Anyone else’s Landlord do this? AIBU to be irritated?

[Specksofwhiteallaround]

For context we’ve been renting this house from our Landlady for just over ten years now and she’s hands down the most intrusive landlord I’ve ever had. Can be very free with her opinions on how we live and has form for dropping in unannounced as she’s passing by, if she does let us know she’s coming it’s with as little notice as possible.
So fairly or not I find her very irritating generally but what’s really annoying me is the last couple of years she's developed a habit of scheduling in visits to the house every single time my son is off school. My son has autism and attends a special school, he really doesn’t like having strangers in our home which she is aware of. As my husband frequently travels for work at short notice I don’t work so she could come anytime during term time but she repeatedly turns up during the holidays, usually with one days notice and disrupts our plans. I just don’t understand why she herself wouldn’t rather come when my sons at school, everything is tidied away etc.
The last straw is her texting me at 6:30am on bank holiday Monday to say she wanted to call in at some point that afternoon to drop in some paperwork to us. She wasn’t too happy at being told we weren’t available that short notice but agreed to reschedule so now she’s coming today at some point between late morning and early afternoon so we’re wasting a day just hanging around waiting for her and I spent the hottest day of the year deep cleaning downstairs to circumvent comments on my not having hoovered over the bank holiday weekend and how my son really doesn’t need that many toys out…
Is anyone else’s landlord like this? Am I unreasonable to find this annoying and wish she’d try to schedule this in outside of the holidays?

Then she can send it by recorded delivery.

She’s in her seventies and being a landlord is her full time occupation so I think she could probably do term time quite easily. I really think she does it as she knows the house will just not be as clean when my son is off school and it keeps us on the backfoot. He's very full on so it’s just not easy to maintain show home standards when he’s home, I usually get everything done when he’s in school.

We're hugely flexible with repairs and maintenance etc, she and her husband were in here four days after Christmas Day ripping out our stair carpet as it suited them to do it then for carpet being laid in mid January with no complaints. People are probably right that we’ve been too accommodating out of a fear of eviction.

TBH she's pissing ME off now.

Please make a nte of everything in case she tries something over the deposit.

Good luck on your new house.

You don’t have to agree to her schedule. Say ‘sorry that doesn’t work for us - we can do X, Y or Z instead’.

Also she needs to give 24 hours notice. It’s the law.

When I rented my landlord would arrange when to come for visits for inspections.

Unless your house is in absolute squalor and is a risk of introducing pests or causing irreparable property damage the state of your house is none of her business at all.

Homes are for living in. If she doesn't like how her properties look when families live in them, then she shouldn't be a landlord.

She shouldn’t be commenting on the house when she’s not there for an official inspection. She has to give warning of inspections and dropping off paperwork isn’t an excuse for an impromptu inspection.

You’re well protected as a tenant. Tell her you will now require 24 hours notice of any and all visits as is the law. Tell her you are happy to accommodate 1/2 official inspections with notice per year but that she isn’t to criticise how you live your life in between.

People without kids are only vaguely aware of when school holidays are.

But otherwise, should be giving more notice etc and expecting to put paperwork through the door.

Are you aware of the law? It doesn’t matter if your rent is below market nor what is in the contract - that doesn’t trump the law.
LL or their agents must give 24 hour notice.
They can come for these reasons: property I did tion (every three months, six months it annually are the norm; it must be ‘reasonable’);
Visits must be at YOUR convenience.
The ONLY exception is in case of a serious emergency like a gas leak or burst water pipe.
While in the interest of good relations you should reply promptly and, if they’re have a good reason to visit (ie, an inspection), then propose an alternative time.
If you feel they are harassing you, then it can cross the legal threshold according to the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
It doesn’t matter that she wants you to sign something to say you’ve received it - she can send it signed for special delivery. There’s no requirement for you to sign it just because she wants you to.
So as I and many other posters have said, she needs to give notice and even then it has to be for a good reason. Just. Say. No. If she repeatedly harasses you, report her to your council.
I’d take the lead here and establish a boundary moving forward . So what you’ve been there ten years, start now.
Send her an email or letter, stating from now on, as per Landlord and Tenants Rights Act 1985, you require 24 hour notice of any visits, and these visits are only for necessary reasons: gas certificate, emergency repairs, or pre arranged inspections. Any communication in future must be by mail, email or if by telephone during normal business hours. Furthermore, I list below certain issues that require your attention (broken towel rail etc). I look forward to you arranging with me a time for these issues to be addressed.
keep a log of everything. She can’t evict you unless you breach the lease (oh and has she sent you the new Renters Right Act stuff? Is that what she is giving you today)?
Start making a stand.

Wtf she thinks soaking a casserole dish isn't allowed?! What a weirdo. I hope your house buy goes through quickly but please read up on your rights. As everyone has said, you don't have to let her in, and you need to read up on your rights, including what she'll be allowed to claim from your deposit. After 10 years and few repairs, it'll be very little. Make sure you take date stamped videos and photos when you leave. Get your partner on board too, you're being too passive.

And don't sign things if you don't know what you're signing for! She could have emailed the document instead. "you can comply by sending a copy of the document as an attachment "
https://www.nrla.org.uk/news/renters-rights-act-your-tenant-information-sheet-guide#:~:text=you%C2%A0can%20comply%20by%20sending

As a LL this sort of stuff really pisses me off - crappy LLs are the reason for the new legislation that is driving many good LLs out of the market. They don’t obey pre-existing legislation (a tenant’s right to privacy has been law for a long time), and probably won’t follow the new regs either while we are adding cost by following everything to the letter.
https://www.birketts.co.uk/legal-update/the-privacy-of-your-tenants-how-important-is-it/

Anyone worried about LL letting themselves in, it's easy enough to change a Yale lock. Keep the old one so you can change it back again upon leaving. Then only you will have keys to the property. The LL will never know you've done it unless they try to let themselves in, which is illegal. So if they call you out on it, they've automatically given you a reason for refusing to give them a copy of the key, because you'll both know they tried to let themselves in.

She can book in a time to come to do inspections. No need for other visits, including paperwork or stairs carpet.

tenants have a ‘right to quiet enjoyment’, which is doesn’t seem you’re being given, especially not if she is commenting on the amount of toys your son has out which seems very odd!

My last landlord was like this. He once had a massive go at me because the skirting boards were dusty. He said he and his wife would never “keep house” like this.

He also liked to go through the bins and comment on what I used / threw away (he lived next to the property I rented).

When he did his inspections, he would look in the oven, fridge, cupboards etc. And comment on everything.

When I moved, he tried to keep the entire deposit without going through the deposit scheme (ie by asking me to transfer him £x, when I mentioned having to negotiate through the scheme he said he didn’t know how to).

Ive had a few landlords like this actually - that run their rental properties as if they are air BnBs and treat all tenants like kids.

Anyway OP. She sounds infuriating.

Surely the lease prevents this level of harassment. What happens when you say you will support one visit per year for her to view the state of the property and that’s it?

I will say OP - personally I have zero idea when term time is as I don’t have school
aged kids. So it may not be deliberate on her part.

Our tenancy agreement state that locks cannot be changed without permission.

And they are Banhma locks that you can't get changed unless you take ID to Banham.

I really would not recommend that the poster changes the locks.

id be telling her - you come at 5pm or whatever time suits you, or drop the paperwork off and I will look at it and you can return to pick it up at designated time.

I certainly not be kept waiting for someone to turn up

2 inspections a year is surely all that is needed along with gas certificate, which is annual and a 5 yearly electric.

What are these xtra visit for? tell her to reschedule at the inspection

Bide your time and the minute you give her notice become so difficult.
No viewings at all in the house before you leave.
Report her for her constantly depriving you of quiet enjoyment of your property.

When the next tenant moves in, drop a note through the door giving them a heads up to what a complete PITA she is.

Best of luck.

Her behaviour and demands are illegal. You have protected rights as a tenant and as a parent of a disabled child.

Familiarise yourself with the law (CAB or Shelter are helpful), and be more assertive. This is on you to push back now.

But the point is they won't ever know! Unless they try to let themselves in, which they're not allowed to do. They can't win with it. My comment was a general one not aimed at OP as I don't think she's having this particular problem.

Your landl has no right to turn up to your house without notice unless it’s an emergency. You have a right to quiet enjoyment of your HOME! Look at the Shelter website for more information.
Do you have a copy of the tenancy agreement or where they have lodged your deposit?
it’s clear they have very little understanding of their rights or obligations as a landlord!
Get yourself informed on YOUR rights and obligations as a tenant.

She doesn’t have children or grandchildren herself so at first I assumed it was just coincidence but last year she mentioned in conversation a few times about having great nieces and nephews visiting during half term and planning holidays around that so I think she does have some awareness.

I wasn’t too impressed when she tried to schedule the first bit of decorating over half term and the painter and decorator said oh that’s half term maybe the week after is better and she tried to tell him it didn’t matter as I wouldn’t mind. It just didn’t seem to occur to her it was easier for him without a very loud kid wandering around while he’s working and that maybe I would mind not being able to take my son out when I wanted during a week off school.

Just a minute. As Agapornis has mentioned above, your landlord has a legal requirement to send out a copy of the Renters Rights Act to you, and should have done this by now. The deadline for doing this was 31 May, which has now passed. Thankfully my EAs took on this task (at a price) and my own tenant has received a copy, but, if there are no EAs involved here, your landlord is now liable for a £7,000 fine. Also, she cannot raise the rent (at standard market rates) more than once a year; under Section 8 of the act, she must give you 4 months notice before requiring you to move out for one of four reasons established by the Act; if she does do this, she cannot rent or sell the property for twelve months thereafter. Even under the old legislation she has been breaking the law left, right and centre. Here's a copy of the Act for you to send her if she isn't aware of it already - unless, of course, this 'paperwork' she's handing over was in fact the Renters Rights Act itself- but she's still past the official deadline