AIBU to wonder how often other tenants see their landlord?

[Specksofwhiteallaround]

I am absolutely sick of the sight of mine but Dh insists it’s the same for all people who rent and I’m curious if he’s right as it’s not my experience of renting. So as not to drip feed we do have cats, but they knew this and agreed to rent to us. The cats have caused damage to the bottom of the stair carpet and a radiator but I have absolutely no problem paying to rectify this when/if we leave.

My annoyance is that in the three years since we’ve lived here we’ve had almost 3 monthly house inspections. Every time she comes she finds fault with something and I just don’t think any of it is that big a deal. Some examples are that a tree in the garden wasn’t pruned to her satisfaction so we had to buy a lot of expensive equipment to make that better, we don’t get to the weeds quickly enough, she wants us to have a window cleaner come every week and insisted I buy a rug to put under our computer chair which makes it unusable...
She has another house around the corner and checks how often and how long my bathroom window is open and it’s never enough.

The last straw for me is that we informed her about a plumping issue at the last inspection in mid December which has been steadily getting worse while she organised a plumber. Yesterday she turned up unannounced at the door to lecture me about what the problem was (she was wrong, it emerged yesterday that the problem has been caused by a pretty major leak in one of the outside pipes not us.) and let me know a plumber would be there the next morning. While at the door she also took me to task for not cleaning the gas cupboard in the porch. Not five minutes later she’s back with a man from the water board in tow and wants access to the house, apparently the fact it was 11am and I hadn’t washed up dishes from that morning didn’t escape her notice and today she’s messaged informing me of a house inspection this Wednesday. Oh and will I go out and inform the people from the water board that she wants them to come and fit new taps in the kitchen they’re outside fixing the leak...

I have terrible social anxiety anyway but lately It’s getting so bad I don’t feel I can leave the house some days and I’m just so anxious about everything all the time and it’s draining, I feel like I’m constantly waiting for her to turn up at the door or text or ring about more cleaning issues. I’ve not had this level of landlord interference before in my life, it’s like she expects us to keep this a show home and it’s just not feasible.
Sorry this is so long, I guess I needed a good rant I really hope my dh is wrong and this isn’t the norm because I wouldn’t wish this stress on anyone.

My current landlords are family members so I see them all the time. In my previous places I've never seen the landlord and only in one place they have done an inspection once. The lease said they were entitled to have one once a year but didn't do it again after the first one.

I have lived in my house for 8 years and seen my landlord maybe 3 times. Only once he came in the house to look at the job the builders had done.
Once he was lurking around my garden taking pictures of a shed that needed pulling down and the other time I saw him on the road outside the house sorting my neighbours drain out.

Totally ridiculous. My landlord lives on the same street but has only been in the house once in 6 years. Hes not a great andlord in other ways but am so glad to be left alone. I would feel very anxious and upset in your situation and would if at all possible look for something else.

We have never met our landlord but we have inspections every 3 months or so by an agent, in 4 years nothing we have reported has been rectified (leaks, mould, drainage, faulty roof, garage floor falling through, etc etc!) and when we offer to fix it ourselves we are told we can’t!

We've been in our rented house twelve years. I last saw our landlord in 2014. He was just passing and didn't come in. He said something along the lines of "you've had another kid? Lovely! Congratulations! (The kid in question was 3 years old...)

We never contact him and treat the house as our own - he accepts the monthly direct debits, does no maintenance nor repairs ever, never contacts us and never raises the rent. It's pretty much a win-win. Admittedly we could have bought the house by now with the rent payments, but we didn't intend to stay put this long!

I've only met my landlord once and that was when I signed my tenancy. Nothing since I'm the past 2 years. If I have any issues, I email him. He sends workmen and that is it

When we lived in the UK we had the agents do quarterly inspections and I would go along every 6 to 12 months to make sure the agents weren’t lying or not doing the inspections.

Here in Australia we own properties in several states, but each property has a quarterly inspection by the agent (who provide a report and photos) and I go along maybe once a year (especially if the property is interstate).

@BobbyBlueCat contracts can not override the law. You can refuse any and all of the inspections.

We'd have bought by now if the landlord did inspections. That's massively intrusive and insulting - humiliating, I'd go so far as to say. Our landlord has never entered our house since we've lived in it, and we rent directly from him not through an agent. In return we've paid him over 100k by now

We also have 3 monthly inspections....so unessary. We've been here for 3 years and never damaged anything and only improved the place with the landlord's permission. But it's not the landlord that's the issue but the agents he is with.

It's their rule. They come in and do a quick whizz round but it pisses me off. I think they could use more discretion and when tenants are good at paying, clean and tidy, they could reduce the inspections to 6 monthly.

I only met mine once when I insisted he met me to hand over the keys to check he was happy with how i was leaving the property. I never had any inspections either but I had paid 6 months upfront plus a large deposit.

I inspect about once a year or sometimes longer

OP you did not mention in your first post you had an agreement to pay for any damage done by cats at the end of your tenancy, hence why I said what I did, however do be fair, the damage that can be done by animals or humans sometimes does need to be brought to a conclusion. I agree your LL sounds a.nightmare.but you need to check what your contract states about access and inspections- do you even have a contract?. I will always do six monthly inspections at an agreed date and time, not just because my insurance requires it but also to protect my investment. I don't care if its messy but I do care when it's so dirty there is a rodent infestation that they didn't inform me about. Not all rental contracts are the same. Mine states the garden must be kept tidy ie grass kept cut so I had to provide them.with the tools to do so. I had planted very good hedging trees which need to be pruned and topped at certain times. I don't expect them to do this but I do expect them to be agreeable in giving pre arranged access to the gardening contractor. The six monthly inspection.covers these items too. Any tenant who doesn't find these inspections acceptable would be better renting from someone who is not fussed about taking care of their investment which generally means the renter doesnt get anything fixed or gets an awful bill at end of their tenancy.

We also have 3 monthly inspections....so unessary. We've been here for 3 years and never damaged anything and only improved the place with the landlord's permission. But it's not the landlord that's the issue but the agents he is with.

It's their rule. They come in and do a quick whizz round but it pisses me off. I think they could use more discretion and when tenants are good at paying, clean and tidy, they could reduce the inspections to 6 monthly.

That's an absolute cop out from your landlord. He employs the agent. He sanctions their inspections.

Too many landlords don't realise, or care, how intrusive their agents are. It's a mistake I made myself with my first tenant - I didn't realise how shit the agent I had hired was until I spoke to the tenant a few days before the moved out when I was sorting a repair. It turned out the agent inspected every 12 weeks, I didn't know, they had failed to pass on numerous small repairs, I didn't know, and worst of all the tenants had approached the agent to explain that they both worked for the same company, it had gone tits up, but they'd both got jobs elsewhere. They asked if they could changed the rent day by two days (I have no mortgage so not an issue for me) and the agent said no without consulting me. Understandably they got pissed off with a seemingly inflexible landlord who did constant inspections, noted issues, but never fixed anything.

I let them down badly by trusting my agent. Now I realise that there are so many shit agents that LL's need t be on the ball themselves.

There is a HA tenant on another thread who is having three monthly inspections . HAs seem to be adopting this now.

That's not the norm. My landlord gets a letting agent to check in every 6 months but they're in and out real quick - 3 minutes - a quick look to make sure no leaks or damp or things like that.

Contact Shelter, they will be able to give very good advice. They've helped me vastly over the years with previous shit landlords. You shouldn't have to be paying out for stuff to prune bloomin' tress with - that's for your landlord to pay for.

*trees

God, I've just read your other posts. She is absolutely not allowed to be doing any of this shit. Please contact Shelter and tell them everything. Take photos of the rail and anything else that needs fixing. Anything else she asks for get it in writing, always try to have a paper trail, emails or letters. She's not allowed to turn up unexpected, she has to give at least 24 hours notice and even then she had to have good reason to be turning up (being an interfering old busybody does not count!). What she said about your cats is fucking out of order and makes me really angry. She should not even be allowed to be a landlord.

Not normal at all.

Been here 5 years, we've asked permission to decorate and shown her the neutral colours we picked, she said they were lovely and agreed.

Our oven broke recently, within 24 hours she had her maintenance man out who deemed it irreparable and she immediately gave us a £400 budget and is deducting it from this months rent.

She's been here once in 5 years at the start to check we had settled in okay. All boiler/maintenance checks are arranged by her and confirmed date and time is suitable for us.

We couldn't wish for a better landlord to be honest.

I would show your dh this thread and maybe then he will realise that it's not normal. Would he speak to your LL about it if you don't feel able to?

Have seen our landlord once in the almost 3 years we've been here. He came round a few weeks ago to look at the roof and DH almost closed he door in his face as he thought it was just a cold caller . We have 6 monthly inspections with the letting agent though which is decreasing to yearly after this 3rd year. All round very nice people, deal with issues promptly, don't hound us, haven't said there's any issues with the house.

Your landlord is being ridiculous and needs to learn to leave you alone. I would absolutely hate to have someone barging around the house whenever they felt like it. Make sure and contact Shelter for some advice because she definitely should not be being so OTT with you.

I wonder if your LL grew up in Army quarters. These are military-type inspections.

I wonder how long the LL lived in the house ? She sounds over invested and obviously not a professional landlord.
I have an elderly aunt living with me and we are thinking of renting her house. However , she is saying that she wants to make sure they fit in with the neighbours ! And when I mention upgrades necessary , she dismisses them as she never had to bother with them.It is so obvious that she would be trying to get me to regularly inspect the house. So now , I am trying to persuade her to sell up.
Unfortunately, you seem to be stuck with this lady if you don't want to move. It is unfair but is the downside of being at the mercy of rental market. Can you now try to look at alternative properties in your area. ? Wouldnt you love to just give her notice !

How anyone wants to live is up to them. Being surrounded by dirty dishes and a garden full of weeds is a perfectly valid choice and none of the landlord's business. These things can easily be remedied (if necessary at the tenant's expense) at the end of the tenancy. (I'm a landlord.)

@Specksofwhiteallaround- I doubt you’d be asked to move your son if you can make a good case to show he’s settled. Your LA could provide transport too.