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?

That at least explains you have sucked this up for ten years.

However neither you nor your husband to have once raised her rudeness and the way she talks to you before would indicate that you need to toughen up a bit as you’re about to embark on buying your first home and you don’t want to be walked over

Legally she has to give you two months notice now to increase your rent, so get on her case and tell her a months notice is illegal.

I’ll hold my hands up to not challenging her over her comments to a degree but I don’t just sit there and take it either. Today for example when she made the comment about my sons toys I did reply four kallax cubes is not a lot, and they do tidy away easily when he’s at school, she just laughed and said I must need a declutter… I'm pretty sure it’s not really the amount she’s commenting on, from other comments it seems like she thinks twelve year old boys are too big for toys. After this long I’ll admit it’s easier to ignore it, I’m going getting into it with her why my son still likes his physical toys.

Your family members are breaking the law

you said she speaks to you and your husband like children.

in this very example…. She laughs at you!!

Please please toughen up before embarking on buying your first home as you risk being v much taken advantage if if you don’t speak up

but seemed pointless complaining about the lack of notice

You don't need to complain and it isn't pointless. It'll save you money.

How much notice did she actually give you? And this was only verbal, not in writing? Did she send/give you a Section 13 form 4 at any point for any of the rent increases? https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/rent_increases/periodic_tenancy

Your tenancy agreement likely states the notice period for rent increases. All you do is send an email saying "hi LandShit, thanks for your earlier visit on 15 April. As per your proposal and the 1 month notice period detailed in the tenancy agreement, we agree to the increased rent of £1005, the new rental period starting 1 June."
OR "hi LandShit, thanks for your earlier visit. Could you please put your rent increase proposal in writing? Thanks."

We can help you if you'd like us to, both with the deposit, keeping things legal, and your right to quiet enjoyment, but I don't get the impression you want to change or improve anything? It's okay if you just want to let off steam, but she is acting illegally.

I get why you have stayed - we have stayed longer in certain places than we otherwise would due to things like location, size, timing etc

Your landlord has no right to enter the property without your agreement - whatever she says she wants to do or say there!
she also has no right to pass comment on your son’s toys or your belongings within the property.

stop letting her in, stop answering the door. She is harassing you by going on this way!

my landlord hasn't stepped foot in my house in 13 years. I wouldn't be happy with that.

The last rent increase was zero notice, no idea she was increasing it until she told us and gave us it in writing to sign right then.
Dh will be sorting out the deposit, hopefully she won’t be a problem but I think mentally I’ve written it off just in case she is.
I posted partly to vent but also to see if anyone else has had similar, everyone else I know who’s renting has landlords like our previous ones, they see them once a year and if something needs fixing only so sort of wondered are ones like ours common or are we unlucky.
We're at the stage of having the survey booked in on the house we’re hoping buy so fingers crossed it all goes well and I never have to see her again.

Just tell her that, since you have an autistic son, you find the visits inconvenient and stressful and will, going forwards, allow one inspection per year pre arranged in advance with however much notice she legally has to give.

That's it. Don't entertain it any more. Be very direct with how disruptive the visits are.

Do you mean that you had to pay the increased rent from that same/next day? (illegal) Or did she make you sign it on 1 April and then you had to pay more from 1 May? (legal if your notice period was 1 month)

She cannot insist you signed it there and then, you're allowed to take time to think about it without her presence. A rent increase has to mutually agreed. It also has to be done through a Section 13 form 4. If she didn't use that form, it's an illegal rent increase.

Please try to be a bit more savvy. As a homeowner you have to be aware of scams like door to door roofing/windows people.

I don’t suppose it’d be worth reminding her that legally you are entitled to ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the property, which to me does not include the LL endlessly dropping in.
I say this as a LL myself.

My son literally hid behind his desk when she walked in so not sure how more obvious it can be that her coming when he’s home disrupts him 😬
Weirdly I think that because she’s known him since he was a toddler and he’s always reacted that way to her it just doesn’t translate to her that he does it because he finds people he’s not familiar with in the house hard, I think she just views it as something he does? She gives the impression of being very busy so it feels awkward trying to insist on alternative dates for short things like today’s paperwork. Only us physically not being here seems to be acceptable for us saying no. She tried a couple of times in the earlier years to suggest she could come and let in gas engineers as we were away, after being told no several times she did at least drop that, although it does remind me she has keys and worry one day she’ll use them.

Yeah she's not going to just pick up on it herself... just tell her in writing! And don't answer the door to her if she comes unannounced or at a time you've already said doesn't work for you.

Ah no the increase was for the next months rent, it just came completely out of the blue as she used to give us notice in a text at that she would be speaking to us about rent. That occasion she just dropped it on us with no previous mention. But no she didn’t specifically quote any specific sections just said that as her costs had increased and it had been x amount of time since the last increase it would be going up by x amount, was that ok. Didn’t seem much point asking to discuss it as we weren’t in a position to be giving notice or anything. It was legal, just a bit crappy to drop it on us like that I thought, if it wasn’t for the new renters rules I’d be wondering every time she’d ask to see us if she was dropping another increase.

You’re out, if she wants proof you have it, she can take a photo of her posting it through your door

am i correct in thinking that only ONE rent rise allowed per year as of the new renters law?

Push back. “Can I come round tomorrow?” No, sorry, that’s not possible. Come <insert day> at 2pm (or whatever)

you hold the cards here love.

if she comes unannounced - make sure she can’t get in with a key - then don’t answer the door, get a ring door bell or something and tell her “not possible now, come next <insert day> in the afternoon

tell her, “no, my son is off this week, it’s not convenient at all, come next week instead, text me when you’re free and we can arrange something

please look up Quiet Enjoyment and Tenants rights. Your landlord has absolutely ZERO RIGHT to enter the home without your express consent. No matter what it says in the contract. You can refuse to allow her access for any reason

Even before the new bill came into action rent increases had to be notified 8 weeks in advance and in writing. Which means a formal letter not a text.

Please tell me you have proof your deposit is held in a secure and legal deposit scheme @Specksofwhiteallaround and that you have current gas and electrical safety certs

Your landlord is an utter cowboy

OP you've been given some great advice by posters who know their stuff and youre not listening to any of it. Your post is AIBU to be irritated - yes, but you're also sitting back and letting it happen

To be fair I was wondering if my irritation was justified and if anyone else was having similar with their landlord. I appreciate the advice on how to deal with her but wasn’t posting on how to stop her gaining entry at this stage. I'm hoping it won’t be too many months until we give notice and I never need to think about her again. It’s nice to know her behaviour is not normal.

I thought it used to be whatever was in the tenancy agreement if rolling, with a minimum of a month? But yes, formal letter in line with Section 13.

On the upside, if the deposit is not actually in a scheme OP could go to court and get 1-3x the deposit amount.

OP you're allowed to change the locks, a basic barrel one from Screwfix is about a tenner. You just have to change the lock back at the end of the tenancy. She has no right to your keys.

She's exactly the type of person who shouldn't be a landlord.

Don't do that - if it's in the deposit protection scheme, you get it back through them. If it isn't, she'll owe you several multiples of it.
You're going to be home owners AND the law change gives you a lot more protection - stand up to her.

I would not have her there when I was out letting herself in! The nosey cow will be looking through drawers the lot

Ugh just got another email from her saying our gas cert is due the first week of June so she wants to come around this Friday at 3pm with the plumbers. I messaged back saying we had actually planned to be out that day and she’s just answered saying it’s the only day she’s free so obviously expecting me to back down. I’ve left DH to deal with it as he’s working from home that day. If I have to hear her comment on the house being messy again after she’s interrupted half term twice at relatively short notice I might finally loose my shit with her.

No need for her to be at the house for gas certificate to be done

added to which it is the same date every year it needs doing by - so she should be more prepared