Can my tenant change the front garden of our house to a 'off road' parking area without our consent

[Oldsu]

Just after Christmas 2022 an elderly aunt died and left us her house, I love the house but its too far from, where I work, so we will move there in a few years time when I finally retire, the house is a Victorian cottage with a lovely front garden (roses and a magnolia tree and original railings) as neither DH drive we wont need a parking area when we move in, parking in the road seems to be difficult but there are no double yellow lines or residents parking permits so not impossible, we have factored this in with the rent and are charging 1/3 below market .

We rent this through an agency who have spoken to us a few times about putting in a parking area and we have said no, last September our tenant emailed me directly and asked me when the work was going to start, I forwarded it to the agents and told them to speak to the tenants, last November the tenants emailed me again asking about the work and said they would be looking to pay a reduced rent until the work is done, again I forwarded it to the agents for them to deal with, today I got another email telling me if the work is not done in 3 months they have the 'legal' right to get their own company to do the work and charge us afterwards. I want to forward it to my agents but it seems the agents are not making it clear about the parking area or the tenants are ignoring them so I think I am going to have to deal with the last email myself

When we inherited the house all paper work was done including updating the property records on the Land Registry so DH and I are on the LR as owners.

So my question is, I understand they wont need planning permission if the correct material is used but would need it to put in a dropped kerb, if they do apply would the council check the LR to check they are actually the owners of the property, if they didn't get planning permission but got a company to do the work anyway would the company also have to check the LR to make sure the customer has a right to make the change. I know it would be easier and simpler to put in the parking space and revert to a garden when we move in but I don't want to its my property and my garden. Any help would be appreciated

If they still don’t accept this, in lieu of paying rent until the termination date of the AST, you could offer to release them early from the contract subject to them paying up until the date the new tenants move in. You’d have to talk to the agent first about doing this as the contract may already have a break clause with certain conditions attached. You absolutely should serve notice if they continue.

Exactly. Quiet enjoyment of the property. Turning up unannounced could be viewed as harassment.

And if the tenants turn out to be problematic- as it now seems they could be - the OP needs to keep herself completely right rather than add to her troubles.

I think if they only have a tenancy for another 5 months and they're persisting on this you're going to have a struggle to get them out.

@Mummyoflittledragon

Threatening to withhold rent because THEY want a parking space should cost them the right to anything in somebody else's property let alone peace and bloody quiet.

Why in earth don't you reply to the tenants directly?! Before they cause major damage? Stop being a wuss and speak to them direct .

Generally landlords pay around 10 to 12% of gross rent to agents to actually deal with this sort of thing. So we don’t have to.

I’d be changing agents as they sound rubbish.

What a very dishonest moving of the goalposts there.

You said that they could not. You were wrong, you know you were wrong, so why now change it to just your opinion of how good or bad they are?

It’s better to say nothing than post bollocks then try to avoid admitting you were wrong.

Yes, be sure to respect the tenants that have blackmailed you twice OP.

You absolutely fucking can’t!

this is why LL need to take a qualification and be registered to hold a rental property

A ll turning up to check their front garden hasn't even attacked by a JCB is fully acceptable!

Dear god there is some ignorance on here today.

Go on then, humour me, what law or regulations says that a landlord may not knock on the door of a tenant?

They absolutely can! 24 hours notice to enter and inspect, but nothing to stop them knocking on the door.

24 hours to enter and inspect with the tenants permission…

No wonder LL’s have such a bad name on here. Criminal that pilots like the ll registration in my area was scrapped. MN consistently shows it’s massively needed

I suggest you familiarise yourselves with the requirements of the Housing Act 1988, which requires 24 hours notice minimum, unless in case of a dire emergency (fire, flood, gas leak etc).

I think here people are interpreting ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the property differently. Yes a landlord (or agent) has to give notice about entering the property. The grey area is the knocking on door, a landlord knocking on a door could be interpreted as inhibiting quiet enjoyment as they have an interest in the property and could be seen as harassing the tenant, they could be looking at the state of the property from outside in etc. It is very different from a delivery driver knocking on the door who doesn’t care about the state of the property.

Legally they can knock at the door though. Of course, were they to do it continuously, this may be classed as harassment.

In this case though, I think the OP was perfectly entitled to knock on the door, if she deemed it necessary. The tenant sounds unhinged to me, if the agent is being truthful (OP states they've seen the emails they've sent). They are repeatedly ignoring correspondence from the agent, whilst blackmailing the OP. At this point their quiet enjoyment would be of no concern to me. I'd have personally emailed them before it got to this though.

I suspect you would need planning permission to change the frontage to parking given the potential drainage and other issues that would need resolving. Dropped kerb is separate.

You do realise you don't need to actually own the land / building to apply for planning permission don't you?! I could apply for planning permission on your garden OP (but I wouldn't because I'm not an arse)!

I don't think it could be perceived as "inhibiting quiet enjoyment" when it would have been to clarify, face to face, that the tenant can not destroy the owner's property and must stop making threats.

Sounds like they are pushing their luck

These threats are all hot air right now. Infuriating but part of running a business. This isn’t an episode of Eastenders. The tenant hasn’t trashed the garden and continues to pay rent. Besides a tenant can literally stop paying rent and we still can’t go and knock on the door and demand payment. This is harassment and the courts take a very dim view.

The tenant could easily see it as such and op would be wise to make an appointment in this case. The only time knocking on someone’s door could be seen as justified is of they’ve ignored calls and emails.

I take it you aren’t a ll.

Is rental in the area in demand?I might be looking for new tenants at the end of this tenancy time op?

Talk to your agents about terminating the contract. Ask them when a Section 21 can be issued. If you let these tenants stay you're always going to feel as if you're waiting for the other shoe to drop.