or is my landlord?..........

[hatesponge]

will put this in context by saying am having v busy/difficult week, reasons as follows:

• DC are going to Mexico for 2 weeks on Friday with their dad, my Ex. We - DC & I - are very close. I have never spent more than 3 days away from them before (eldest is 10). I am finding thought of them going away for so long a bit sad & painful

• Half my office is out with swine flu/suspected swine flu, couple of people have been hospitalised so atmosphere at work not good - people are both worried & very stressed trying to cover the extra work.

• have been late to/from work every day this week due to train/bus problems, not a big issue I know but annoying

• have been comfort eating, feel like crap & at weekend have to go to close friends v v smart wedding with lots of trendy media type people feeling like a fat heifer

so, am having a shit week......bearing this in mind, I live in a rented house. Been here a little over a year. Have never met landlord but have spoken a couple of times over the phone, exchanged emails etc

Last weekend he phoned twice - I missed the calls - & second time left a message asking me to call.

I was really busy with various things and completely forgot to call back. Monday I had a call from one of his maintenance people, to do annual checks on boiler etc (who needs to come before the end of the month but who tells me he will only come round mon-fri 9-5 when i'm at work - so i tell him i will have to come back to him as a) we are swamped at work as mentione above & b) im reluctant to lose precious holiday on waiting for gas man!), & then landlord phones again - whilst im on phone so leaves another message. I intend to phone back once I'm in a better frame of mind but dont get round to it.

Hr then called again twice yesterday (by which time - as I hate being chased unnecessarily am even less inclined to call back ) and then tonight come home to a note through my door from landlord saying he had called round, he must speak to me URGENTLY & I need to phone him, its IMPERATIVE! (and yes he used those words & caps...)

I will phone tomorrow. But AIBU not to have phoned already (probably but I can live with that ) also AIBU to think landlord is being a BIT excessive? In fairness I could be on holiday - and if I was I certainly wouldnt be phoning him til I got back!

Actually he can'y just enter the property without notice except is strict and very definite circumstances. Our old tenant striped out the kitchen (we saw it in the back garden) and so we know this directly (was all K inthe end, tenant bought house from us)

There's often access arrangements in the tenancy aggreement
It's often 24 hours notice, but yours could say something different.

YABU but it's completely understandable given the awful time you're having at the moment.

You don't need to add landlord trouble onto your list of stresses, so call him and get it out of the way. That way you can tick off at least irritant.

I hope things improve and you can enjoy your fortnight off.

A landlord can let someone into a property instantly in an absolute utter emergency. (Ie. major water leak on to flat below because a tenant has left a tap on and gone on holiday.)

He can also get reasonable access to the property provided that he gives you 48 hours notice.

It is true as a tenant that you have the right to peaceful enjoyment of the property.

I think you are being unreasonable in not cooperating with letting him have access for gas safety checks. I'm surprised that your landlord has not served you notice. I would in those sort of circumstances rather than risk jail.

You do need to let him in, an unsafe boiler is dangerous and wouldnt it be a bigger PITA if the landlord decided to end your tenany at the next break chance?

Trust is V important with tenancies

yes, our agreement (the one we had and the one we hae now as tenants) both stated 48 hours notice.

We had a similar minor issue when we were on holiday ( no mobile- camping and no charger) bu in an emergency it needs sorting

Seems odd not to return his calls TBH, you are creating an ever gowing barrier in your mind for no point whatsoever. Just call, say sorry its ben hectic at work as so many colleagues off sick.

Do you like where you live? If not that's fine, you're being uncooperative and for me that would make me seriously wonder whether to renew your tenancy.

FYI a landlord only needs to give you notice that he'll be entering the property, your permission is not needed. If he fails to get his service certificate he will be fined...are you going to pay this fine?

I would have thought that the calls are going to be notice aren't they?

If you sont contact him he has yto go in, and wont renew

bad call

I think you're being ridiculous if I'm honest. I appreciate that you've had a crappy week, but he doesn't know that, and it's just ignorance to not return his calls.

If the first you heard from him was the note through your door, then you would be entitled to think he was harrassing you - but since that's not the case, I think YABU.

Message withdrawn

Another thing to consider is that if you move to another rented house/flat then you will need a reference from this guy and it certainly wont look good to prospective landlords that you fail to return URGENT calls and cooperate with the property obtaining certificates that make it LEGAL to live in.

You may be having a bad week but that is not your landlords fault and you are cutting off your nose to spite your face in the long run!

What happens if something major happens in your house and the landlord wont return YOUR calls?

YABU - Landlord's gas safety certificates are very important. If it were to expire and it was found to be unsafe (carbon monoxide leak or something), your Landlord could be personally sued. Its one of the few things as a Landlord that you can actually go to prison for. The HSA are shit hot on gas safety (and rightly so).

These threads are full of tenants who have shit landlords who do not bother with essential repairs and maintenance. You have one that clearly takes it seriously. That is no bad time imho

thing... not time

hatesponge I can see how you're in this muddle - the more people put pressure on me the more I withdraw until it's at "breaking point".

So, take a deep breath, grab a coffee, find a quiet room and phone him. Give him access to the house - I mean seriously, what do you have to hide?

As soon as it's arranged there will be no more stress and you'll feel a whole lot better. Believe me, I know what it's like when things snowball like this.

well consensus seems to be IABU. I dont think I am/was but anyhow.

Just to clarify firstly the checks are due by the end of this month. As mentioned, I am already in touch with maintenance person re this. No checks are overdue, no certificates have expired etc. I appreciate my landlord has an obligation to maintain property. My issue was not that he shouldn't be allowed to, but that calling me constantly almost without giving me a chance to respond was a bit much. I appreciate I may however be entirely alone in that view!

I tried calling landlord last night, but it was quite late and his mobile was off, so I dropped him a quick email to advise have been busy, am arranging appt re boiler etc prob for next week, (so still well within time) & I hoped there were no other problems......

I got a reply - by email - late this afternoon to say there was no problem, he was just wondering what my plans were after December this year!(have previously told him would probably be planning to end tenancy around then).

Does that make me any LESS unreasonable?

Hmm, I would say that Y were stil BU not to contact him and find out what he wanted as it might have been something other than the boiler and veyr important.
But if that is all he wanted then maybe he IBU....

Does that help?