My rights in regard to Landlady's visit

[Bergamot]

Hello,

 

This is my first posting on this site. My Landlady and I are not on the best of terms. She was given the house by her mother, my first landlady on the basis that I can continue to live here with the rent based on what Housing Benefit would pay (despite which she has in the past tried to increase it by 150%).

 

She is not happy with me living here (despite making nearly 100% profit) and would prefer if I moved out- which I can't afford to do and do not wish to. She keeps bringing people with her for her Property Inspection who have no legitimate business being here- I find their presense very intrusive- particularly as they wander around unattended (whilst I am with the landlady) practically measuring up for curtains! I've asked her not to bring extraneous persons with her but she thinks she has a right.

Several members of her family I do not get on with at all and others of her friends are strangers to me.

 

Can I legally prevent access to these people, and if so, on what grounds?

 

She's due on Wednesday morning. I've a feeling she may be asking me to leave as it is the anniversary of the Shorthold Tenancy- the terms of which she has not adhered to- eg obtaining an annual Gas Certificate. Does anyone know if this is a condition for me to get Housing Benefit?

 

Many thanks if you can help me with these issues.

[altafica]

Hi

Firstly you do not have to let your LL in at all. She should give you 24hrs notice at least. Then just contact her and say that you do not give her permission to enter the property, she then can not enter. And she should ask if she can bring others around. This is not recommended if you were on good terms with your LL, but seeing she is a pain then you have nothing to loose.

She legally has to have a Gas safety certificate to rent a property. She can not just turf you out, she has to go through the correct procedure-serving you the correct notice, a section 21, this give you 2 months to vacate, if you stay put then she has to go to court, it can end up taking 2/3 months.

 

Do you have anything in writing regards her mothers wishes?

 

Lastly you can go to environmental health department at the council they will do something about the gas safety, go to your local Citizens Advice they will give you free help. or you can try Shelter, they have a website.

Good luck, if she does enter after you have told her not to, then you can always change the locks? There are great tutorials on You tube.

[citizenB]

Whilst I have no knowledge of these issues, I would suspect that your LL is indeed exceeding her "rights" and this could be classed as a form of intimidation.

 

I will flag your thread for others who might know, however, I would imagine there will be quite a few visitors to your thread over the weekend.

 

In the unlikely event that you are unable to get the advice you might require from CAG, then "Shelter" will almost certainly be able to advise. They don't just deal with homeless people and have many advisors who deal with rented accommodation issues.

 

If their website doesn't identify a situation similar to yours, then you will be able to telephone them. Calls are free from Landlines and some mobile networks.

 

Ring 0808 8004444

8am-8pmMonday-Friday

8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

 

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice

[mariner51]

Slightly confused,

Did she inherit house from her mother or was it donated to her?

Is mother still alive

Did she provide reqd info that she is your new LL?

When did you move in?

Have you signed any new AST since she took over?

 

If she is de facto your LL then she has to abide by rel LL & T laws

eg arrange for annual GSC and provide you with copy

She cannot ask you to leave at any time if you do not want to go. She has to obtain a Court repo order if you do not go voluntarily which would require you giving written Notice to Quit.

 

How do you know about her visit on Wed, have you agreed to time & date?

You can deny entry to anyone else that does not have legitimate reason to enter. It is your home.

You can even deny entry to Police if they do not have a Warrant to enter.

 

Housing Benefit is a personal entitlement if you qualify, nothing to do with property.

[Bergamot]

Many thanks for your rapid reply.

 

She does give notice of impending visits- and I accept, of course, her right to inspect the property. It is the others that she brings around with her that I object to. So I was wondering if I legally had to admit those persons, or could request (or rather insist) that they do not enter the property.

 

As per getting her mothers wishes down in writing- unfortunately as the mother 'trusts' her daughter she won't put her wishes down in writing. She is in very poor health and will probably pass away fairly soon. Luckily I was able to go to her when her daughter tried to put up the rent- claims the daughter simply 'didn't understand her wishes' when it came to the rent and won't hear a word against her. And I really hate to have to go to her to mediate. As for the 'misunderstanding'- well, my landlady simply will not register anything that she does not want to hear- she folds her arms and does a more genteel version of 'Talk to the hand'...

[45002]

Bergamot

 

Can I ask how long you have actually lived there,date you 1st moved in ?

[Bergamot]

Many thanks to citizenB and Mariner51 who posted when I was writing my first reply to altafica.

 

The house was donated rather than inherited- the mother is still alive. New tenancy agreements have been signed (reluctantly- I really didn't like the clause which does not allow me to go more than 2 weeks in arrears- problematic when starting a new job, nor the one where she automatically takes back the house should I go bankrupt- which I may need to do). I moved in in 2006 when the mother was still the landlady.

 

To give you an idea of what she is like, a couple of years ago I was in a position whereby, due to a catastrophic series of knock-on effects (and accidental oversight on my part) I'd incurred several hefty bank fines (some due to not being able to pay 3x £1 to my creditors) which left me with no money for food at all except for my housing benefit, so reluctantly I had to use that for food- causing a temporary arrears. She was absolutely furious that I was buying food instead of paying the rent- obviously that was not my intention to be in arrears but she felt that I should literally not eat for a fortnight than inconvenience her.

 

Incidentally, she was given the house by her mother because she was short of money- having taken early retirement in her 40s and having walked out on a part time job for one of this country's best employers because she didn't like asking customers if they'd like a charge-card when serving at the checkout. At the time she was claiming poverty (and even claimed JSA for a while) she was driving an almost new SAAB 9-3 convertible. I wish I had her 'poverty'!

 

She has given 5 days notice by letter of her impending visit giving the time. Although as per 'agreeing' on a time- she always says that she will visit whether I am present or not- and I have cancelled a medical appointment before now to ensure that I was present at a visit.

[citizenB]

I understand that LL's can make visits to ensure the property is being looked after properly; maintenance etc, one assumes there shouldn't been to be an excessive amount of visits though.

 

How many visits is she making and for what reasons ?

[Bergamot]

She isn't making an excessive number of visits (thankfully)- its just that the ones that she does make are accompanied by extraneous persons, who have a tendency to wander off into other rooms when I am talking to her- which I consider an invasion of my privacy. They are either friends of hers or family members- I lived with that family during my teens and some of those family members are particularly unpleasant individuals who have, and had, no fondness for me shall we say. Ironically her own sons are actually nice young guys, but I never know who she'll bring around until she comes. Some of the rest of them could easily make for guests of the Jeremy Kyle show- if that show were to shine it's spotlight onto self-described 'upper middle class' families rather than exploiting the poor and the feckless.

[mariner51]

Forget personal opinions for now and answer questions posed by 450002 and myself.

We are trying to advise for which we need info on Tenancy dates

[raydetinu]

any visit more than once every three months is excessive! unless related to a specific problem.

even if she does give you notice of visists, you can refuse if they are not convenient and rearrange to suit you.

You need only allow entry to LL or anybody doing valid work or checks, such as gas enginner.

[renegadeimp]

She cannot bring ANYONE with her to view the property unless you authorise it.

[Bergamot]

In reply to 45002 and Mariner51.

 

As I've said it was 2006 when I moved in- April to be fairly exact (I can't remember the exact date) At that time the mother was the landlady. I did sign further tenancy agreements with the daughter(the second one after her first solicitor was disbarred due to fraud). I don't recall the date of transfer but it was some time in 2007. The current Shorthold TA was signed 28th July 2008 (thought it was earlier for some reason).

 

Do I need to supply exact dates for when I first moved in? I can probably do that but not at the mo as in the middle of a mega spring clean prior to my LL's visit. Unfortunately I don't really have what you might call a 'filing system'- guess I'm not very organised. There will probably be documents somewhere.

 

Many thanks for your comments.

[renegadeimp]

If your LL comes around, make sure you deny ANY people she brings, entry to the property. You are well within your rights to. The only person she can bring is someone employed by her company. If she is renting it as a private LL, then she's out of luck.

[Bergamot]

My error- I named the wrong date as that of my latest Tenancy Agreement (blame non-filing and spring cleaning brain frazzle). The latest Tenancy Agreement was signed 15th May 2011.

 

Latest (and only) Landlord Gas Safety Record cert is dated the 4th May 2011 (more recent than I thought but still out of date).

[mariner51]

The relevent AST is the last one you agreed. that either introduced a new fixed term or varied rent or LL/T resps on acceptence, pres 15 May 2011. Based on this you have a SPT and LL could have you evicted within 2-5 months if she serves a valid s21a

As for GSC, LL may have copy of 2012 inspection, whichinspector failed to leave in property or you misfiled. It would appear another GSci is due in May 13 so await request for GSC inspection in May 13

[Bergamot]

@Mariner51,

 

Thanks for your reply and the advice therin.

 

In regard to the GSC dated May2011, that was the only GSC that has ever been carrried out on this property since she became landlady. It took months to get her to even get that done after I lobbied her for it- whilst she was supposedly 'trying to find' a suitable tradesman. I did not remind her when it expired because I find dealing with her extremely trying- and as she is prone to come down on me like a ton of bricks for any minor inconvenience- such as having to wait for Housing Benefit to pay rent when I became redundant (if I couldn't pay on time then I 'should not be living here') - and always results in delay or excuses. It took me two years of lobbying to get her to replace a dangerous piece of wiring (the last of the 1950s rubber and cloth insulated cable from the Electricity Board supplied main fuse to the fusebox that supplies all of the power to the house). And I was forbidden to get my friend (a qualified electrician) to replace it at my expense.

 

So if a 2012 gas cert has been granted her then the trademan would have entered the property without my knowledge and permission and he has not left me a copy (despite my poor filing I would not have missed a pink coloured gas cert left for my records)- I am pretty certain that no such check has been carried out in 2012. I've been carrying out a deep spring clean so would have discovered it by yesterday evening if there was one. To the best of my knowledge she has not arranged a 2013 gas test and I have every reason to believe that she will not do so without being lobbied- something I intend to tackle on Wednesday when she comes.