Possible Landlord Woes

Arsonist

Arsonist

Arsonist

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Hi all,

Just wanted to get your opinion on my current living situation.

Recently (Jan) moved into a new house share with 3 other people, all similar age and decent girls and guys. All was good, then one of the girls left leaving a room empty.

Landlord (live out) came round to look at it and get it listed again (all done via online/no letting agents etc) and has said he's having issues getting anyone to move in. Supposedly 3 views but they all said the house was 'disgusting' i.e. dirty.

This is the 9th property/room I've rented in the last few years, and it's one of the tidiest places I've lived in; the 3 of us remaining in no way see how it was supposedly called 'disgusting'.

He's started making continued unannounced visits, each time telling us we need to hoover, tidy the kitchen, clean the oven etc, even telling us we need to clean our rooms.
He's also made continued unannounced visits with decorators etc, and there's now a decorator coming every day painting the whole house at quite an inconvenience to us all. OK decorating is fine, but some warning might be nice.

There's also a cabin at the bottom of the garden which his son has taken to staying in a weekends (and some weekday nights) with his mates; pretty sure it's hooked up to the house's electricity and I'm positive he pays nothing towards the bills.

The constant nagging to clean what's already a pretty clean house, invasion of privacy and the son living in the garden are all winding us up. We've all pretty much agreed to move out if it continues after a new person moves in.

So I'm curious. Does any of the above sound at all out of order or maybe illegal? I know if you rent a whole property it's illegal for landlords to turn up without 24 hour written notice, but as we all only rent a bedroom I don't know how this works.

TL;DR
Landlord lets himself in all the time, nags us to clean (even our own rooms) and his son lives in the garden...
 
Well he legally needs to give you notice before he rocks up still. What the son is doing could be construed as theft.
 
Seeing as you all rent a bedroom you are still collectively renting the house. The son is defo not supposed to be there unless the cabin is deemed as a separate entity to the house which i very much doubt.

As for the visits and decorators I believe the law is 24 hours notice to tenants before visits it might even be 48 hours, UNLESS it is an emergency which is deemed as things like leaks broken windows/doors etc. I'd certainly be annoyed if i were you.

Of course all of this is going on the fact that you have signed contracts and he is HMO licensed etc, if he isn't then jump on him for that, you could end up with a nice ol' repayment from him.

My advice would be to tell him these things need to stop straight away, if he has a license you can get it taken off of him if he doesn't stop.
 
OP, you should live up to your name, start with the cabin, where the landlord's druggy son goes.
 
The Mad Rapper said:
I know it's not the answer you want, but I'd just move. Honestly, life is too short.
Click to expand...
This. 100% this.

Honestly in this day and age why don't people know their rights? It takes 5secs to find out from google about a landlord having to give you 24hrs notice. The second time the landlord turned up unannounced you should have told him you require 24hrs notice. The third time you could have refused him entry or called the police.

As for the son living in the cabin thing. Are you mental? Why are you letting that happen? He will clearly be using your electricity, water, even heating etc. :confused: You want to be paying for all that?

There's so much wrong with this landlord's attitude I would just get the hell out. Next thing you'll be telling us is that you don't know what deposit scheme yours is being held in :rolleyes:
 
Userame to subject matter correlation is strong here.

I concur with the burning down the cabin proposal!
 
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What does your rental agreement say about access?
My wife (when I met her) rented a room in a flat where the landlord did similar but her rental agreement only covered the bedroom/entire suite and they all only had access to the communal areas, so his argument was he needed 24 hrs notice for accessing the room but could get into the communal areas with any notice.
Tbh she moved out and never really questioned it thoroughly...

If the landlord can't rent the room out and the feedback is that the place is dirty, there's not much you can do other than keep it clean, otherwise you might all get chucked out!

The son thing is out of order, just report it to the council, an outbuilding shouldn't have sleeping accommodation in it, unless it has planning and building reg approval.
 
Test which breaker appears to do nothing or may be labeled shed or outhouse and turn it off. That will fix that leach in the garden, as for access I'd suggest making a log of it and reporting it. Also check for a HMO license or u can be due big cash as it's against law and he would have to pay a lot out if you went after him for it.

Google for HMO rules it's a lot. You should all have so much work surface space in kitchen for example, fire blanket or extinguisher should be provided and hard wired fire alarms also as well as carbon monoxide alarms
 
It sounds like the place could be somewhat dirty...you don't exactly say it's clean. I know loads of people who think they live in a clean house and you go round there and surprise surprise, it's grim. One friend, he has about 4 finished toilet rolls by the toilet. Why would you not throw them in the recycling?! He has random bits of dirt all over the floor etc. and he just doesn't notice it.
 
Why have you all tolerated the son using the hooker/drugs brothel cabin in the back garden?
 
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