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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Would a fussy landlord put you off renting somewhere?

118 replies

mondaze10 · 02/10/2018 08:52

I'm in love with a house and we're currently waiting for the landlord to 'approve' us. It's a one off house that most people wouldn't ever get a chance to live in, it's absolutely stunning and I feel lucky to even be able to 'apply' so to speak.

Anyway, the landlords are very particular and I don't know if it's worth it...

They vet who can live there (standard procedure but turn down a lot of people like they turned down a family that they thought the children would be too 'playful' with footballs etc). They live up the lane behind the house so not far from the back garden. The agent has hinted that it's all very community so it seems as though they wouldn't be your normal 'silent' landlords but ones that would very much want to know you, and they'd have to drive past the house everytime they left their own house.

Would that put you off?

OP posts:

dangermouseisace · 02/10/2018 20:43

Oh so they are people who want to control who lives near them. They sound pretty entitled!

PhilomenaButterfly · 02/10/2018 20:44

I used to live next door to my landlord. I didn't have a problem with it.

luckylavender · 02/10/2018 20:52

Run while you can

LeftRightCentre · 02/10/2018 21:16

Estate agent said today they’re lovely people that bought the house as they’d had a bad experience with the person that owned it before so wanted to stop that from happening again...

They bought it to control it. Fair enough. But c'mon, the whole not letting to a family because they might play footie in the garden is like the red flag in a Labour conference. I guess you'll just have to learn the hard way the way we did, but man, people like this are more than tedious in the extreme. Seriously, they want to have their cake and eat it, too, and would be better off making it a holiday let so any unwanted entrant to their domain is temporary. I'm actually having flashbacks to that house. It WAS gorgeous. That's why we ultimately took it. But they have an extreme sense of entitlement that meant they shouldn't have been charging rent on it (and believe me, it was NOT cheap). They were actually worse landlords than Lady on the Sofa, as my second daughter still calls her. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to live in a house like that, utterly besmirched. And yes, they sounded very nice when we met them. Until we were hooked.

CSIblonde · 02/10/2018 21:25

Don't do it. I had a LL who lived in the coach house behind his house divided into 4flats.He would let himself in daily & knock on my door wanting to 'water the window boxes'. I started shouting thru door, sorry we're in bed at whatever time it was. He'd pause, then go, in bed at this time? and then "Ohhh... ". Soon stopped visiting. And his wife also demanded I show a prospective tenant my place (with no notice) even tho the flat she came to view was totally different layout (they'd gone out). Relations got frosty after that.

maddiemookins16mum · 02/10/2018 21:44

Don’t do it.....the LL will be watching every move you make etc. There’s a good reason you are posting here and that’s because deep down you know it would be a mistake.

Asdf12345 · 02/10/2018 21:50

It would put me off a lot unless it was significantly below market rate.

Ginseng1 · 02/10/2018 21:59

I'd be really really wary as would hate to have LL always watching out for every little thing. I think they will struggle to get good people they'll get someone who pretends to be great but doesn't give a toss.

MistressDeeCee · 02/10/2018 23:33

I'd run for the hills.

You'll be the Focus of Fuss and it will get on your last nerve. That type sees it as their home not yours and they won't let you forget it. No house is worth that.

Largepiecesofcrookedwood · 02/10/2018 23:48

We're in a similar situation, but due to the fact that we have dogs. The LL has already intimated to friends of ours who were also interested (there are two properties available) that non dog owners would automatically be considered first, if nobody was suitable then they would consider them.
The idea that we would be "second best" and that they really didn't want DDog's in their property has made me feel slightly uneasy about the whole affair. They also live across the track, so I think we would feel on edge in case we fell below their standards of dog ownership.
All in all I think we will apply when the property comes up (because it's a long term let and would give us security for the future) but TBH my heart isn't really in it any more.

Tomatoesrock · 02/10/2018 23:52

Yes it would put me off from experience. I rent a lovely house in an settled area, slightly below standard rents but not much 1600, the average is 1800 due to housing crisis, it is standard house. I love it BUT my landlord is my DSis and she has high standards, she would never say anything but I panic if the DC spills on the wood floor, or when DD picked the carpet in her rooms, Dsis visits weekly. She judges her other tenants, they are untidy, she had professional cleaners clean the outside of the property as they had not washed the windows in 2 years. I am lucky to have a secure tenancy too.

In my last rental property before the boom, I lived in a house for 5 years and I never met the landlord, the agency rarely called unless repairs and it felt like my home.

user1457017537 · 02/10/2018 23:56

A relative rented years ago (company relocation and company paid £££’s) a huge amount even in today’s money. The landlord said he would do the garden. He did, every day, he was in there from 8.00 am until 5.00 pm every single day. He basically rented the house but used the garden every day as he was retired! Be careful!

Tomatoesrock · 03/10/2018 00:17

The only thing as a tenant you do not get to make rules, just abide them. Especially with the demand it is harder to negotiate your rules too.

pigsDOfly · 03/10/2018 00:25

I'm a landlady so even coming at this from other other side of renting I'd be very wary of renting from someone like that.

Sounds like they'd be watching your every move and swooping in on anything they disapproved off.

RibbonAurora · 03/10/2018 01:48

It's a no from me, OP. They are too emotionally attached to their property and will be too involved. Another speaking as a landlady. We engaged a property management company to oversee our house rental because we felt we needed to maintain a measure of detachment so as to be able to view it as a purely business transaction. It is our future retirement home so we have a vested interest in knowing it's being taken care of, of course, but tenants have a right to feel at home in their home and not like they are there on sufferance or doing something wrong just by living their lives.

MyShinyWhiteTeeth · 03/10/2018 02:48

I rented from an over involved landlord. He would phone to ask why the bins hadn't been put out on bin day. He would phone if a window was open to remind us to close it. He would phone if the curtains were left open/shut. etc. etc.

If we had guest then he would know. He would comment if we moved the furniture and remind us the garden needed to be done. He wanted to know whose car's were parked by, who was visiting.

He had very specific instructions about using the shower and cleaning the tiles after using the shower and which products were to be used to clean the kitchen, oven, toilet, mirrors etc. There were an awful lot of fixed mirrors in the bathroom and bedroom.

It was too intrusive but I stuck it out for just over a year. After that I used letting agents.

dontgobaconmyheart · 03/10/2018 03:09

i am about to move out of a situation similar to this OP and i'd say not to do it. My landlord doesn't live anywhere near us and she still manages to make it known relatively often by heavy insinuation that we are tenants in 'her' house, and lucky to be in such a 'wonderful home' (its fine, its a nice house, our old one was nicer)
The tenancy agreement had a few things in it that we thought were a bit eccentric but no big deal - must oil the wooden kitchen tops 6 monthly, no net curtains, nothing at all put on the walls etc - because we liked the property and were a bit short on time we convinced ourselves it would be no big deal. In real terms all we get is endless calls and letters from the letting agent asking to visit to photograph the property (despite quarterly official inspections) to show evidence of this (obviously it looks the same before and after an oiling, but she still insists) as she is, apparently endlessly paranoid about damage to it.

Any damage that crops up that is perfectly normal, such as small patches of damp, she sends out letters saying we have neglected the house and to remember it is our responsibility to look after it. It is all very patronising. I appreciate your situation may not be as extreme as that, though it could be- but god it is hard to relax in your own home that you pay a fortune for feeling like you are being monitored. I couldn't cope if she lived in the same town!

She requested to meet us before moving in, to ensure we were the right kind of people basically, which was supposed to be before we moved in, but happened afterward in the end and frankly if we had met her beforehand we would not have gone ahead. She was a horrific snob, very patronising, made several offensive assumptions about social class and income that we found bemusing and informed me i needed to get cleaning as the place was looking dirty - bear in mind this was the move in day so nothing to do with us at all.

Thankfully the contract is now up and we are packing as I type - into a much nicer home- am currently debating whether or not i am petty enough to tell her to go fuck herself in a big way when we give the keys back. (but i expect i won't)

It might work out fine and i hope it does but these things do happen- i certainly didn't think it would happen to me and it has! I just know she'd be driving past checking we'd shut all the windows etc if she lived in the county. god forbid!

LeftRightCentre · 03/10/2018 13:45

Have a look at this:

overinvolvedlandlord

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