Landlord aibu

[londonba]

I posted about this before, but basically the landlord asked to raise my rent, then stated he would not raise the rent and my new contract would be issued under the new rent. This was around 2 months ago. I have this in writing.

my contract is due to expire next month. The letting agent has messaged me today to state they want to take photographs and measurements of the property. Aibu to think they’re just trying to relist the property and rent to someone else? I just find it strange that the new contract hasn’t been issued.

Photos seems reasonable to me - the landlord may want up to date evidence that their property remains in a good state of repair.
Measuring seems less necessary unless items need replacing.
Maybe offer to send photos and measurements yourself?

they gave less than 24 hours notice of
photos and measurements, how is that reasonable notice?

frankly they’re only coming over to extend a cable which will allow me to have tv access. This should have been sorted before I moved in. I’m thinking there’s no point them even coming over if they intend to give me
notice, as I’m not benefitting from
the repairs and am only wasting time entertaining them that I could spend flat hunting. Therefore can’t see a reason to let them inside - they can sort the TV cable when I’ve moved out.

To be honest this agent has been to my apartments around 4 times in the last 6 months so they could have reported the good condition to the landlord at any of those visits. I did post before, essentially
the backstory is that the landlord wasn’t paying his ground rent, service fees, nor bills or council tax before I moved in. So he was sent a large repayment with debt fees etc and I think he’s trying to use me to reclaim
the money spent on his negligence

Giving you less than 24 hours notice isn’t OK, so you can definitely cancel.

But, they do have the right to inspect the property with at least 24 hours notice so I imagine they’ll just reschedule.

It does sound difficult, OP.

It’s a new build property that I moved into 2 years ago as the first person to live there, so the condition hasn’t changed really since then. If anything I think my furniture makes the place look more trendy because the initial photos on RightMove were tragic, made the place look even tinier than it is. Also there’s a massive issue with the neighbours being noisy and other issues not being sorted, so ultimately I’ve been a good tenant and will find somewhere better.

I am a LL (Landlord).

When your current contract, the AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) expires albeit he may want to take pictures, legally you will continue on a “rolling” contract. In reality there is no need to re-write the contract in any shape or form but I guess some agents do this because they can charge the LL a fee for doing the admin. (It’s a rip off.)

Your LL or his agent would normally do an inspection every six months. This is good practice & offers a forum for you to raise any issues.

If you are paying your rent every month & looking after the place, keeping it in good condition etc there is no need to worry. Nevertheless, by law the LL can give you 2months notice (S21) which means if you don’t move out by the given date he might get the bailiffs in. That’s another story!

Look up the Shelter web sight for information from a tenancy perspective.

So they’re still insisting on coming over today, taking photos and measurements. Apparently it will also take 2 hours to sort the cable which should have been rectified before I moved in.

i don’t think I want them to come in, forcing themselves in different rooms etc feel quite vulnerable on my own. Especially for 2 hours.

You are perfectly within your rights to decline.

If you've already told them no, then they need to re-schedule. This is not an emergency visit.

And as for photos, again there is no need for this. The state of the property is completely irrelevant at the moment. It is your HOME until you move out, and THEN they can take photos to document the state of it, once your tenancy has ended.

You can trash the place to your hearts content if you wanted, but as long as you put it all back to how it was before you move out.

Are you always this much of a drama lama. The landlord wants pictures of a home that belongs to them I think that’s perfectly reasonable. You sound difficult and like you have something to hide and I wouldn’t be surprised if they give you notice to leave if you are this difficult for no reason