Landlady wants access to loft during tenancy

[Jarstastic]

Moving into rental to break a chain. Committing to 12 month rental (agent refused a 6-month break clause saying against their terms and conditions).

Whilst viewing the house, the agent mentioned that half the double shed and the padlocked loft would not be included in the rental. Not ideal but not unacceptable to us.

We paid the holding deposit and references all done.

Agent has now come saying will be in the tenancy agreement the landlady to have access to both the shed and the loft during the tenancy, giving 48 hours notice.

AIBU that the loft isn’t on and if the landlady wants access to storage she should be paying Big Yellow Storage or similar rather than have someone pay her £2,500pcm (plus the £120pcm she wants to have gardeners) to provide access to her things?

Or is this not that unusual?

Re gardening
I have a clause requiring tenants to upkeep the garden (keep it in the state in which it was handed it over). That’s reasonable (previous tenants trashed it). But they can decide how they do that. I actually paid for a gardener to go in twice and do some planting, with their agreement, and then they decided to hire him themselves and manage the garden that way. But it was their choice).

Have a chat about why. It could be storage. She may just want to periodically check for leaks, read meters or keep an eye on signs of pests etc if there’s been a previous issue. I’m a landlord and I’ve accessed the loft for the above.

Sorry I can't get past the £120 a month gardening. Even over winter, what will there be for a gardener to do? Ridiculous.

I had a tenant who always refused access, for stuff like repainting, making repairs, dealing with damp, when squirrels got in the loft or boiler checks etc. Nightmare as they needed doing for H&S reasons. Ended up evicting them to tackle maintenance.

I once rented a flat that had a locked room the landlord insisting on accessing at any time. He turned out to be a people smuggler, in the end. Horrible debacle.

The gardening thing is odd - and implies a landlord who still sees it as their home, to kept 'just so' as it was when they lived there.

Certainly, they can require the garden to kept tidy, or 'well kept' or similar. But it's up to the tenant how to achieve that. And, if the aim is to keep it up carefully and precisely as the landlord's pretty garden then that is the landlord's hobby and up to the landlord to pay for, while they've ceded occupation of the property to someone else.

I am a landlord, and no this is not acceptable. You are renting the whole house not just part of it. In a holiday rental a locked cupboard or room might be acceptable, but not a long term rental. You have been misled by the EA and I would refuse. She could be at your house every weekend demanding access. It is a huge invasion of your privacy. What does your contract say?

Surely a property to which you do not have full access would be classed as an HMO?

I wouldn't be insuring or paying Council Tax on a property which included parts I wasn't allowed access to.

I'm very surprised a landlord would be allowed to close off the attic space, or any other space within the property. For example, what if there was a leak and the plumber needed access to the water tank in the loft?

Sorry, I should also have said: OP YANBU at all. I would find another property if I were in your position as I wouldn't find this acceptable.

I had a tenant who always refused access, for stuff like repainting, making repairs, dealing with damp, when squirrels got in the loft or boiler checks etc. Nightmare as they needed doing for H&S reasons. Ended up evicting them to tackle maintenance.

That's interesting, thanks. What has it got to do with a landlord wanting to use the OP's home as overflow storage.

If it wasn't for the fact that your rent is more than ours was I'd wonder if it was the same landlady we had.
Rented a nice little house, locked loft area and a locked garden studio, fair enough. No suggestion that she might want access.
She turned up literally two hours after we'd moved in to "see how we were settling in", and barged her way into the house then freaked out and said "what a mess" because funnily enough the house was full of unpacked boxes.
That was the start of constant demands for access, and worse, turning up when she thought we were out - I once looked up and almost had heart failure to see a strange man in the garden which turned out to be her boyfriend. Or getting the bank in to value the place as they wanted to get a loan to buy a motorhome. Or phoning me and, finding out that I was away staying with friends during a cold snap, emailing the letting agency freaking out that we were going to let the pipes freeze. Emailing the letting agency freaking out that the hedges hadn't been cut - I'd already made an appointment to have them done but apparently not quick enough for her liking.
We once bumped into her in the street and she introduced us to her friend as "the people staying in MY house".

OP, if you can get somewhere else, do. It's not worth it.

I agree it’s too much on gardeners. I’m assuming that £120 / month is One x three hour visit every two weeks. That’s fine if it’s a very large garden ( say half an acre ) with lawns and hedges that need cut in the summer. Or large beds with extensive planting that needs cutting back.

However the grass won’t need cut after October and once the leaves are raked up there’s little to do until March.

One of the first things law students learn is that a lease grants the exclusive use to a property for a set period of time. Exclusive being the key word here. What the landlord is trying to create in effect is a licence so she can still have access to the property.

No it’s not ok. anything in a contract would be overridden by the legal position.
Also it doesn’t/won’t comply with any fire safety regulations especially if it’s old furniture she’s storing up there.

@PatriciaPerch lol, that would be funny! Fortunately we're not there any more, we're safely back in the property we own so it's only my own eccentricities I have to suffer now.

I like these threads, you get to see who is and who isn't a massive cock. Of course Yanbu. Of course the landlady needs to decide whether the house is being rented out to make money or being used for storage. She doesn't get to have it both ways.

^ This. Really instructive. There always seems to be a higher percentage of cock-posts when the subject matter is asserting the rights of landlords. I wonder how that could be?

And a contract clause that allows the LL unfettered access to the tenant's storage space, would be no more enforceable than one that allows her to shoot her tenants with a crossbow if rent is overdue.

@PatriciaPerch

I'm sure my old landlady wanted it wrote into my contract that she could shoot me at short range if I sat down on the carpet in the lounge. I most probably wouldn't have bat an eyelid as it would have fitted in with her other ridiculous rules.

The ones re washing are the worst, can't have a line, can't dry in the house, can't have a tumble. How the hell are you supposed to dry washing?? apart from ignoring the rules

Don't you know if you want clean and dry clothes you should just buy your own house?? Tenants are so entitled!!!

No that her problem to sort out storage

I have a flat that I rent out I would never expect to use some of the storage space to keep my belongings and access to them

I would ask for holding deposit back she is going to be hard work

I actually had an issue with this in a house we rented a few years back. There was nothing in the lease to say she would be using the attic or the garage but it was sprung on us when we were handing over the deposit.
We were desperate at the time so just agreed. She was up at the property at least 3 times per week for the 3 months we lasted. It was awful.
We moved out after 3 months because of that and plenty of other issues and she refused to give back our deposit (Ireland, different system)
Anyway its really not worth the hassle. The 24 hours will get shorter and shorter until she's texting you at the gate!!