Landlords Missus?

[adridude]

Hi Guys,

I'm in a hosueshare with a few mates and that seems to be working fine, except for a few issues.

When we signed up, we were told that the landlord (him) is a 'live in landlord' thus making us excluded occupiers. Which I was more than happy with. He aparently lived in the attic (lol!)

Anyway, 2 months later, the landlord has not spent ONE night here, so I guess that doesn't make him an occupant.. Is this correct?

His girlfriend has a habbit of coming around the property when nobody is there and moving things about and removing articles from the house. SHe comes when she pleases unannounced. Can she do this?

Before now, she has popped in before, and said 'I was in the area and couldnt miss my film so I'll watch it here' so she barged her way in, put our film off, and flipped over to her channel (while I had a few friends around!). Can she do this?

Some really good friends of mine are previous tenants which have moved on elsewhere. I had them here one day for a dinner party and the 'landlors girlfriend' can in, once again unannounced and went AWOL because I had previous tenants in the house. She told me that previous tenants are NOT allowed to come back to the property when they leave. I was warned, if this happens again, I'll be evicted. Can she do this?

Finally, I have my girlfriend stay over several times a week, but the the 'landlords' girlfriend came to me and whinged and tryed to get me to pay more rent because my girlfriend was spending more than 1 night a week? I mean, can she do that? We pay for bills etc... ourselves (£20/person/month) i.e. about £100 / month between us.

I need to know where I legally stand with this as I feel:

1) That we're not excluded occupiers as this is not the landlords primary residence.
2) That her coming around unannounced and causing problems etc... is breaking the 'right to peaceful abode'


Can anyone assist me with this as my housemates and I have really had enough of this!

Cheers,

Adridude

[majik]

Unless she is named on tenancy agreement she has no right to enter property, The landlord cannot enter as he please so why should she !!
Unless it states in your tenancy agreement that you cannot have people round (Gf/Mates) then you can have whoever you like around provided you repsect the other tenants rights etc. If one of the other tenants complained to the Landlord about this issue then the Landlord could ask you to be more respectful to other tenats etc.
I would write a letter to the landlord from all tenants and ask him to remover the key from his partner as she is not a tenant and remind him that if he is not using the property as his residence then she has no right/need to enter property with tenants permission.

Hope this helps, My partner had similliar situation not so long ago.

[Aequitas]

Do you each have separate tenancies of your own room or are you all tenants of the whole building?

[Joa]

I think that if the LL lives there and this is his principal address then it does not matter if he actually is there in person for prolonged periods of time. This needs to be clarified with the LL pronto. There are ways of making him talk, like mentioning Inland Revenue (does he declare his rental income like a good boy, etc?) or calling the Council.
If you establish that this is LL's main home, then you are excluded occupier and LL's girlfriend can indeed enter the property and shared space (living room, kitchen, hallway etc) whenever she wants too. If you are not excluded occupiers, then this is an entirely different ball game.
Point of note; your situation will depend on actual set up (does the LL live there or not) rather than on what the LL says or tries to convey.

Well, that's my take on this and I am sure I'll be corrected if I talk balls

[Conniff]

Because you have basically no rights at all and can be evicted verbally, why don't you and your mates look for some student accommodation to rent or a house.

I think she is just making sure your aware that you are living in their house and she can do what she wants.

[adridude]

ok, but I dont understand this.

I gave my keys to my girlfriend once as she wanted to nip down the shops to get some odds n sods. When she came back, the landlords missus went absolutely ape because I have the keys to her? SHe said that I'm NOT allowed to give the keys to anyone else at all.. Not even my family. She didn't even care that I was epileptic and that I wanted my parents to have a key for the house 'just in case'...

Can she do that?

I mean ideally the landlord is giving the keys to her? lol

[Conniff]

Maybe it's not really the giving of the keys that upset her. Maybe she fancies you or fancies her chances.
Could be that she is jealous there is another woman on the scene.

Has she ever walked into your room? (not the communial area), have there ever been any 'oops, sorry' moments?

Have a think, and if there have been any 'incidence', I would make sure I wasn't left alone with her and would definately be looking for somewhere else.

[Aequitas]

If you all have a tenancy of the whole house, then the landlord cannot be a resident landlord.

If you each have separate tenancies of individual rooms, then the landlord can only be a resident landlord if, at the time the tenancy was granted, the landlord occupied part of the house as his sole or main residence.

Shams (such as saying you live in the attic) do not count!

So, if you have a tenancy of the whole house neither the landlord nor anyone else can come waltzing in.