AIBU to think my tenant might be subletting

[landladywithmissingtenant]

I live in a flat in a large block (60 flats in all) I own the one I live in and one other, which I rent out.
I used to see my tenant now and again, probably twice a month or so but I have realised that I haven't seen her in about a year or more. My daughter lives nearby and also used to bump into her quite a lot at the local shop and she says she hasn't seen her in ages either.
She's a retired single lady and it's a single occupancy studio flat.
The other day I was locked out of the main building and I rang her buzzer to ask if she wouldn't mind letting me back in and a man answered and buzzed me in before I'd finished my sentence.
I tried the buzzer again the next day and no-one answered.
Am I being unreasonable to think she might have left the flat and be subletting it? or something more sinister?
And WIBU to go and knock on her door and see if she's there? I'm worried I might come across as harassing her. And what do I say if she answers?

I mean you’re unreasonable to leave that home unattended for a year. You have responsibility to keep that maintenance upkeep including safety checks once a year such as gas safety check. I would assume rent had been paid, so you have a model tenant of them not bothering you for a year to do works or anything (a year MINIMUM) and you seemingly get paid on time each month.

Please tell me that you are joking about the gas safety checks!

Check out post on page 10 - @ThisIsMyYearToFindMyself

Talking about exactly this!

Some if these comments are bizarre

OP, you sound like a lovely landlord

i dont see the harm in knocking/texring and saying, not seen you for ages. Is everything ok?

Subletting is rife in the Social Housing
Sector at the present time..With the Private Sector where l live catching up fast. People think they have the God given right to sublet and are doing nothing wrong.

Just read that the Home Office have no idea on how many people have actually left the country after there Work Visas have expired. So ir doesn't suprise me

l have been a Social Housing tenant on the same site for 39 years

Both Public and Private sector properties are also being widely used. as Cannabis Farms and unofficial AirBnB's where l live

l live above a flat that has had umpteen single Middle Eastern, young single men staying there over the past three years. They even get the use of a car during their stay;

They all work for short periods of time in a local takeaway ,which is run by the alleged official tenant who who has never lived in the flat below .

The guest workers then disappear off the face of the earth after a few months without trace..

The takeaeay in question is not registered with the local Coucil for a hygiene certificate. And the company that allegedly owns the takeaeay was struck off several years ago accordingly to Companies House for not returning their annual accounts

They also like to put the discarded food and other rubbish from the takeway in mine and other tenants bins. I now have to chain mine up to stop them

Several tenants have reported this sublettins fiasco to the Housing Association. Who said the so called official tenant is doing nothing wrong.

Translated. This means they couldn't give a shit and that the tenant is obviously paying the rent. Which is all they are bothered about.

Local Estate agents seem to have a similar attitude about privately owned rented properties .And are not to be trusted

I would see a proper Solicitor about this matter and get these people evicted

Good Luck.

@SemiRetiredLoveGoddeess

That’s appalling. This country is going to the dogs and the authorities don’t give a damn.

This thread is hilarious 😂 hope you hear from your tenant soon OP.

Maybe check the electoral roll. It could have been a relative but if I were you, I'd press the buzzer around the same time as you did last time and if a man answers, say have I got the right number for -whatever her name is. If he says no, then you know something strange, if he says yes, say could you buzz me in please I've forgotten my key, I'm the landlord and live here as well. But if she is subletting it needs sorting because you still have to get whoever it is out, so would probably have to go to court.

WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE GAS

IT’S ALL ELECTRIC

I have French doors at the back of my ground floor flat that open out onto my little terrace and then a gate from there into the outside world. I mostly use that entrance, in fact, I never use any other. There is a front door which opens onto the corridor in the main building but I never use it, it's just for the postman.

I had locked myself out but had given a spare key my my daughter - but she only had the key to my never used front door, as I had new French doors put in a few months ago and I never gave her a key. To access that, I needed to go round the front and down a million staircases and corridors to get back in my flat.
Daughter now has a French door key.

I hope that clears that up :)

I think they think they are clever and are pleased with themselves for coming up with an original comment or they think they are going to catch the OP out, and then when it's pointed out that what they've said is irrelevant/was clearly explained in or by the OP/has been said a million times, they feel silly and get defensive.

I know that sounds bitchy but I think that's the process

(little) UPDATE: Note posted this morning before I went out giving 24hrs notice that I will be entering the flat for checks as I have heard nada from my note, and her phone still isn't connecting. Daughter has messaged on Facebook too, still nothing.
Will be going in at 9:30am tomorrow and will update!

If something criminal has taken place you've given them so much time to hide the evidence 🙈 landlords have a wonderful clause in their tenancy agreements that say admittance without notice for emergencies is permitted. I'd have been in there the first day you didn't get a response.

None of my landlords that let themselves in whenever they fancied ever got repercussions 🤷🏻‍♀️ the law just doesn't care unless in rare cases when it's tantamount to harassment. Not that I want to give unethical landlords any ideas...

If something criminal has taken place you've given them so much time to hide the evidence 🙈
maybe, but there's a process to these things that needs to be followed

landlords have a wonderful clause in their tenancy agreements that say admittance without notice for emergencies is permitted. I'd have been in there the first day you didn't get a response.
I have little - no evidence there's an Emergency. This is a person that's both my customer and my friend. I can't just go bursting into her home.

None of my landlords that let themselves in whenever they fancied ever got repercussions 🤷🏻‍♀️ the law just doesn't care unless in rare cases when it's tantamount to harassment.
That doesn't make it right. "I won't get caught/nothing will happen to me" doesn't make things morally legally right.

Not that I want to give unethical landlords any ideas...
Why say that then? you know they're unethical and you don't want to give them ideas and yet for tell me I should have gone straight in there before they had time to "hide the evidence"

I saw your thread on Friday, @landladywithmissingtenant - I hope you get some answers tomorrow.

Oh, brilliant observation! Waiting with bated breath.

Waiting for what? OP answered that an hour ago

Good luck! Hope there’s a simple explanation.

@landladywithmissingtenant please do not carry out an inspection alone. Please take someone with you.

Good idea.

Yes I’d say it’s definitely a good idea to take someone with you.

I'm surprised you haven't gone in under the guise of a gas safety inspection in all honesty...

😂😂😂

I suspect tomorrow’s inspection is merely going to be an inspection of the front door and its’ chapper (I hope it’s also a noun as well as a verb?)

I doubt anyone is going to open the door to you but yes don’t go alone.