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.

This does not only make you a mug, it leads you legally liable for any damage caused after you hand back the keys. Do not do this under any circumstances. If you hand the keys back early that must be the end of your tenancy and you pay rent only until that date.

That's bang out of order. And must be so frustrating seeing her desperate to fix all the things she refused to while you actually needed them.

You've every right to refuse them access until you've stopped paying rent? But it's ridiculous what she's doing as she knows you're paying a month when you won't even be there. So why not get these people in then? Even then potentially it's still your flat so she'd still need permission. She can't have it both ways?!

You don’t have to allow her access, that is the law. Re-give notice for end of August or 10th September, why on earth are you paying til end of September when you don’t have to? Tenants only have to give one month’s rent. Clean up, take pics, she can’t whinge about returning the deposit. She’s being a very cf and is breaking the law by insisting on entering if you don’t agree. I would not dare behave that way, even when my idiot alcoholic tenant stopped paying rent because I gave him notice after many calls to the police re his behaviour from neighbours.

This is why people who have rented hate landlords - because unfortunately, many of them are like this. And when you're renting you tend to be young and a bit clueless, and they use it to their advantage.

You need to educate yourself on your rights and what's in your contract, and use that to tell her to get lost. You don't need to keep the peace with her anymore, you're going. We had one who used to turn up drunk and breathe whiskey fumes all over us while he tried to gain entry to 'check' things at 9pm at night. No thank you.

Ignore the shouting, call the police if she tries to gain access. It will probably scare her into stopping. Enjoy having your own place - it's the BEST feeling.

Exactly, this is why renters hate landlords - too many are greedy chiselling shits.

She’s selling up and was telling us what a fantastic time it is to sell and how good the housing market is right now (considering we’ve been house hunting in this area I can confidently say she’s wrong on that for a start.) so in her mind she probably thinks it’ll be sold before our rent runs out.

She doesn’t have a right to keep turning up, and furthermore I’d tell her that if she wants access to start work after you leave but before the end of the tenancy, she’ll need to rebate the rent. Why should she be able to treat the place like it’s untreated while getting rent from you?
Or alternatively, just don’t pay the extra rent. Let her argue it through the courts ( she won’t) . She’s being a CF.

This!

Don’t be liable for a house that she or a tradesman could damage while you aren’t in it.

Get advice. Work out a plan and stick to it. Tell her what it is.

So what happens when you move out, you do your end of tenancy clean, meanwhile she's got various tradesmen in and out making it dirty again, is she going to dock your deposit if its got dust everywhere when the contract is officially up, long after you've left? I think you need to come to a written agreement of expectations or i would be organising the end of tenancy clean for the very last day of your contract. She presumably wants it rented out again before your contact is officially up, but there are still rules and laws that she needs to follow. To be honest based on the interactions you've mentioned, she seems unreasonable and unlikely to follow the rules.

take photos of everything , walls, carpets cupboards, inside cupboards , every single area of the house and outside areas.

on the day you move out, take meter readings, and take photos as evidence as well, and report them to the water and electric companies and then after that, the Landlady will be liable for those expenses from that date onwards. Also advise council tax asap.

The Government and CAB guidance seems to infer that you only need to give 1 month as per your original TA , but there are different specifications. I would ask Shelter and CAB for advice.

We know this, to be honest I just don’t want to be dealing with constantly having her messaging us to try gain access and telling her no. There’s no way she’ll accept a blanket no, her messaging will be relentless and after ten years of her being a bit of a twat I just want to get rid of her for the sake of my mental health.

Move out as intended (1 month) and end your direct debit for the final month. She can then do whatever she likes with her pension. I mean, her house.

Are you sure she’s actually selling up or has she got someone else lined up to move in during your notice period? I’d be suspicious that’s the case.

I would be tempted to ask the solicitor handling your purchase to send her a letter confirming the legal position.

Also, I would check that since it's private rental, that your deposit is in a deposit scheme. If it's not, I wouldn't necessarily be an arse about suing her UNLESS she quibbles about giving your full deposit back.

Tell her the house is yours until the end of the 2 months notice period which she insisted on and refused to shorten, so you will not be allowing her access for anything other than genuine emergencies. Measuring and long awaited for now non urgent fixes/upgrades/repairs are not emergencies. Tell her you will vacate fully at the end of the 1st month's notice in exchange for being released from the 2nd month of the notice period and a full return of your security deposit on the day, or she can wait until the 2 months are up. And you will pursue her legally for the return of the security deposit.

Just mute her after saying We said No and will no longer engage with you on any of this.

Yes, this. We had one who hassled us to leave early, saying he was selling... then up it popped for rent a month later, with a new kitchen (which we'd told him was falling apart), for £100 more per month.

Just say, politely but firmly, NO, and for gentle emphasis, add: you batshit cheeky fucker cowbag.

To everyone asking about our deposit, it’s held in a proper scheme. We haven’t damaged the property but it’s very tired looking and the laminate flooring which wasn’t fitted properly is knackered so we anticipate her trying to claim it to replace it but after ten years of us living her I don’t think she’ll be successful.

I messaged my husband to let him know she’s claimed he agreed tomorrows visit and he was furious, there were no dates mentioned for the decorator to come at all except for moving day which was a flat no from us. He was going to message her again after a meeting but by the time he’d come out of it she’d already emailed him to say she understands moving is stressful and will defer any other appointments until after next week, exactly like he’d previously asked her to… I’d like to think it’s because she’s realised she’s being unreasonable but I suspect she actually forgot to mention this visit and when she couldn’t back up her claims that we’d agreed she had to back down. She’s been a nightmare for dates in the last year or so, constantly tells you one date and the tradesman another and gets dates mixed up, at one point she told us the wrong room was being painted so we cleared it out ready then had to rush to empty the right one on the day…. We were actually beginning to wonder if she may have some mild dementia going on as she never used to be like this.

I hadn’t actually thought about the implications of her doing any work after we’ve paid to clean it all. I’ll have to discuss it with my husband and decide what to do there. To be honest I’ve been so focused on packing and getting all the end cleaning and gardening booked in that it never occurred to me that we’re still liable.

You have a right to quiet enjoyment and they need to give 24 hours notice and you have to agree to the visit, unless it’s an emergency which this is not. She’s broken that so as others have said, negotiate the end of the tenancy for warlier, or suggest rent reduction for the 4 days she’s singly come and also state that all contact will now be in writing. Ignore the histrionics and stick to the facts. Shelter is decent for information.

Your landlord is being completely unreasonable and I would suggest hasn't read the details of the RRA, this is a very grey area and seems to have been missed, however there is a school of thought that if your previous notice period was one month the expectation is that remains. I'm a landlord (a good one I hope) and I think you need to address the additional months notice/rent. Her e is some useful background.
www.mydeposits.co.uk/content-hub/tenant-notice-periods-under-the-renters-rights-act-from-1-may-2026/

Block her number unless you need to contact her

If it's not, they can sue her for 3 times the deposit so that would be a win!

She can't access the property until you hand the keys back once the tenancy ends. Don't allow her in until then