To ask landlady not to ?

[PigeonAndPotato]

I've lived in the same house for 15 years and it used to be managed by an agency. In the last 4 years my landlady now manages this and other properties herself. She is an OK landlady and I don't want to cause unnecessary upset. I live here with my children and dog. A lot of cosmetic repairs / updates have been carried out to the house recently which is nice but is obviously reflected in the frequent rent increases.

Repairs are usually done in a decent time frame, and either herself or her partner have done most of the repairs themselves. The issue is that whenever there's a house inspection or repairs, the landlady arrives with her partner and their daughter who is about 6. I would like to preface this by saying that the landlady, her partner and child are all nice enough but the landlady doesn't seem to see an issue with this.

The daughter is scared of my dog, so I usually end up having to pay for a dog walker to take the dog out or for boarding for the dog if the repairs will take hours / days to do - I work from home so taking the dog out for the day myself isn't an option, and he cannot be locked away in a room because the landlady's daughter wanders around the house and opens doors. There was one ocassion when he was shut in the kitchen and she opened the door, realised he was there and ran to the other side of the house leaving all doors open because she was scared and my dog ended up in the street running in front of a car. He was fine but now I'm not comfortable having my dog in the house when the child is here.

One of my children has autism and gets very stressed by this child being in their space and using their things for example if there is work being done outside she will wander in and out of the house, she will empty toyboxes or play with scooters / bikes or anything else that has been left in the yard. There have been two occasions now where the landlady's daughter has broken items belonging to my children and the landlady has shrugged it off in a kids will be kids way.

Do I have any right to ask the landlady to not bring her child?

I don’t think you are unreasonable at all - she may own the property but you are paying rent and it’s your home. She should be treating it as a business meeting rather than dragging her family along.

Of course you do. Would she take a six year old to any other work place and allow them to wander freely? No.

Say you cannot be responsible for her child’s safety and you can’t be sure your dog will be out.

I think I would tell her more or less exactly what you have said here.

Do I have any right to ask the landlady to not bring her child?
Of course you have! That's outrageous behaviour on her part.

Why do you make special arrangements for your dog, btw? If the child is scared one of her parents could have removed her from the house, surely?

I have hinted that having to have the dog looked after elsewhere is quite expensive, and also explained about my child's autism. She nods and agrees and appears to sympathise but then nothing changes.

It may be down to cultural differences as although landlady and family are English and there are no language barriers, they have lived in various european countries for many years which was when the house was managed by an agency. There was an issue about 4 years ago when I was on holiday, landlady knew I was on holiday, but she didn't know a family member was staying at my house and she let herself in. She was shocked that I was upset about her entering the house when I wasn't there without permission and didn't seem to understand what was wrong.

I think I just need to woman up and tell her outright that I'm no longer comfortable with the situation. I was just concerned about my legal rights because it is her property after all.

As a tenant, you have the right to "quiet enjoyment", and exclusive possession, which would be implied even if not in your contract. This means you have control over who comes into your property, and have the right not to be disturbed by the landlord or anyone acting on their behalf. So yes, if the landlord is bringing other people in unnecessarily, you have the right to stop the landlord doing this. In practice, you might reasonably say to the landlord that bringing her family with her is disruptive to you and please could she stop. The Shelter website has useful information on this.

And the landlord essentially making you to pay to have the dog looked after elsewhere because of her daughter is completely unreasonable!!

I make arrangements because of the incident where the child opened the kitchen door, saw the dog and then ran to the other side of the house. She left all doors open and my dog ended up in the street and ran in front of a car and I don't want to take that risk with his safety because she wanders around the house and in and out of the yard. The wandering around also causes problems for my child with autism if he is home at the time because he can't stand people in his personal space (his bedroom)

Thank you for the information - I will have a look now.
I really don't want it to turn into a huge issue because as landlady's go she has always been ok and as I've lived here for so long I don't want to rock the boat !

Yes I think you could at least start with a softly softly approach, knowing that you have the legal rights behind you if needs be.

As a PP has already mentioned, you do have the right to quiet enjoyment. Otherwise you're not really getting a "home", are you - that is, a place of privacy, security and the ability to live your life as you wish, within the reasonable bounds of respecting the property and neighbours. You absolutely have a leg to stand on here, I recommend you challenge it and not worry too much about upsetting the status quo. I really wouldn't be able to handle this intrusion.

I think you have the right to say that. But I think I'd be uncomfortable rocking the boat.

I think I'd probably take the passive aggressive approach of putting kids toys away in bedrooms and leaving the dog at home as he would normally be (uncaged and free reign if the house) andleave as she arrives, making a comment that youte sorry you cant stick around today but please don't shut dog in a specific room (for some made up reason- maybe he is not quite himself if shut away) then go out for the day.

When you get home and she has inevitably shut dog away due to concerns for the granddaughter then it forces the issue and you can just outright say that you asked her not to, you cant afford to put him in kennels when she visits and its beside the point anyway, dog is happier at home and see what she suggests.

I think this is an unnecessarily risky approach. The dog could become distressed being shut away by strangers, and the girl clearly has the potential for freaking out, opening all the doors and letting the dog run out into the street. OP could come home to, at worst, a bitten child and a dog that's legged it. I think a civil conversation, preferably backed up in writing (email) is the best way forward.

As you’ve already discussed with your landlady and nothing has changed, you might need to start being less accommodating.

Can toys be locked away, apart from a couple of things your children are actually playing with that day? Or at least put away in cupboards/ sheds?

Is your dog quiet enough to stay in the room you are working in? If the child is scared of the dog, then the landlady needs to stop bringing her child to the dog’s home.

Of course yanbu.
The unreasonable thing you've done is to allow this at any point. Its not your responsibility to sort out alternative arrangements for your dog -its theirs to sort out childcare for their child. I would insist that from now on their child is not allowed in your home. They are invading your privacy massively and also putting your dog at risk. Totally not on.

It's not really feasible to keep the dog with me while I'm working because if it's a house inspection then the three of them will want to see every room in the house. If it's for a longer duration for work being done then not possible at all - the child wanders around the house regardless and opens doors, enters rooms, opens cupboards and wardrobes.

The dog is also massive - he's a leonberger, so I'm not at all comfortable leaving him shut away with the landlady and her family in the house because there's a 100% chance the child would enter the room he is in. He's soft as muck with us but as with any animal I'd not trust him with a child unless I was there - especially an unknown child

The daughter is 6. Can't the landlady come over then the daughter is at school?

The landlady has a 9-5 job, so she comes outside of these hours. Which also means my own children are home. It would be more convenient for me if she could come during school hours as then my child with autism wouldn't get so distressed either.

Honestly, coming back to this thread and reading your posts, OP, I'm even more shocked at the level of disrespect and invasion of privacy your landlady is allowing. Of course she is going to come and do inspections from time to time, but really the only people coming to do those should be the ones strictly necessary, not the whole family out on an excursion. It's a person's private home for gods sake! The fact that she lets her child rootle around in your cupboards and possessions is mind-boggling to me. Honestly, OP, you've got to get a handle on this. I don't think anyone reasonable is going to think you're out of order here. Quite the opposite.

I'm astounded by what I'm reading. Your landlord is at work when she is in your home. As a one off with your concent eg popping in to look/photograph a broken appliance I would tolerate a well behaved child. I might even shut my dog in the kitchen for half hour. I most definitely would not be hiring dog walkers and I wouldn't be allowing a k8d to walk freely around my home let alone go delve into my child's belongings. I can't believe you allowed this to happen.The kid opening the doors when running off showsthe consequences of insupervised/challenged behaviour. Your dog could have got injured or killed! I am off course presuming your tenancy allows for pets and he's well behaved.
You clearly need some practice in being assertive. Tell her you've been thinking about her upcoming visit and you've decided that the daughter will need to stay out of your home after the problems caused last time. Don't get drawn into a conversation. You've decided. You're not expressing an opinion, or a wish. Practice your reply...No, I've already decided, you definitely need to come without her. Would a different time suit better if you need to suit childcare?....

Wow that is so rude! It may be her house but it’s your home and she needs to respect that! I can’t believe she lets her kid wander around freely and play with your child’s toys, so entitled, not many things shock me on here but that really did!

I am a LL.

You are legally entitled to the “quiet enjoyment of your home.”
Your LL is pushing the boundaries and you need to put a stop to it.

Please check out the Shelter website to get properly informed about your tenancy rights. There’s probably something on the Gov.uk website too.

In your shoes I’d tell these CF’s that you are only available on certain days/hours and tough doodoo if she/they have to fit in with that. Also outline that it is NOT convenient for the kid to tag along for the reasons you’ve outlined above. It sounds very disruptive and chaotic.

Is your accommodation so bad that they are compelled to visit & do repairs so much? Are you/dog/kids damaging the property?

It’s very intrusive and you do have rights. Do your research.

You'll have the date of the next inspection Email and suggest that the LL doesn't bring her daughter as you are unable to accommodate her on this occasion. Therefore you'd prefer it was just the one person doing the inspection. You are not concerned which person does the inspection but. you'd be happier if it was just one person as this is normal and how it used to be previously.

I am a landlord. The owner should be coming when it is convenient to you, not the other way around. This is a business and she sounds very unprofessional. She should organise her work day to leave early or start a little later to inspect the property. She also doesn’t need to be present when repairs are being carried out.

Maybe suggest she comes over to inspect when you’re out walking the dog and at a time when your dcs are not present eg at school. You should tell her coming at this inconvenient time is distressing your dcs and her dd and that much as you appreciate the work is completed in a timely manner, you can no longer afford to send the dog to daycare so that she can bring her dd. Moreover that her dd is upsetting your children, especially when going into their private spaces so you would appreciate if if you could find a workable solution for all.

Botton line, the ll is extremely unprofessional and you need to work on boundaries.

OUTRAGEOUS behaviour from your LL.

I would explain about your child being autistic and you need to minimise visitors to your home. Do not let her walk over you on this.