Just canvasing for other opinions - eager to hear from landlords as well as other tenants.
We will have been in our rental 2 years in September. I moved here with my two young children having separated from their dad. It's just the three of us here and our dog.
We are happy here and have just signed a renewal. This is the new periodic tenancy now signed so it's continuous until landlord or tenant end it.
I am a good tenant, I have always paid my rent on time & I have always agreed to the annual rent increase requested by the landlord. I look after the house and keep it clean and tidy. The landlord is also decent. We have only needed one repair doing when the boiler went wrong and he had someone out that day to us which I really appreciated as it was winter and my youngest was only little at the time. We are managed through a letting agent.
So far we have had inspections every three months. All have been recorded with a report etc and signed. All 8 inspections have been without issue. All have commented on the fact the house is clean, nicely presented and well looked after etc.
I am wondering if it would be reasonable to ask the agent if the landlord would reduce the frequency of inspections now to once or twice a year. We have shown we are decent people and not going to trash the house and I know if I raise something he is going to fix it etc
There's two reasons I'd like them to be reduced
- it's inconvenient for me - because we have a dog we have to be present for the inspection. The agents won't come in while we aren't there even if the dog is crated. This inevitably ends up with me needing to either take a day off work, pay for day care (dog usually has a walker with pick up and drop off from home) but the agents don't give an appointment time and so I have to be there all day 8 - 1630 or have the dog out those hours.
I've tried to ask them to do a fixed appointment but both times they've agreed to this they haven't stuck to it and turned up whenever anyway. Last time I'd worked a half day, they were due at 2pm. They called me at 12 saying they were outside.
Just FYI before someone asks - the dog is small, friendly & crate trained. It's not an issue with our dog it's a standard policy the agents have.
- I find it quite intrusive
Whilst we have nothing to hide it stresses me out and I don't like them coming in and photographing my home etc.
I understand that the landlord wants to keep an eye on his property etc and make sure there aren't issues but I really want to not have the inconvenience and cost of rearranging my life every 3 months to be here all day. Of course it never lands on my WFH days.
Is asking to reduce it to 1/2 times a year reasonable now?