Landlord entering property without permission - AIBU to ask for advice?

[WellAlwaysHaveParis]

I live in a rented flatshare, and my housemates and I found out that our landlord came into our flat today without any notice while we were all out at work.

The only way we found out that the landlord had been in the flat is because we have a cleaning lady who visits weekly.

The cleaning lady came to clean the flat today and texted my flatmate to see that she’d seen our landlord in the flat.

What are our rights in this situation regarding our landlord?

The LL has never given us 24 hours’ notice before when coming into our flat, even though it is in the signed contract that they gave us and it is also a legal requirement.

However, when the LL came into the flat before today, they would always let us know they were coming, even if it was never 24 hours’ notice. Today, the LL didn’t tell us they were coming, so we had no idea.

AIBU to ask for advice?

Losing there is no discussion that says the LL has been going into the areas, just communal ones, which he is legally allowed to do? By bombarding the LL with emails about this the OP is likely to get her marching orders.

In terms of HMO requirements, I find that they differ from council to council. Perhaps contact yours to see if your flat actually is an HMO, and if it is, has your LL met the safety requirements?

@Losingthewill1 before accusing someone of anything it is always a good idea to get evidence. A camera placed in the flat with the agreement of all the occupants will do this. Asking the landlord multiple times via email will just get a denial, an evicted tenant and the landlord playing games to withhold that tenant's deposit.

OP if you do get camera evidence ensure you give everyone in the property their own copy of the film to use against the landlord..

GOVERMENT WEBSITE STATES:
Your home is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) if both of the following apply:

at least 3 tenants live there, forming more than 1 household
you share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities with other tenants

The 3 storey rule is for a large HMO.

The last thing I want to do is bombard the LL with messages.

However, unfortunately, we have been doing this as a house because the other tenants have got fed up with the LL’s refusal to repair things and because of the LL’s repeated entrance into the house without giving us 24 hours’ notice.

I fully understand that, legally, the LL has a right to enter the communal areas of the house without giving us notice.

However, in each of our tenancy agreements, the LL has written that they need to give us 24 hours’ notice if they enter the flat. The LL has not been doing this. As the LL has clearly broken the terms of their own tenancy agreement on more than one occasion, is there anything that we can do?

Does anyone have any advice please?

If you rented a whole flat then the LL wouldn’t be able to enter any of it without permission. Re read your lease in general, does it seems like it applies to a flat or an HMO? One possibility is that he’s use the wrong lease template.

I don’t think you can stop him entering the common areas, despite what it says in the lease, unfortunately. But as I previously advised, you might want to rings Shelter if you want legal confirmation.

If it’s something you can’t put up with then I’d look to move somewhere else, perhaps your own flat or one rented with a friend, rather than an HMO.

OP what do you and the other tenants intend to do about the repair issues? As how you want to deal with the landlord entering the property without giving notice is linked to how you want to deal with this. Also you need to check he is actually entering your individual rooms as mentioned before.

In my own case there was a letting agent who was suppose to be doing things for the landlord, and the letting agent warned the landlord that entering the property without my permission was harassment which they could get in serious legal trouble for. When I moved out the landlord took retaliatory action by trying to keep my deposit however they had absolutely no proof for the damage they claimed for so I got it all back. (I had a flatmate who moved out before I did so was left to do the cleaning and sort the bills.)

Change the locks

THE LANDLORD CAN LEGALLY ENTER THE COMMUNAL AREAS WITHOUT NOTICE.

BlueBug I’m assuming you rented a flat and not a room in a flat? The two situations are entirely different.

Thunder you can’t change the locks to communal areas.

You can change the locks on the front door (assuming the agreement doesn't explicitly forbid that).

Thunder No, you can’t! Not in the OPs living arrangements anyway!

If she rented a whole flat, then yes, she would change the front door lock, but she doesn’t she rents a ROOM.

There are some very nixed messages on here.

HMO management regulations apply if there are three or more people forming two or more households. This means the building may not require an HMO licence however it still needs to adhere to management regulations. The Landlord is also liable for the council tax (which ye can claw back through each individual rental agreement As each person rents the room only and has shared access to the communal areas, the LL is still bound by the housing act rules in terms of notice for visits.

Op, what does your tenancy agreement state? Does it have Assured Shorthand Tenancy at the top?

It might be in your interests to contact your local authority licencing department as even if there is no licence in place they are the department whom will know if the property needs a check against HMO regulations and if there has been previous checks on the property. If repairs aren't being completed then that's the department to call.

You'll have tenure of your room and entitlement to the communal areas. LL is not obligated to put locks on doors in a residential dwelling, however, as you have tenure of your room, you can put one on.

You have rights as any other tenant. LL has to give 24 hours notice and should not be entering your room only at annual /half yeary inspections. As for communal areas, he should again only be attending to repair, or inspect as you're all entitled to quiet enjoyment

Hang on though, did the cleaner see him in your bedrooms? If he doesn't need notice for communal areas and was not seen outside of those areas, surely on that part he is not in the wrong?

(I'm not saying it's not highly likely he didn't go in your rooms btw...)

Emma our tenancy contracts mentions that the LL does need to give us 24 hours’ notice before coming into our flat.

As far as I know, the cleaner didn’t see the LL go into our bedrooms, but I don’t know for certain if the LL didn’t go in the rooms.

We’ve sent messages to the LL asking for 24 hours’ notice before he comes into our flat.

He has replied he’s very busy and that he cannot always let us know when he need to come into the flat (he has only once given us 24 hours’ notice).

He has also said that, if we are unhappy, we can give him one month’s notice and look for somewhere else to live.

I think this is the best result we'll have with him

What a woeful excuse. He's too busy to send a 24-hour notification yet not too busy to go round unannounced?

I totally agree, Mc180768!

Tenancy Relations officer here.
If you each have an agreement for your own rooms then the LL can enter any common area of the property whenever they like.
You only have exclusive possession of your own room- not the whole property as PP has advised.

The LL cannot enter your room without your permission. They can give you 24 hours notice if they want to inspect the condition of your room or carry out any repairing obligations under s11 of the LL and Tenant act.