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.

It was in the TDS, but at that point I was so done with the twat whole thing I couldn't be arsed to fight anymore. Still kick myself about it though, 5 years later.....

Awww, sorry to hear that, renting can be absolutely soul-destroying and grind you down. My last landlady was also an arrogant, entitled battleaxe but luckily we did get our deposit back!

How much is the deposit? I would withhold the amount from your last two months payment and tell her she can keep the deposit and that settles it.

Under RRB if she ended the tenancy on the grounds that she is selling then she cant just refurbish and re-let at a higher rent. She must put it on the market and cannot relet for 1 year, Keep an eye on the property. If she tries to refurbish and re-let within the year grass her to the council.

Ive already grassed one agent with whom I had an issue for not being registered with the HMRC money laundering data base. That will mean a few forms for them to fill up.

In your place I would be exacting a very bitter revenge. But then I am a bitch.

I know you want this over because it's stressful OP but you cannot leave, allowing her free access, whilst you are still in the tenancy agreement. You will be liable for utilities, council tax and any damage caused by workmen. You're setting yourself up for all sorts of issues.

As she won't comply with the law, you need to change the lock - do it so you keep the barrel and then put it back when you leave.

Yeah you’ve noticed a good point on here op. Confirm to her that it’s not appropriate for you to remain liable as the tenants and pay rent while she is arranging for works in the property that you have no control over.

Best thing is to agree to end tenancy early as per your original contract.

Rightly or wrongly I don’t think her husband being ill should be being brought into our end of tenancy arrangements, if this is stressing her out unduly when he’s unwell waiting until we have left is even more sensible as she no longer has to keep arguing with us over access as I’m sure she sees the situation.
They have a large number of properties and she was telling us all about how they sold a house earlier this year and apparently helped the tenants find and move into a new property so I really don’t think she can be struggling with this.

She only brought him up when I said I wasn’t happy at her coming and going so much when the house would be empty soon enough and that it was actually upsetting my son who is already having to deal with the stress of moving. As son as I mentioned my son she started ranting about how her husband is unwell and she needs to protect her family. Just smacked of manipulation and shutting down my objections, especially since she immediately left and slammed the door on me.

You have a CONTRACT. You leave at the time your contract says, not when she decides. If that's one month, it's one month.

That should help her, as she can then get all of the work done in the month before anyone new comes in.

I think (though I may be wrong) that the only thing you have to let anyone in for is viewings for the next tenants.

You do not have to stay for two months if you have a contract that states otherwise. Don't pay an extra month's rent when you don't have to.

Well based on the advice on this thread I’m not sure we’ll be giving her any keys after all, she might see this as revenge 😅
I hadn’t considered any damage to the property and no way am I going to be on the hook for that. And petty or not after her attitude to me this morning why on earth should I do her any favours.

I keep seeing your title and reading it as you being pissed off with Our Lady 🙀

If she tries to enter without giving you 24 hours notice, she has to prove what the emergency she needs to deal with is. If she can't do that, and you say she can't enter, she either leaves it or breaks the law. It's that simple.

Read your tenancy agreement. There are usually clauses which state that except in the case of emergency the landlord must give reasonable notice if they wish to exercise right of entry in accordance with the reserved rights in the agreement . Her conduct is verging on harassment, although given you have given your notice, there is nothing in practice you can do ( especially if she is holding your original deposit which presumably will be returned) ., other than telling her to stop the invasion of your right to privacy,.

Just remember to take photos of all the meters as you walk out as well as walls, doors, skirting, garden etc and make note of any calls to any utility that you make.

Set your redirection of your mail for a full 12 months.

Do not give her an INCH.

Ha my husband just messaged me to say she’s mentioned a couple of times in a further email that they are away the week we move out, so I’m guessing she wants stuff lined up before they go on holiday but it begs the question why was she trying to gain access on our moving day if she’s not going to be here? Wondering if she’s got her dates all muddled up again. Really worried now she’s just going to start using her own keys as she just doesn’t seem to have a handle on what on earth she’s actually doing. The front door isn’t a standard door so no lock changing possible. Maybe we should lean on her to accept end of August as our last rent date.

The OP chose to give notice as she's buying her own property, so LL didn't evict.
No need for 'revenge' just for OP to be clear about her rights and to stand her ground and make all her decisions based on these rights.
OP- you can empathise about her sick husband, but you need to make it clear that it doesn't affect your legal rights etc. and shouldn't make things more difficult.
The professional thing for your landlord to do, is just accept that you will be moving out after your one month's notice, and then she can get the decorators and repairs done then. No drama, no bad will or stress between you.
She's been very lucky to have ten years continuous income from you without any void periods and is behaving very badly.

When did you actually give notice in writing and what day of the month do you pay rent on?

Take photos of everything. Walls, carpets, cupboards, stairs- the lot. She sounds as though she’s likely to try to claim for damage

The law says two months and that has precedence over any written terms regarding notice.

The law is very clear - the RRA stipulates 2 months notice irrespective of what the Tenancy agreement says.

Congratulations on the purchase of your new house

That's incorrect- the renters reform information sheet states that if your written tenancy agreement explicitly specifies a 1-month notice period agreed upon by both parties, a shorter notice period written into the contract overrides the standard 2-month statutory default

I'd put a camera above the front door for the remainder of your tenancy, or a ring doorbell. Make it obvious. Then make it clear you are denying access until your tenancy is complete.

To us the notice now required wasn’t especially clear so that’s why we asked her. We’d already budgeted to be paying the last months rent on here and the mortgage on our new house. I just didn’t anticipate her being so hell bent on getting it all ready to be listed to sell while we’re paying for it.

We originally planned not to tell her when we were moving into our new house but seeing how much she was bothering us already and not taking no for an answer we thought it would be less stressful to just get everything sorted and get her off our backs so we weren’t having to come back to the old house every time she wanted access. I really just want to be done with her.

Thank you, we’re so excited about it. It’s taken us forever to save a deposit so almost felt like it’d never happen for us.

This is a good idea. I’d go zero tolerance on her coming in and letting tradesmen in. Presumably while your belongings are there anyone could be helping themselves to anything.