Landlords Surprise Inspection

Former Member

Hi,

I'm currently renting a place, and lived here about a month. I had to pay my rent on Saturday so left the money out and tidied up as I was expecting my landlady to have a look around the flat, however she didn't turn up.
Eventually she turned up on Monday when I was at uni. The place wasn't very messy at all, maybe one plate left on the side in the kitchen that needed to be washed up or something?

Anyway today she turned up unannounced when I was in bed enjoying my day off, (it turns out she had rang me and left a message on my landline, which I didn't get before now asking me to ring her, but no messages about her visiting). Now I have to admit the flat was a little messy as I wasn't expecting any visitors and I actually had made plans to tidy up a bit later in the day. By messy I mean a few unwashed plates with food on in the kitchen, a pizza box in the lounge from where my mates and I had had a pizza a couple of days before, maybe a few used rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom that needed binning, a couple of pants on the floor in the bathroom, and a couple of bins that needed to be taken out. It didn't look good, but it certainly wasn't trashed or manky.

Anyway I basically get her having a go at me, saying how the flat is in a complete state and how they are not happy and will be inspecting it weekly now rather than monthly, and state that it better get better or they'll evict me.

Now, if I had trashed the place and caused damage to the property then this would be reasonable, but an hour of cleaning and washing up plates later the place is pretty much spotless. Nothing is broken, nothing is stained, just a few plates were left out.

What are my rights? Can they really evict me for just being a tad messy? I've just signed a standard accom contract signed up by the uni, nothing custom so it should be the bog standard stuff.

Cheers in advance!

Former Member

If your landlady announces an inspection on a given date and turns up unexpectedly 2 days later, then she is already in the wrong, never mind the state of the house. The police can conduct a search a zero notice but landowners have to give 24 hours notice.

Former Member

Well my she rang my gran (?) and told her that she would be coming in the next couple of days as she was ill, but didn't give a specific date. But i'm more concerned about the suprise visit today, which I wasn't expecting at all.

Former Member

pulpfiction wrote: »

Well my she rang my gran (?) and told her that she would be coming in the next couple of days as she was ill, but didn't give a specific date. But i'm more concerned about the suprise visit today, which I wasn't expecting at all.

That is against contract terms. Check it, then ram the contract up her arse. Cheeky cow.

Former Member

g_angel wrote: »

That is against contract terms. Check it, then ram the contract up her arse. Cheeky cow.

Which bit is?

Plus could she actually evict me for having a messy flat without causing damage?

Former Member

pulpfiction wrote: »

Which bit is?

Plus could she actually evict me for having a messy flat without causing damage?

Turning up unannounced for an inspection.

Former Member

Does anyone know how messy a place has to be before the landlord can legally chuck you out? Just curious.

Former Member

pulpfiction wrote: »

Does anyone know how messy a place has to be before the landlord can legally chuck you out? Just curious.

to the standard of the person who rents it to you.

Former Member

She's being entirely unreasonable. She turned up this morning unannounced and when I challenged her on that, she said she rang me 9pm last night but "you didn't bother answering" - yes because I was out @ 9pm on a friday night.
Anyway regardless 9pm - 11am is NOT 24 hours.
Anyway she let herself in, and again had a go at me because the place wasn't to her standard. The place was 100000x tidyer than last time she came, as she said she was coming two days ago so I tidyed the place up for then. All that was left out was a plate that needed cleaning and a chipshop wrapper I needed to chuck (from the night before I may add).

She also said that the place wasn't to her standard on Thursday, but then went on to claim that she hadn't actually been in on Thursday, despite the fact that things were moved around while I was at uni, so she is lying through her teeth.
She said I was lucky last week that I wasn't just "chucked out onto the street" which I'm pretty sure is illegal.

Oh and she's also trying to do me for damages as the bathroom cabinet's door came off. It came off last week too but I put it back on, it's just a bit flimsy as all these things are, it's not broken at all. She's claiming however that I broke it and is trying to do me for damages.

What are my rights? What can I do? She's being entirely unreasonable and it's really starting to upset me.

Cheers again

Former Member

Do you rent through an agency? If so make a complaint to them.

If you rent privately then the main part of the site has quite a few articles that might help, or your local council's housing department might be able to give you more advise.

Former Member

:eek2: Sounds a total bitch.. how uptight. I'm surprised she rented it to a student in the first place tbh. Your students' union should also be able to provide advice.

Former Member

I think you need to compromise even if she is being unreasonable because she is your landlord. Make a good effort to tidy up properly, do the whole polish / mop / hoover routine. Explain the door isn't broke, its just poor quality. A lot of landlords are very funny about things like that because they thought they were going to be wealthy landowners but it turned out its just a lot of work for sometimes relatively small payoffs, so they try to screw their tenants by holding onto their deposits and whatnot. I mean plenty of times on here I've heard about it.

*shrug*

You could always set fire to the house.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_oIY2gwKbQ4Q/SD2QJPSJ5_I/AAAAAAAAGuM/NV63ll6OMIY/s1600-h/fantasy.png

Former Member

I have experienced a landlord like yours in the past and he was really a pain. At times, I had to confront him to tell him his limits. But you need to be aware of your limitations in regards with the terms of your contract and your rights before doing that.

Best thing to do is to go to citizenadvicebureaue with your contract and discuss this with them. They are qualified and experienced enough to give you free and legal advice on this. Next time, she visits you unexpectedly you will be in a better position to kick her arse.

Good luck :thumb: