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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To contact letting agent regarding this?

11 replies

User4223131 · 22/08/2022 23:30

Currently renting and have been here a few months. Briefly met landlord once. Repair needs done at the property so I logged it in the appropriate way through their system.

They contacted the landlord who came back to them asking if my number could be passed to the contractor to arrange a suitable time for repair with me directly. Absolutely fine, no issue.

Man turns up today - just a random friend of the landlords that she apparently gets to come and look when a tenant requests a repair to check that it’s actually necessary. Hes in no way qualified - literally just a man she’s sent in to say “yeah, that looks broken”.

He was chatting while looking at what needed done and randomly asked me about a distant relative of my partners. I’ve never met this man, neither has DP. He then went on to comment on people he knew in common with me etc and mention people in my family that he knew. It wasn’t just a “oh, are you so and so’s daughter” etc, it was a long winded “he knows her, who knows him, who works with her” type situation. Literally they only way that he can have pieced all this together is trawling our social media’s (which are all relatively private) or through in depth discussion with our landlord (who herself would have had to go to social media to find all this out) 🤔 Most of the people mentioned don’t even have the same surname.

He also made a throwaway comment about how the landlord prefers there to be a few spare keys around “just incase” because she’s based a wee while away from the property and that “quite a few” neighbours had keys.

Should a landlord and her friend really be going to this much effort to find out about their tenant?! And shouldn’t it be the letting agent who keeps a spare key rather than half the neighbours in the street?!

OP posts:
WeAreTheHeroes · 22/08/2022 23:34

That's quite creepy. You can change the lock barrels so only you have the keys. Swap them back when you eventually leave. Your privacy and security are important.

chillipenguin · 22/08/2022 23:40

That is very strange

User4223131 · 22/08/2022 23:45

@WeAreTheHeroes @chillipenguin Yeah it just seemed a bit odd!! We live in a smallish town so it wouldn’t be unusual for someone to say “Oh, you’re a ‘surname’?! Any relation to X?” but this was more distant than that.

OP posts:
Discovereads · 22/08/2022 23:50

So, I would be uneasy about the landlord and neighbours having keys as the letting agent is managing the property and you have a right to quiet enjoyment of the property. The landlord can’t just come by and let herself in, it’s illegal. I would change the locks and give 1 spare key to the letting agent(you’re required to if a standard tenancy agreement). Then you don’t need to “change them back” after the tenancy.

User4223131 · 23/08/2022 00:05

Discovereads · 22/08/2022 23:50

So, I would be uneasy about the landlord and neighbours having keys as the letting agent is managing the property and you have a right to quiet enjoyment of the property. The landlord can’t just come by and let herself in, it’s illegal. I would change the locks and give 1 spare key to the letting agent(you’re required to if a standard tenancy agreement). Then you don’t need to “change them back” after the tenancy.

@User4223131 This is the first time the landlord has used a letting agent. Until now she has been a private landlord. The last few tenants have left because she was letting herself in while they were out at work etc. I only found this out after we moved in. I contacted the letting agent straight away and expressed my concerns and they put everything to her in writing just reminding her of what her access rights etc are as a landlord.

I just don’t see any need for there to be multiple spare keys kicking around when there is a letting agent managing things!

OP posts:
SheSaidHummingbird · 23/08/2022 00:57

Are the landlord's initials M C?

User4223131 · 23/08/2022 04:58

SheSaidHummingbird · 23/08/2022 00:57

Are the landlord's initials M C?

No 🤔🤔

OP posts:
Chouetted · 23/08/2022 05:01

User4223131 · 23/08/2022 00:05

@User4223131 This is the first time the landlord has used a letting agent. Until now she has been a private landlord. The last few tenants have left because she was letting herself in while they were out at work etc. I only found this out after we moved in. I contacted the letting agent straight away and expressed my concerns and they put everything to her in writing just reminding her of what her access rights etc are as a landlord.

I just don’t see any need for there to be multiple spare keys kicking around when there is a letting agent managing things!

Change the locks, give the agent a copy. If you feel you need to give a reason, blame your insurance provider.

Pompom2367 · 23/08/2022 05:38

I would op do you have cameras to make sure she's not coming in when your out op

Ciela · 23/08/2022 06:34

Chouetted · 23/08/2022 05:01

Change the locks, give the agent a copy. If you feel you need to give a reason, blame your insurance provider.

This

It all sounds a little full on OP. My parents were landlords up until last year as the tenants bought a 3 bed family home (flat was two bed) and my parents decided they were too old to get more tenants and sold it.

My parents used a letting agent and apart from a Christmas card every year which the tenants started my parents never dealt with them directly.

SheSaidHummingbird · 23/08/2022 21:49

User4223131 · 23/08/2022 04:58

No 🤔🤔

The landlord you describe sounds a lot like a previous landlord I had, and I know that she had other tenants in various places that were really suffering. Sorry to hear about your situation.

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