Landlord and contractor

[Alfiecatfus]

So bit of backstory, we have been tenants here for nearly 10 years, only aver contacted the landlord for emergency stuff, basic maintenance like gutter clearing and the odd roof tile etc., we have always sorted ourselves.
On our boundary fence on the neighbours side are some quite well established small trees and large bushes and they are hanging heavily over our side and are starting to attach to the roof on one side. And have damaged the fence in 2 places to the point one part has completely collapsed into the garden. We asked the landlord in February 2021 if he could arrange with the neighbours for them to be cut back and the fence to be mended. He has only just arranged this.

However, he has told us the contractors will be here for a week and is expecting us to give them access to power and water.
Water is fine as there is an outside tap. But there is no external power source.
I am not willing to leave any part of the house unlocked when we are at work, and we both work full time. We dont have any small windows we could leave open for an extension lead and I really dont see why we should foot the electric bill for this work.
AIBU?

I get your point but if they need power tools for the job which they no doubt will
there a bit stumped really

If it’s the neighbour’s vegetation causing issues, surely the neighbour supplies the power or is that too not an option? Can LL negotiate that? It’s the LL responsibility structurally look after his investment.

Can the contractor run power tools off a petrol driven generator? (I’ve no idea. Just trying to think outside the box.)

Yeah I get that, I really do. But I can’t take a week off work and Im really not comfortable with them having access to my home when Im not here

Then tell your landlord that. It may be though that they only need power for a small part of the job.

YABU

The work needs doing, you want the work done.

What do you suggest they do? Is there really no way of running an extension cable out of the house?

The power that they use will be minimal

What would you do if you owned the house?

Run an extension lead out a window for them.

Could the landlord not be there to supply power and unlock/lock the door.

The alternative is the work does not get done.

We had some tree and fence work done recently - they used their own tools and there was no request to use our power.

An upstairs window with a really long lead if you're that paranoid. They're hardly going to climb up your drain pipe to get in the slightly ajar window and have a root through your drawers.

This is part of adulting
How would you deal with this situation if you owned your
house?

So true. You've asked for this and 2 years later it's finally being sorted and now you want to cut your nose off to spite your face.

I am surprised they don't use tools that are either petrol or battery operated. Our gardening contractors never need to use power at our property (NB we are a block of flats)

It would be best to facilitate the request to get the work done . Otherwise it won't get done.
The suggestion on here to use the long extension lead from small bathroom
window seems a good one . The cost of electricity will be minimal.
Don't cut off your nose....