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?

This is illegal under the Tenant Fees Act (assuming you're in England, may be different rules elsewhere) www.gov.uk/government/collections/tenant-fees-act

As people have said, the back garden usage is probably a covenant (standard by the sounds of the property set up) You might find that your tenancy agreement states something like "the tenant will observe all covenants in the title" (or words to that effect) meaning you should have asked for a copy of the title to see if there was anything affecting you, before you signed.

As others have said, the garden access point could well be a covenant on the property. You can check the deeds on the Land Registry site for £3 if you want. It sounds like you are walking through neighbouring gardens so there are probably restrictions attached to that access.

The other stuff is bonkers.

I’m a landlord. This is unacceptable.

Leaving the paying of window cleaners and gardeners aside (and no, I don't think you should pay them either), the requests to prune plants and water them is just ridiculous too. I hate gardening, loathe it with every fibre of my being. I would not want to spend even 5 seconds watering plants or cutting bits off them to a schedule. Fuck that.

The garden access probably depends on where abouts you are - going through neighbours' gardens is the norm where I live. Most people use their back doors as the main entry, so I have my neighbours (and visiting kids, grandkids etc etc) passing through my garden constantly

For a kick off you do not pay for anything extra. Our windows and communal garden are sorted out by the landlord.

I would ask your neighbor (armed with a box of chocolates) if they would mind you occasionally using the access for the stroller and your baby. If they are ok with it it is nothing to do with your landlord.

obviously the situation with the gardener etc is ridiculous. Re the boiler make sure it gets serviced ASAP and that you have a working co2 alarm meantime. We had a problem with our water pressure over a couple of weeks (my dad thought he’s fixed it but problem recurred). When an engineer came out he condemned it immediately! With a little one in the house it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Your local council should have a private sector housing team type department

this type of department can lease between yourself and the landlord to make sure that you are not being harassed by your landlord

for example

www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20163/private_housing

What a bloody cheek. Another landlord that thinks she's doing you a favour. Rather than recognising you have a mutually agreed arrangement.

If there is a covenant for access to the back garden then I would have expected this to be mentioned before you signed the contract. I'm also wondering how the gardener and window cleaner got access to the back of the house if they cannot use this access.

@IncompleteSenten it's not about using the backgarden as much as the OP wants, the issue is the the OP wants to walk through her neighbours garden any time she likes to access her garden, rather than going through her own house.

You signed a tenancy agreeing to certain costs. if she wants the upkeep, she can pay for it.

Seriously, no boiler should need topping up that often. There's either a leak in the system OR more likely a pretty severe fault in the boiler.

Email the agent. Give a deadline. Then contact the local councils private rental team.

I cannot stress this next point enough KEEP EVERY EMAIL, KEEP NOTES OF EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION WITH THE AGENT/LOCAL COUNCIL/WHOEVER.

You WILL need them as I'd bet good money the landlord will go out of their way to screw OP on the deposit.

Yes you need to check if there is a covenant. If no covenant then the landlord nor the neighbours can do anything about the right of way access you have through their garden(s). We looked to buy a terraced house which had side gates with right of way through each garden. The owner was adamant that her neighbour never came through her garden as they kept their bins out the front of the house instead, but that was just their choice, they had the right to access it any time if they wanted to. It put me right off because all it takes is new neighbours (owners or tenants!) to move in and want to do things differently and before you know it you have people wandering through the gate and into garden and past your windows whenever they like and there’s nothing you can do about it. Uou can’t lock or block up the gate or stop them. Unless there is a covenant.

Which is risky if you have young children or dogs. And you are really relying on having reasonable neighbours who will keep it to a minimum and remember to shut the gate etc . Which is not something we can all really on judging by how many people dislike their neighbours!

It would be a laughably hard 'no' from me and I'd be telling the agent that.

You never agreed to any of this. If LL wants these things done, LL can pay the people to do them.

Access 100 per cent needs to be expressly consented to by you before you enter into a tenancy.
I once rented a house where I was told they may occasionally need access to get through to the fields beside the house which wasn't a problem... except the first Saturday I was there, 21 year old me was dandering about the house having just got up in just a t-shirt and underwear to see two men peeping in through the windows! After a very cross call to the landlord, I didn't have that issue again thankfully.
I would advise she either pays the services herself or you will do it and deduct the amounts from the rent.

I'd be quite annoyed OP that the landlord wants to foist these extra costs and conditions on you, who are presumably a good tenant.

Definitely I'd expect all of this to have been agreed by you with landlord/letting agency before you signed anything.

Who gets their windows cleaned every 2 weeks?
We get ours done every 6 weeks!

I would advise she either pays the services herself or you will do it and deduct the amounts from the rent.

do not deduct anything from the rent - pay the rent in full every month otherwise they could serve you with a section 8 and evict you

instead don't pay someone you haven't employed and send them for payment to the person that has employees them

No the landlord isn't allowed to do that. They don't have a leg to stand on either.

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

i do think you are being unreasonable about the access. Would you be happy with someone traipsing through your garden whenever they liked when your baby is playing/sleeping there?

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

Exactly that. My son was the end terrace occupant in this situation and it drove him insane because next door never used their front door. They spent more time in his garden than he did! The deeds clearly stated bin access only but he had to get a solicitor’s letter sent to stop them. The landlord may have received complaints in the past.

Everything else is completely out of order.

If she wants it done and has engaged trades people then it's up to her to pay. She is completely OTT, I'm pleased you've said you won't pay. If there is a side/back entrance then use it - assuming you're not having a fit of the screaming ab-dabs at 2:00am on the side entrance of course - but during the day with a baby in a pram of course you use it! She should have told you in writing if it was going to be a problem and you couldn't use it.