thoughts on this situation:landlords/renting

dowie said:
what the landlord can actually do about it... essentially naff all...
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I don't wish to get into an argument about it but there doesn't seem much point in antagonising the landlord if this turns out to be an unfortunate one off incident.

The OP may wish to renew his tenancy in the future and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of replacement tenants.
 
Eliot said:
Bit about lawful access im basing this on
The office of fair trading document oft356 reads as follows:
3.32 We would object to a provision giving the landlord an excessive right to enter the rented property. Under any kind of lease or tenancy, a landlord is required by common law to allow his tenants ‘exclusive possession’ and ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the premises during the tenancy. In other words, tenants must be free from unwarranted intrusion by anyone, including the landlord. Landlords are unfairly disregarding that basic obligation if they reserve a right to enter the property without giving reasonable notice or getting the tenant’s consent, except for good reason.
Irrespective of what maybe written in the agreed contract between a landlord and a tenant e.g. a clause that states the landlord is allowed to enter the property without permission; the law will ultimately overrule the clause because it would be seen as unfair and therefore void. Not even a contract will help a landlord in court if he/she steps into their property thinking they can do so because of what is agreed in a contract.
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pretty rude of the guys managing your place to just hand strangers some keys without notice...what if something got stolen ?
 
Hmm my parents found out how bad the letting agency they used were when they tried to get into the property after the tenant had left. Locks had been changed as apparantly the letting agency were just turning up out of the blue letting themselves in to check things without telling the tenant. Took a while but we got in contact with the tenant who gave us a key and apologised for not changing them back. Longer story short tenant moved back in on a reduced rate and letting agency were fired.


Change the locks its a solid bit of advise and you're within your rights to do it.
 
Letting agents = scum, as you have now found out :p

If you are in a fixed term, then they cant throw you out until the end unless you have broken the tenancy agreement. if you are on a rolling tenancy, then they have to give you 2 months notice.
 
Amnesia said:
I would only do this with the consent of the landlord and hand him a key too.
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There is that. To be honest as long as you're accommodating should someone need access to the property I don't believe there's any law that states you need the owners permission/to give him a key.

To do it "right" though I completely agree with amnesia assuming the landlord realises how his letting agency are out of line.
 
They need to give you a section 21 notice to leave, and its has to be a month or 2 before the end date. You dont need to leave until they give you an official notice to, so you can stay put, then its must give you min 1 months notice, you still dont need to leave, they then need to make a court application, you are looking at 3 to 4 months before anything is done. No section 21 no reason to leave, if they start to hassle you then it would benefit you.
 
Mynight said:
There is that. To be honest as long as you're accommodating should someone need access to the property I don't believe there's any law that states you need the owners permission/to give him a key.

To do it "right" though I completely agree with amnesia assuming the landlord realises how his letting agency are out of line.
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When i worked in a letting agency(dont curse me i was a nice one:p) we gave 2 weeks notice for house inspections(we did these every 3 months) and if the tenant wanted to change the appointment then they could give the office a call, if they did not call we assumed they were fine with it and we simply let ourselves in if they were not home.

it was just usually for basic checks that they have not totally trashed the place, smell of gas and any repairs that might need doing.
 
Amnesia said:
When i worked in a letting agency(dont curse me i was a nice one:p) we gave 2 weeks notice for house inspections(we did these every 3 months) and if the tenant wanted to change the appointment then they could give the office a call, if they did not call we assumed they were fine with it and we simply let ourselves in if they were not home.

it was just usually for basic checks that they have not totally trashed the place, smell of gas and any repairs that might need doing.
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That's pretty much what you'd expect from an agency :) (not cursing you :D. There's just too many cowboys in the market).

Off the top of my head that's what my current ones do. Absolutely fine as they treat tenants with respect thus they keep paying its a win/win as far as I'm concerned.
 
matdom said:
They need to give you a section 21 notice to leave, and its has to be a month or 2 before the end date. You dont need to leave until they give you an official notice to, so you can stay put, then its must give you min 1 months notice, you still dont need to leave, they then need to make a court application, you are looking at 3 to 4 months before anything is done. No section 21 no reason to leave, if they start to hassle you then it would benefit you.
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If you are in a fixed term tenancy agreement (12months) why would you need a section 21?
You just move out at the end....
He ain't being evicted and he pays his rent. Am I misunderstanding something?
 
Sounds like the estate agents have been very unprofessional - entirely not okay to organise a viewing without notice - most leases say 24 - 48 hours at a very minimum.

That said - what's the deal on your lease? If it ends on 1 October and you've not entered discussions to renew then it's fair for them to assume you're moving out... (doesn't justify how they handled it though)
 
Well they are extremely lax on renewal to be honest darkblueslider, It was around a week before last year that we renewed. I guess it's quicker when they don't need references etc?

I'm waiting on a phone call at the moment but will be calling at 12pm if I don't hear back.

Figured it was important I sent them something in writing before speaking on the phone hence the email I have sent from page 1, Bit dubious today as my girlfriend has gone home to devon for a job so the flat is unwatched for the afternoon until I'm back
 
firstly you cant change the locks with out good reason. you cant exclude the landlord.

secondly surely you should have given notice of your intentions to either stay or go by now?

it doesn't excuse the agent but you need to get on with things anyway....
 
I'm currently so gobsmacked by their reply I'm franticly running around trying to gather legal links and am on the phone to CAB so i'll up date in a bit.

Basically they seem to blatantly ignore law judging by their email back,.
 
Thompson_NCL said:
Yes, you can. If the landlord wants access to the property to make repairs etc they need to give you reasonable notice. They can't just walk in willy-nilly.
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They may not be able to walk in willy nilly but that doesn't give anyone the right to deliberately deny them access by changing the locks. That's a whole different matter entirely.
 
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