Annoyed about by our Landlady while we’re moving out.

[Weightwoes]

More of a rant really as I know there’s nothing I can do about this but curious if I’m justified in being annoyed by this.

We’ve rented this house from our landlady for just over decade now but having finally saved a deposit we have bought a house so are moving out. We contacted her to ask how much notice she required in light of the new renters rights changes even thought our contract said one month. She insisted on two months so we’re paying rent up to the end of September although we move on the 18th of August, bit annoying but fine, we figured that meant more wiggle room getting end of tenancy clean and garden tidying booked in. What we
hadn’t anticipated was that she was going to start bringing a seeming endless stream of tradesmen in while we’re packing as she selling up and now all the stuff she refused to fix for us needs doing.
We let in the first few as it was quick but then she tried to come on the day we are moving out and we told her absolutely not. My husband politely messaged her after that to suggest as she has a whole month and a bit of us paying rent where the house will be standing empty where she can do what she wants could she not just wait until then and she just replied with a comment about not doing conflict, whatever she thinks that means.
She was here this morning for the third time in fours days and as she was leaving she dropped in that she’d see me again tomorrow at 6pm. She’d never mentioned this before and when I questioned what it was for she said it was for a a decorator to come measure and eat for painting. I asked how on earth he’s going to manage that when the house is full of boxes etc and she was implying I’d have to make room. I said it wasn’t possible and could she not possibly wait until we’ve left for all this. Well she blew up at me about how her husband is ill and she has every right to come in as much as she wants and left slamming that door.
For the record I’ve met her husband many times over the years and genuinely like him, but I fail to see how waiting until next Wednesday is going to make any difference to his health.
She’s been here twice to measure the same taps and just lingers chatting at me while I’m trying to pack, on Friday she kept a poor plumber chatting in my door way for a good 30 mins. I’m just so stressed with packing and everything else for moving and utterly fed up of her so not sure if it’s just me over reacting and she’s being entirely reasonable.

She's not allowed in at all for none emergency reasons whilst you're paying. Tell her to let you off September or piss off

Tell her she has to give you 24 hours notice and your allowed to refuse if it doesn't work for you.

While you are still paying rent she has no right to come and go as she pleases and you still have the right to quiet enjoyment of your home. Refuse any access for the rest of the time, and you should have checked independently of her what your notice needs to be - what if she'd said 6 months?

We rent directly from her not through an agency so we have to deal with her alone. The new rules suggested two months notice but as our contract originally said one we checked with her and she insisted on it being two which was no surprise really.

@Weightwoes it is your home until your tenancy ends. Unless it is emergency access she CANNOT come round. Even once you have left.

2 months notice AND access?! She has taken you for a mug.

I would tell her that access is not permitted until your tenancy expires, but you are happy to end the contract at the end of August instead.

The expression "you can't have your cake and eat it" springs to mind.

Be assertive.

If she refuses to end the tenancy earlier then just change the lock (very easy - youtube video) then come back on the last day of the tenancy and change it back. Perfectly legal.

I thought that but she was so adamant she has a right to come in and I wasn’t going to keep arguing with her on the doorstep. At this point I suspect even if we said no she’d show up anyway. 100% not moving anything out of the way though so good luck to her getting things measured up.

Yeah, either she agrees a short notice period and gets access after that date, or she fucks off completely until your current end of tenancy.
You can put it more politely but she can't do this.

I agree with changing the locks till the end of tenancy. It doesn't cost much if you do it yourself and it'll focus her mind on what she wants versus what is legally allowed.

Retract - in writing - any permission to enter the property until your end of tenancy.

Have you paid her until the end of September yet?

Please do NOT pay her two months rent for her to renovate her house on your money. She has two choices she can wait until the two months are up or agree for you to leave early. I am a landlord myself.

She can be as adamant as she likes, if you rang the police they'd send her packing.

She’s being completely mad. I imagine she’ll try and withhold deposit too?
it I were you, i would stop making payments now. Take photos / videos and timestamp the tradespeople’s use of your home and the fact she’s given you no/poor notice. She can argue it out if she wants but she’s the one who started it by refusing to keep the home up to standard, changing the rules, and now having all these tradies in.

Oh I’m already fuming that she’s going to be busy fixing up all the stuff we’ve had to live with while we pay for the house. Initially we were going to hand the keys back at the end of notice but I changed by mind when I realised how much of a nightmare she’s going to be with requesting access at a moments notice. At this point I just want to get rid of her and this house.
I was astonished when she said I’ll see you tomorrow as there’d been no email about this, she told me my husband had agreed but I know my husband actually emailed to insist she wait until we’ve vacated so I think she’s lying to gain access. But by that point she was ranting at me about her husband being unwell and that she needs to protect him then she stormed out so I couldn’t say anything more about it.

Why are you agreeing to all of this? Just say no and stop letting her in! I'm not one for conflict myself but you have absolutely nothing to lose by denying her access and ignoring her calls. Just ignore her and leave the keys when you go

Yeah I imagine she thinks that deposit is hers but I will happily challenge it, she’s having enough of my money as it is.

Just be firm with her. Either tenancy ends early or NO ACCESS. She cannot have both.

You are 100 legally within your rights to do this.

Send her a message:

Dear LL. I appreciate you want to update the property and carry out work before letting the property again, but our tenancy doesn't end until September 30th. If you'd like access before this date then I'm happy to end the tenancy at the end of August instead, but otherwise you will need to wait until after the 30th September to access the property. Let me know what works best for you.

It's quite straightforward, OP. Either she agrees the end the tenancy early, or she doesn't get access until the tenancy is over. And that's the case whether her husband is at death's door or not.

She can be as adamant as she likes. She’s wrong. Stand your ground and stop letting her bully you.

I actually thought this was the last visit, I allowed this one as it was just a guy measuring up the front door for replacement and as far as I was concerned my husband had asked her to wait until we leave now and she’d seemingly agreed.

What worries me is that she’s apparently now not above lying about having been given access and she has her own keys. When she was trying to get in on moving day she made a point of saying she has her own keys so can let them in if we’re out by that time. We’ve got cleaners coming in and a few bulky items being collected a few days after we’ve moved and now I’m paranoid she’ll turn up and let herself in thinking it’ll be empty. I think we’re going to have to warn her again that access just isn’t going to work for us then but I’m worried she’ll ignore us. I really resent her for making a stressful time so much worse.

Pop back after the move and shove a fish in the toilet cistern..
Where is your deposit held ?

We are in the same situation as you, our landlady wants to sell once we have moved, she wanted us to but it buy so much needs doing we said no and bought somewhere else.
We are not letting her do any work until the last day of our tenancy.
She would be using our electric and plus we will be paying double council tax.
Legally your landlady cant come in unless you let her, she wants to decorate she has to let you end your tenancy early.

No point having cleaners if she's having workmen in who will make a mess.

I meant like checking with Shelter or other housing websites about how the changes impact your existing lease terms.

tell her she is not welcome until after your tenancy ends and neither are her tradesmen. this is still your home that touve paid for and legally she has no right to be there.

id only pay her the notice period in your contract.

is your deposit protected ie in a scheme ss it’s legally required to be?

Must be a landlord’s rule book they all go by… when we messaged her to give notice we explicitly said we’d exchanged on our new house and she rung my husband up late in the evening to try sell him this house.

I didn’t even think about that. I’m already annoyed I’m paying to get the oven cleaned as per our contract but it’s fit for the bin and I reckon it’ll be going straight to the tip.