Landlords as neighbours

[Nmchnger]

We were unexpectedly evicted (no fault eviction, landlady suddenly decided to sell up) after living in our previous property for over 10 years. In Yorkshire (as it appears in most of the country) the rental market is a nightmare at the minute and we struggled to find somewhere, it did look for a while like we were going to be homeless but at the last minute we found a beautiful house on a lovely street.

It was all done through an agency. When we turned up to view the neighbours were in the garden and we had a brief chat. It now transpires that they are our landlords and told the agency not to disclose this. I love the house and due to the necessity looking back I don't think it would have made a difference, but I sometimes feel like we're under constant surveillance and I do feel a bit duped by the agency. AIBU to feel like we should have been told?

Yeah they should have stayed inside I think. For what it is worth ours live behind us and it's fine

They don’t. All that needs to be listed is address of their agent and one to serve notices too.

The landlords name and address should be on the tenancy agreement, so you should have had an opportunity to see this info before you signed the tenancy agreement and were committed?

Oh that's awful, I'd hate that too. As others have said I guess it depends on how the landlady is as a person, hopefully she just wants a quiet life and to be left alone, and will do the same in return. How did you find out she was the landlady by the way, did she tell you?

YABU. You don’t have a right to know your landlords live next door.

How did it come out that they were your landlords? I find it strange that they would ask it not to be disclosed and then tell you anyway.

My MIL once owned a house that was on our street that she rented out, managed by an agency, once the tenant found out who we were they were knocking on our door at all hours for this and that. We had a dog that barked when someone knocked on the door, a toddler and I was pregnant with number 2 but they seemed to think it was perfectly reasonable to come to us rather than contact the agent no matter how many times we told them to. The man could be very reactive (though the woman was lovely) and being home on my own during the day on my own I didn't feel comfortable with this. For this reason I would ask the agent to do the same thing, which is why I think it would be strange they would just go ahead and tell you anyway.

I have a close friend who had neighbours is this situation. They chose not to disclose as they didn’t want tenant hassling them and wanted any issues to go through proper channels. They wanted the privacy. They picked you - so well done you passed their test. If you like the house forget it. If you feel they are overstepping the mark - look for somewhere new and once you move tell the agency why. If you like the house but they hassle you- put them straight they aren’t allowed to do so. And take it up with letting agency. I rented for a while and my landlord always gave me notice if anyone was coming round to eg service boiler. He didn’t even bother doing 6 month inspection- I assume whoever did the service told him house was well looked after. He was a great landlord and to be fair I was a great tenant

I lived in a top floor apartment of a ‘three family home’ in NYC for eight years. The tenants in the two apartments below me never knew that I was their landlord. I don’t think it would have served any of us well. They paid their rent to an agency and the property was owned by my company. I understand it from the landlords perspective but I probably wouldn’t have been inclined to disclose the information after the event.

I had something similar! I was looking a for a 1 bed apartment and found an amazing one in a block of 4. I really loved it and was amazed to find out that the landlord had chosen me out of another 5 applications to rent (crazy Bristol rental market). On the day I came to get the keys the landlord came to give them to me and gave all his contact details along with the paperwork. He then proceeded to say that if I did have any problems and couldn't get in touch with him I could knock on the flat below mine or the flat next to mine as his 2 sons lived in the building. I was really shocked!! Fortunately all worked out and they were a lovely family but I was definately a bit worried if I ever had friends or my boyfriend over. Should definately have been disclosed in my opinion.

The reason most landlords prefer not to inform a tenant if they live close is so they aren't bothered day and night with jobs and complaints. They want you to be able to go through the agency/estate agent for that without knowing they are there. So I wouldn't take offence it's definitely not creepy as people are saying. Landlords have he right to their privacy and some tenants can be a handful that's why they pay a comp at to manage them. So they are dealing with as little as possible.

sounds awful and they definitely will be checking up on you. We have a nearby landlord who still uses a garage directly next to ours, they live across the street, and any excuse to move things back and forth while having a nosey in the windows and gardens they do!

I would hate to live next door to my landlords. Our neighbour used to report to our landlord when we hadn't cut the grass in the time he deemed acceptable. And I thought that was too much!

No you are not. The agent acts for the landlord.