To expect a landlord to have told us this before signing lease?

[Lexi334]

Moved into a rental a couple of months ago. Let through a large local letting agent.
We viewed the property with the agent, submitted our application then the landlord requested to meet us herself so we came for a second viewing at the property with the landlord. We were here for an hour while she showed us a round and generally chatted about the property.
We got the keys a couple of weeks later and came into the property to find a “handbook” with all kinds of requests to do with the house:

• which garden plans should be watered on which days, and when each particular plant should be pruned


• under what circumstances we can/can’t use the outdoor access to our back garden (mid terrace) - allowed to walk round the side once per week to take bin out and once to take bin back. No other access for any reason!


• boiler pressure needs to be topped up every 5/6 days - it’s in the attic 🙄

Pretty annoying and odd but it is what it is.

I arrived home from work a couple of weeks ago to find a Gardner in cutting the grass in the back garden. When I asked him what he was doing there he said the landlord asked him to continue doing the front and back gardens - grass cut, borders tidied and weeded, pots maintained - at a cost of £40 per fortnight “to be paid in cash or by bank transfer by tenant” is what she’s emailed him.

Not long after I’ve had a window cleaner put a note through the door saying the windows were cleaned and we now owe 2 payments. It’s £12 per fortnight. Again, contacted them and the landlord has requested it. Again, to be paid by the tenant.

Ive spoken to the letting agent who contacted her (this process takes about 10 days to get a reply back 🙄) and she says this is regarded as “general upkeep” that we need to do on the property and she prefers it done to her standard by a “trusted professional”. So on top of the rent that I’m paying (which is already very high for the area), she expects over £100 a month to be paid in “general upkeep” too.

Surely this should have been disclosed before entering into a lease? Obviously I planned on maintaining the windows/garden etc but surely it should be my choice as to whether I do that myself or pay someone else to do it?

Flipping hell she's a bit ott isn't she. No you don't have to pay her choice of gardener or window cleaner. She had ample time to discuss with you but chose not to.

You did not engage either of these trades people so no contract verbal or written is in so you do not need to pay them. If your landlady required all of this it should have been in the contract.
With the standard contract so that is you return the property in the same condition you moved in to it.

Assuming it's a standard Assured Shorthold tenancy agreement, you are not obliged to pay for any of that stuff. Even if it's in the contract, it's not enforceable. The landlord can only make you pay additional fees for certain specific things, cleaning and gardening are not amongst them. You have the right to quiet enjoyment of the property, free from interference from the landlord. Your obligation is to hand the property back in the same condition at the end of the tenancy.

And if you have to top up the boiler regularly does that mean there is a leak somewhere in the system?

No, you don't need to pay them and you don't need to do the upkeep according to her preference.

Tell the letting agent that they need to advise their client the landlord that these requests are not legal or reasonable and you will be sorting your own property maintenance. And tell the window cleaners and gardener to deal with the person who contracted them and that you will no longer be granting access!

She sounds mad!

No, of course you don’t have to pay this. Tell the gardener and cleaner you didn’t contract them and will not be paying them.

Re the boiler - that’s not right. Is there a recent safety certificate for it?

If its not in the contract then you are not obliged to pay. End of.

Unless these things are included in your tenancy agreement (which I suspect is unlikely or could be shown to be unreasonable) then the landlord is being unreasonable.

If she has arranged a gardener, window cleaner or anyone else to complete work on the property then she should be paying the bill.

The plant watering is ridiculous.

Access is exactly what the word implies and you can use it at any time - for access to your back garden.

I would suggest you get your landlord to have the boiler checked and serviced too. No boiler should need topped up every 5/6 days. Is it gas and has she given you a copy of a current gas safety certificate?

Even if she paid for the services you don’t have to grant access to them. You have to maintain the house and garden to the same standard but how you do that is up to you.

Nah that's a rent increase by the back door. She can't legally oblige you to pay for anything nit included in the contract.

The access is also a load of twaddle - if the property as rear garden access and that is included in the contract then she cannot restrict when it can be used. Sounds to me like the landlady should not be renting out her precious home. Do make sure your deposit is in an approved scheme as it sounds like she'll be going after that too.

As for her plants well... keeping the garden maintained to a usable level fine - providing they provide the equipment to do so... so a lawn mower etc... but specialist looking after particular plants again is a specialist job that she should be paying for notnexpecting her tenants to do for free.

Yes she could have negotiated all of these 'contracts' with you but she has no right to force them. Especially without mention let alone agreement. I would expect your letting agent to have something to say about all this. They are usually good at sticking out landlord's back in their box!

No you don't need to pay for this. You need to maintain the garden and property but how you do it is up to you.

I'm sure if you tell the gardener and window cleaner you're not going to pay they'll leave pretty sharpish.

I'm a landlord and I do have a gardener go monthly to keep the small garden tidy. I arrange and pay for this myself. This is my choice as my experience is tenants don't do a good job of looking after gardens and it's an absolute pain to try and sort out once years of neglect have happened. The tenants are told about this in advance.

If she’d put the gardening or window cleaning in the contract it would have been in breach of the landlord and tenant act 2019. She can either include them in the rent or have stipulations like garden to be maintained and windows to be cleaned (eg windows to be cleaned every 3 months) but she can’t insist you use her suppliers or her regularity. She had the choice to include it in her rent so you had the choice to rent her place at a presumably higher rent or another. But she can’t do this.

Absolutely not ! Make it very clear now that you won't be paying them and that you won't be allowing access in future without the appropriate advance warning

I agree that you don't need to pay this.

It was in my daughter's tenancy agreement that she had to keep the garden maintained and have the windows cleaned on a regular basis. Totally up to her how she did that.

Thanks everyone - I have advised the landlord in writing through the letting agent that we will not be paying for these services and that the property will be maintained by ourselves etc. Still waiting to hear back from her.

@dementedpixie @Comocomida I have raised the boiler pressure as an issue through the app that the letting agent uses for maintenance and it is “pending” so we’ll see what comes of that. The boiler was serviced prior to it being let out by this letting agent. It’s the first time she has used an agent after being a private landlord for years. All safety certificates are definitely in place and up to date.
The back garden “access” annoyed me too! Obviously if you happen to live in the end terrace then I doubt you want next door deciding to use their back door as their main entrance and traipsing through your garden multiple times per day. But for me, I have a young baby, and it’s a 30 min walk home from town (I don’t drive) so on a nice day it would be nice to be able to walk home and just walk round and sit in the back garden with baby napping in the pram without having to do the stairs up to the front door and carting the pram through the house (which I absolutely do if baby isn’t asleep!)

I would 'loose' the handbook and ask for the latest gas certificate on the boiler and ensure you have the elec certificate too. No way should a boiler need topping up regularly unless it is being limped on whilst awaiting repair/replacement.

I too am a landlord and in our contract is the requirement to give access to the gardener twice a year at particular points to cut back the hedges and tidy up the garden - none of which requires tenant to even be at home let alone pay for.

Tory Britain

Fortnightly window cleaning? WTF - I've never had mine done more than ever 4 weeks - current window cleaner does every 6 weeks. I don't rent though.
I think unless this was all in the contract you signed then your landlord can either pay herself or leave you to do the maintenance.

Is the landlord an accidental landlord, ie a previous home they lived in, or a relative lived in? In my experience when landlords are over invested in a property and want it 'just so' this is the reason. But as others have said you are not liable for these costs. I would caution though that you may have to be prepared to leave at the end of the tenancy as there is nothing stopping the landlord deciding you're not the 'right' tenant for them (subject to the legal requirements about the minimum period, notice etc)

• not in your contract with landlord
• you have not signed up to this
• you have no contract with the window cleaner or gardener.

I would contact window cleaner, gardener and agent and say those three things and that therefore you will not be paying.

If landlord choses to still pay the gardener, that is actually an invasion of your privacy, and so I would be making clear that that is not normal and not happening you are entitled to quiet enjoyment of your home by law.

Also the boiler shouldn't be losing pressure that quickly, I'd be pushing for a plumber to come out and check the system. Sounds like there's a slow leak somewhere.

Years ago when I was renting it turned out there was a man they kept on to do the garden but the landlords paid for it! Seems very off for them to expect you to if it’s their decision to keep him and not even tell you beforehand.

BellePeppa
why quote the whole of the OP? It is right there on the page, we all read it! What an annoying waste of space on a thread that is when you have to scroll past the whole OP for no reason.

This makes me really cross. This sort of thing is the reason people don’t like landlords.

I am a landlord. It’s a business transaction - my tenants have the right to live peacefully while I maintain the property. In return they pay me for the use of my asset (the property). If the landlord wants a gardener to do stuff they will need to pay him directly.

If you want to use the rear access more often, could you have a word with the other homeowners and see if they wouldn't mind you wheeling the pram through occasionally? They might be fine about it if they can see that you are considerate and won't do it all the time.