To be annoyed with someone letting themselves in to my house?

[TitsalinaBumsquat]

We have rented our house for the last 3 years and never had an incident like this. Yesterday my landlords workman and plumber came round to complete the gas safety certificate. All was well.

Today we have been out for lunch and got home to find the new certificate sitting on the sideboard in the kitchen. This means that someone has been in the house while we were out. Most likely to be the landlords handyman as landlord has MS and doesn’t really get out.very odd seeing as it’s a piece of paper that could be put through the letterbox.

This has really upset my OH as it is an invasion of our privacy. We don’t have anything to hide and are good tenants, the house is always clean and tidy etc. But it just reminds you that it isn’t your house. OH wants to email the landlord to tell him what’s happened and that we aren’t happy about it. Is that unreasonable?

Any landlords out there - how would you respond to this email? Would you be apologetic or would you feel like it’s your property and you can enter when you like?

Yanbu, your landlord has to give reasonable notice unless its an emergency such as a gas leak.

The landlord is not entitled to a key to your home ( unless specified in the tenancy agreement). Change the locks and do not give the landlord a spare.

@Milliepede I didn’t know that. We know full well that they have a key because if ever anything needs repairing the landlord always says “handyman has a key so it doesn’t matter if you’re out” but I don’t feel comfortable doing this and always make sure I’m in too. Also we have a crazy dog that I wouldn’t want escaping because someone hasn’t shut the door/gate properly.

when we rented i (genuinely) lost the keys one day while shopping and we paid a locksmith to change all the locks the same day as we had young DC and I was terrified someone had taken them from my bag. I did get the landlord a set cut but "forgot" to give them to him. he never needed them in 5 years and I gave him all sets when we moved and explained the lock change.

So we sent the email to say we were not comfortable with someone coming in without us being notified first. Turns out he sent the plumber back to put a new plug mechanism in the bath.

The landlord has just rung and gone mental at my OH down the phone, shouting that he found the email disgusting, he always fixes things when they are broken (we do pay £950 per month for the pleasure though - that kind of comes with the territory when you’re a landlord. Anything that has broken has just been due to it being very old, and general wear and tear), and finished off saying that we should seriously consider our position living in this house. I’m gobsmacked at how rude he is, didn’t even let OH speak just ranted and then hung up. Where do we go from here?!? It has really panicked me as I hate the thought of having a bad relationship with our landlord but we have a right to know that someone was coming into the house! I feel anxious and angry at the same time!

Omg what a overreaction from landlord :(
Not sure what to suggest maybe leave it and let him calm down then send a letter explaining you meant no offence but it was very unsettling having someone in the house you didn’t expect to be coming and that you would like your landlord/tenant arrangements to continue happily etc.

So rude though you could of been asleep or anything when he came in.

I’d move. He has absolutely no right to treat you like that either legally or morally. Absolute bastard landlord.

£950 a month!?!

£950 is cheap. A three bed in my area is £1250.

After that reaction from the LL, I would be changing locks immediately.

It’s just horrible that he can make me now feel unsettled and like we could get notice to leave at any moment :( it’s only 2 bedrooms. We live in the south east too which bumps the price up. He’s a landlord of 11 properties so he can’t be unaware that he shouldn’t let people in without telling us. He’s an odd man though and I already don’t like dealing with him as he’s so rude and abrupt generally.

We are going to look to move I think, ASAP, but having a child, pets and receiving housing benefit limits our options! Also we don’t have a car so need to be in this area for OHs walk to work. Hopefully something suitable will come up soon!

They have to give you at least 24 hours notice before coming into the property!

Change the locks and move OP

Your ll is an idiot. Thinks he’s better than you by the sound of it because he has property. I hate this mentality. I’m a ll btw.

1250 wouldn't even get you 2 bed flat here .

You are allowed to change the locks, provided you put the old one back or hand in all keys when you leave.

Even if you are given 24 hours notice or more, no-one, including your landlord, can enter the property without your consent (emergencies notwithstanding) even if your tenancy agreement says so

LL is an idiot, he must give you reasonable (24 hours at least) notice to enter the property and then only to do repairs or an inspection, is is out of order. He also can't just chuck you out for objecting even if he thinks he can, he should be grateful you are good tenants.

You have to get permission to change the locks.

Interesting that he shouted at your OH on the phone, not in an email. He knows he's in the wrong.

I'm a landlord and I was going to write if you sent such an email to me I'd be very apologetic, but lots of landlords are total dicks. And then I read the rest of the thread.

Landlord is being totally unreasonable and you were well within your rights. If you're worried about your dog escaping I would one hundred percent change the locks tomorrow.

The thing to remember is that it would be a total pain in the arse for the landlord to try and get rid of you. There's a whole process he'd have to go through which would be annoying and expensive. So I really doubt he would go through with it.

But yes it is very upsetting. I would leave it for now (and change locks if dog an issue) and the landlord will very probably realise what a dic he's been.

Renters need many more rights in my view.

@UpstartCrow yes he always phones and is rude wen he does. I used to ring him but started to email instead purely because I don’t like dealing with him. I don’t know whether OH should send another email tomorrow apologising for offending him but just restating that we are simply uncomfortable at not being given notice. We aren’t saying he’s a bad landlord. We aren’t threatening anything, but from what we know of him we wanted to be clear on this so that the doesn’t become a regular occurrence. But then I think maybe we should just leave it at that, but if a bad note though!

I had this experience (abroad but British landlords). It lasted 5 years and was AWFUL because you never know when someone will be coming in. We went on holiday and they insisted on doing non-essential work while we were away. It was absolutely horrible. Definitely leave if you can - you'll never feel totally secure from now on.

He sounds like a dick.

Be careful when moving out because someone like this could well try and scam you out of vengence or because he doesn't know the law - if he did he would not have reacted like this. Now is the time to brush up on your rights:

• you deposit must have been held in a proper scheme
• you are not expected to pay for fair wear and tear while you lived there
• if you have damaged the place you have the right to make it good yourself or expect the landlord has sought a reasonable quote to have it repaired (i.e. not just got his mate to write up a quote). He cannot make out of this so cannot charge you to replace something very old and damaged with something new
• damage must be proved by him, normally this means an inventory you saw and approved when you moved in

@aaarrrggghhhh thank you for your view as a ll. yes I wonder if he chose to ask us to “consider our position” because it’s easier for him if we decide to go. But he would be cutting off his nose to spite his face as we are good tenants and have made lots of improvements to the garden in particular from our own pocket.