by their failure to fix leaks.

The other thing that seems to happen a lot is landlords letting themselves in when tenants are out, or turning up without appointments.

DP was renting when we were first together, and his landlord let himself one day when DP was at work, to find me standing in the living room in my underwear, drying my hair. (I think the LL was more shocked and embarrassed than me, tbh). We'd long suspected that he came in when we were out (things being moved slightly, etc) but we never dreamed that he'd do it without even ringing the bell.

We thought it would be amusing to make a big sign that said "Fuck off X, you nosy cunt" and leave it on the bed. He'd get the message, but would never be able to let on that he had, iyswim.

I would feel a little bit paranoid about the security aspect of it. Burglars could use these images to scout out your property...! And lets not forget, these photos sometimes stay online for years.

The top boss in our office building threw a big party in the grounds of his manor house last year and the whole office was invited. When we googled his address to navigate there it came up with a Zoopla/Rightmove listing from where he'd tried selling his house about 3 years ago and changed his mind. I couldn't resist clicking on it although it felt like an invasion of privacy. You could still view the listing, property value and everything! Not only that but you could see pictures of every room in his house... I find that a bit creepy, he has literally hundreds of employees and something seems a bit 'off' that any one of them could easily look up his address and see into his house, see his possesions and his kids rooms etc. What if someone was sacked and had a grudge against him, I dont know. It just doens't seem right.

It's not just paranoia though - other countries have a lot different attitudes to privacy compared to us Brits. I know Switzerland and Germany don't even have Google Street View for these sort of reasons!

last year mine was even worse i had two lots of people taking photos of the inside of my house the owners had asked for a valuation probably with a view to selling the house, i was not impressed i keep my house immaculate but to have two people taking different sets of pics one of whom moved my stuff off my kitchen sides and straightened my bed felt like a total intrusion of my privacy and how i keep the house we are paying good rent for so i agree with you it is intrusive and probably not neccesary

OP You could call your local police station and ask for some advice from the Crime Prevention officer.

The police?!

But Pp you had the physical address of your boss that how you found it online. If someone had a grudge against him and knew his address they'd find him regardless of whether his house photos were online or not, all they need is the address.

I recently attended an online security seminar and the guy there showed us how easy it is to find someone online. He showed us someone who had very high security settings on their Facebook, no other info online. Using his name and a few free websites he found the names of all his family, where they worked, where they lived and we could see the google street view of his house all under three minutes. If someone is determined enough they'll find you (easily) even if you yourself have no social media accounts.

Helena that's a great idea, thank you.

Oooh, it's occurred to me that I know a couple of data protection specialists. I'll chat to them, to.

bonfire I'm not thinking of raising a complaint with the police, just wondering what their take is on it.

My daughter's landlord was selling her house and the estate agent came to take the photos - my daughter refused to have the bedrooms photographed or any of the downstairs that could include anything identifying. The estate agent fully complied with her wishes because it is her home and she holds the rights to it.

She had no reason to do this other than trying to delay the sale of the property as long as possible.

Our letting agents have recently changed the way they inspect our property. They now use an iPad woth a checklist and tick the appropriate box e.g. Carpet (lounge) clean, not clean.
They do take photos but only of the things they notice e.g. Letting agent notice some paintwork coming away at the wall due to damp. Just so they have a record and can forward it on to the LL. They don't just take pictures of each room, that's strange. I wouldn't be happy with that either.