A complete stranger standing in my room shouting at me while I was asleep

[Flossam]

Just got back off nights, have been in bed about an hour. DP and DS out. AM woken up by a bloke standing in my room shouting at me that he is from London and Essex.

Scared the complete hell out of me, not withstanding we are living on the third floor of a two locked door flat, when first waking up I have not a bloody clue who London and Essex are.

They are of course, letting agents. But, surely our Landlady ought to be asking our permission before sending agents round? SO that something like this dosen't happen. She did with prior appointment on Thurs.

Also, why has this man, who isn't our letting agent, got a set of keys to my home??? How safe and secure is that? Surely the only people who should have access to our keys to our flat and oujr posessions are us, the landlady and perhaps the agent we rent through?? Am thinking this could be a breach of contract and maybe I should see citizens advice.

Sorry, but I'm feeling really shaken up and angry. Not least because how many times does it take for me to explain to the dick head while sat in bed in my knickers that no is not a convinient time for him to be here before he F*cks the hell off???

I would go absolutely mental at the letting agent.

I took a landlady to court for withholding my deposit for no good reason and I won. Small claims.

so did I

twice

I think it's quite widespread. As is withholding last month's rent. Shambolic.

Not as bad..but a similar thing happened to me on wednesday

our neighbour knocked on the door to say water was leaking from our flat into theirs.
I went back upstirs to call a plumber and left the yale latch unlocked as i would be coming back down to let them know when it would be sorted.

then the freeholder of our building (not our landlord..we own the flat)came into our flat, up the stairs and into our living room totally uninvited..and then brged into our bathroom to see what was happening.

i was furious.

i would certinly complain as far as you can take it..you pay these letting agencies so much money and for them to behave like that is entirely unaccptable..i can understnd why you feel so shaken by it.

good luck and plese keep us posted with any responses you get from the compny.

If you dispute the deposit/deductions and it was rented through an agent then the agent should be holding the deposit monies in a separate account until any dispute is resolved. They should not release it either way without agreement.

I agree with everything already siad - unforgivable.
If you are concerned about deposit return (been there, I know what a worry it can be), make sure that you take photos of each room (once empty) - walls and carpets, doors, kitchen appliances etc so that you have a reference of the condition you left it in. If your landlady does act a little funny with her, mention that you have done this - should frighten her off. Also, if she rings up complaining about a mark of carpet/damged door etc, you can say sweetly that you are unaware of any damge and ask her to phone back in five minutes after you have had time to go over your detailed photos that you took when you left the property! Will also be of help if you do need to involve the small claims court (hopefully won’t go that far). Good Luck x

Well I visited CAB this morning, and they were lovely. When looking through the contract I found a clause which says that agents/landlord etc are allowed to enter our property at any time without warning or notice. We also do not have the right to refuse. They think this is an illegal clause, it is against our staturary (sp) rights, and also contravenes the later clause that we have a right to quiet enjoyment of the property.

They wanted to phone landlady to warn her of this, but with 6 days left till we move I wasn't keen. I just wanted to know my rights so to speak. (nearly forgot the fingers crossed!!)

I have been round a friends this evening. En route to my friends house this morning, I had to walk past their office. When I got back my front door was not double locked as it was when I left, and my bathroom door, which I can lock from the outside, to keep DS out, was unlocked. So I am 95% certain they have been back round today and I am now spitting mad!!!

I would fire off a letter to the landlady, cc'd to agents, pointing out that the enter-at-any-time clause is a clear breach of your statutory rights and that any further visits to your home have to be with your express permission and with 24 hours notice. State that you are keeping a note of when they have come round, including when you were not there, and will be taking legal advice over the incident where you were woken in your own bedroom by a complete stranger shouting at you.

Can i just say i'm an Est Agent and we ALWAYS leave a message for our tenants at least 24hrs before. We say to call if inconvenient but if we don't hear we presume it is ok to go round. We then knock three or four times and then enter shouting hello!!!! And all the years i've been doing this job i have never heard of that clause. We are only allowed to enter if there is an emergency ie: gas leak, water leak or dead body....

Definately take it up. And the other agents could be on a sub commision from the original agents.

Bloody agents, we're not all bad!!!!

Also, get in touch with ARLA, they are a recognised body, most letting agents worth their weight are registered with them. They can also advise you.

HTH

If yoou go to the hosing advice or housing aid department of your local council, they will write her a snotty letter. This used to happen to me all the time when I was in rented and the letter put a stop to it.

Thanks for the help! I think the thing I am still most upset about is an agent nothing to do with us having keys, Snowdrop, is this normal practice?

I haven't read through the discussion here - but something similar happened to me a few years ago. There were 4 of us living in a 2 1/2 roomed very small flat, I had just had a small operation, just come out of hospital, had 2 friends staying (for support), we were all sleeping on the floors and in beds all over the place. The guy didn't even knock, just walked straight in. We were furious! I can't believe they can even consider that its acceptable! We spoke to the landlord who then agreed because of this that the flat wouldn't be shown until we had moved out.

Sounds as if your London and Essex guy didn't bother to knock either. Outrageous! I live in switzerland and here even the landlord doesn't have a right to have a copy of your key which is exactly how it should be.

Also worth pointing out that they are not only violating your privacy but risking the security of yourselves and your possessions, which if something were to go wrong or missing, could prove a complicated issue to explain to an insurance company.

I would make her come round and go through the flat with you BEFORE you leave - so that you can both agree if any deductions are forthcoming.
I would have called the police - they would have kept a record of your complaint that you could call upon if things go pear shaped.

I own a flat which we rent out. The lease is all done through the local solicitors, but the rent comes straight to us. However the tenant has all but one key. The other is kept with my mother who lives in the town. It's never used, she keeps it purely for emergencies ie if the keys get lost or we do need to break in for any reason. If we do go to see our tenants we always call them well in avance.

Well, the landlady came around again today. Said she has asked them to phone to apologise, were supposed to have called but have not. I told her I suspected they came back again yesterday, she thoought it likely they did. Was going to go and discuss with them and again ask for them to ring to apologise. Nothing so far and that was at midday! Said she was probably going to ask for keys back.

On the upside we had prospective tenants round to view this evening, two young lads arrived - one about to be doctor and one young, lovely, dark brooding handsome vet. Has quite made my day.

Normally we make the other agents contact us for all viewings and once it has been agreed with the tenants then we give them the keys. And i would definately make the landlady come over before you leave, also take pictures of walls, floors, white goods and whatever else is staying so you have that as proof for yourselves.

Oh, changed name as Snowdropsinthespring is getting a bit too long!

This is outrageous. We rent out a flat and our agent always makes a prior arrangement to look at or view the flat (when last lot of tenants left). Neighbour has key, but that is by mutual agreement between tenants and agents.

I'd also add that I would never (and have never) withheld a deposit for what is essentially general wear and tear. I'd expect carpets and walls to be a bit grubby and would pay for them to be cleaned/repainted before next tenants moved in. One tenant we had spilled coffee over carpet. We charged for can of carpet cleaner and one hour's labour as that was all it took to remove the stain.

One of my colleagues who rented a flat in London had his deposit retained because the flat had mildew on the bathroom wall. There was no window and no ventilation - FFS that's hardly wear and tear, is it?