Nosey landlord

rossconan

Hey all. We have an ongoing issue with our landlord snooping around the property and entering the property when we are not at home. He is very aggressive and insists that he must inspect the house when he is home from London (around 6 times a year). The last being last month. He called me yesterday (Sunday) to arrange an inspection this morning (bank holiday Monday) at 10am in which I agreed to yesterday but made excuses this morning and had it cancelled. This afternoon my wife went to the shops with our child and I stayed at home. Around 2 minutes after the car left the driveway he was on the property trying to open doors and sheds and garage. Peering through windows etc. I managed to take photos and a video of him leaving the property. I felt completely intimidated and appalled at his actions. What should I do? Thanks for reading.

handlemaster

personally I'd move nutter like that only gets worse

Mezcita

I'd print this out and remind him of his obligations.

"Your landlord is only allowed to enter your home with your permission. If the landlord needs to carry out repairs or inspect the premises, it should be by prior arrangement, except in an emergency"

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting_a_home/tenants_rights_and_obligations.html

Tell him it's as simple as him giving you adequate notice about coming around.

If his has a problem with that start pushing for a rent book, rent receipts, proof that he is a registered landlord, report on the BER of the house etc. That should make him back off a bit.

January

Call the Gardai, he is breaking into your house.

rossconan

Thanks guys so far. The only doubt that troubles us right now is, does being arty And kinda untidy constitute to not looking after the property? There is nothing damaged or disfigured and the house is hygenicly clean, just a bit cluttered. Are we breaching our contract by being "untidy"? Rent has been paid every week ahead of time religiously....

Afroshack

Does your lease agreement specify that he is allowed to come check on the place? Whilst I totally agree that peering in your windows etc is more than creepy, he should still be allowed to check up on the place (it is his property after all) and waiting until he came back from London to cancel it might not help your relationship with him. Although that all depends on what was formally agreed between you when you moved in?

rossconan

Afroshack wrote: »

Does your lease agreement specify that he is allowed to come check on the place? Whilst I totally agree that peering in your windows etc is more than creepy, he should still be allowed to check up on the place (it is his property after all) and waiting until he came back from London to cancel it might not help your relationship with him. Although that all depends on what was formally agreed between you when you moved in?

He's been back from London since last Thursday. The only reason he actually wanted to inspect the property again is because he owns all the land surrounding the property so as it appeared a blade of grass was out of place and we suffer on his short notice. It's being going on since we moved in I thought I'd post to get some constructive criticism and its working. I know it's his place but is he not being too possessive?

Afroshack

I don't think I'm in a place to tell you if he is "too possessive' : its up to each individual landlord and tenant to agree on the frequency of regular inspections that works for them. Yes you are entitled to peace and privacy but if you agreed originally to allow him regular inspections then you are obliged to meet the terms of that contract. Which means he doesn't drop over unannounced and you stick to an agreed inspection time without cancelling.

rossconan

Afroshack wrote: »

I don't think I'm in a place to tell you if he is "too possessive' : its up to each individual landlord and tenant to agree on the frequency of regular inspections that works for them. Yes you are entitled to peace and privacy but if you agreed originally to allow him regular inspections then you are obliged to meet the terms of that contract. Which means he doesn't drop over unannounced and you stick to an agreed inspection time without cancelling.

There was never such an agreement. More times than often just a knock on the door and today he was caught red handed entering the property without consent

rossconan

rossconan wrote: »

There was never such an agreement. More times than often just a knock on the door and today he was caught red handed entering the property without consent

In Kerry out the country if that might shed some better light to the situation

MouseTail

What does your lease say about inspections.

Wanderer78

ah this is not right op. you don't feel comfortable in your own home. i understand the owners concerns about their property, but there has to be a happy medium. you're gonna have to confront him on this in a friendly way

Stench Blossoms

MouseTail wrote: »

What does your lease say about inspections.

Doesn't matter what the lease states. Basic rights of a tenant are that the landlord needs permission to enter unless it's an emergency.

billythefish99

rossconan wrote: »

I know it's his place but is he not being too possessive?

Its not 'his place' - its your home which you are paying good money for.

Grow a spine and tell him in no uncertain terms the next time he trespasses or attempts to enter your home without written notice agreed upon by you you wont be responsible for your actions.

You are a grown adult with a wife and child, time to stop being intimidated by gob****e landlords.

ballyharpat

Ross, If I were you, I would call him tomorrow, at a decent hour. Tell him you are very upset that he went against your wishes and came to the property and tried to gain access, in doing so, could be seen as breaking and entering. Keep a record of all correspondence.
Tell him that you have photographic proof of his actions and this time will do nothing, however, the next time you will not be as nice.
I give my tenants notice if I need to check the property, unless I'm there anyway to fix something, and then I ask if it's okay to check for issues that may need maintenance….both of the properties I rent are messy, but that comes with the territory and is really none of my business. None of my tenants have caused major problems-except for the wooden floor in one has been damaged by continuous water from the sink, I pointed to out to the tenant and she accepted responsibility, she understands I all be deducting from her deposit for it.
I would be tactful though, a lease may also state that a room can not be sublet and may have the number of people allowed to stay, listed on it, mine do. It may also forbid any sort of business being carried out on the property…..

Play your cards carefully, and at all times remain cool….

Wanderer78

ballyharpat wrote: »

Play your cards carefully, and at all times remain cool….

this is very important

the_syco

As above, tell him not to do this in future without prior permission.

rossconan wrote: »

Around 2 minutes after the car left the driveway he was on the property trying to open doors and sheds and garage. Peering through windows etc.

TBH, if you hadn't seen his face, you'd be ringing the Gardai.

gaius c

This kind of stuff is a big problem. We once got "I've seen your gear and you're well able to afford a rent increase" as a fairly chilling reminder that we needed to take extra care with that particular landlord snooping around.

maryfred

Was renting a house a good few years ago.Walked out of the bathroom completely naked one day after having a shower,to find my landlord and his sister in my sitting room.His attitude was,he'd knocked on the door,gotten no reply,so felt it was fine to enter.He just wanted to show his sister around the house,and couldn't understand why I had a problem with this.Some landlords need to be reminded that they don't have the right to enter or attempt to enter whenever they feel like it.Needless to say,I left that house as soon as possible.

Chloris

My landlord is fantastic usually, a really nice fella, but last week I came home from work and there were three builders after letting themselves in. I hadn't been told that anyone was calling so there was a bag of weed out on the table.

I've been super paranoid since that one of them will be anti drugs and call the fuzz on me, but we don't even smoke often so I'm probably just being ridiculous... Still though, was pretty annoyed with the land lord for not giving me a warning. The main builder (who I know fairly well) rang the landlord and said 'Did you tell (me) we were calling? Oh, because when we walked in, she was just getting out of the shower... Yeah...' haha.

rossconan

gaius c wrote: »

This kind of stuff is a big problem. We once got "I've seen your gear and you're well able to afford a rent increase" as a fairly chilling reminder that we needed to take extra care with that particular landlord snooping around.

That's pretty creepy man. There's surveillance in aldi at the moment. Might be a handy investment!

rossconan

Chloris wrote: »

My landlord is fantastic usually, a really nice fella, but last week I came home from work and there were three builders after letting themselves in. I hadn't been told that anyone was calling so there was a bag of weed out on the table.

I've been super paranoid since that one of them will be anti drugs and call the fuzz on me, but we don't even smoke often so I'm probably just being ridiculous... Still though, was pretty annoyed with the land lord for not giving me a warning. The main builder (who I know fairly well) rang the landlord and said 'Did you tell (me) we were calling? Oh, because when we walked in, she was just getting out of the shower... Yeah...' haha.

Also pretty messed up. Has happened to my wife a couple of times actually!!

paulmclaughlin

Chloris wrote: »

I've been super paranoid since that one of them will be anti drugs and call the fuzz on me, but we don't even smoke often so I'm probably just being ridiculous...

Too often it might seem :pac:

Viper_JB

That's crazy, has never happened to me in any of the places I've rented but if it did I would call the gardai immediately, set the expectation early that if they're caught breaking into your home there will be ramifications, it's unbelievable that any landlord would have such a poor understanding of their responsibilities.

ShaShaBear

Happened me in my flat in Louth. Now the landlord himself (to my knowledge) never let himself in (I will admit rather shamelessly to keeping a dog on the premises when I wasn't supposed to be, but that's a different story) but I did get out of the shower one morning to find the landlord's son watching TV on the sofa. I literally freaked - grabbed a mug and flung it at him. He said he was waiting for me to get back from college and didn't know there was anyone home (the flat was so small and terribly laid out that he would have been able to not only hear the shower running, but hear me moving in it and SEE the steam coming out under the bathroom door). I literally turfed him out under threat of calling the gardaí and was out within the week.

Once they do it once, there's no guarantee they won't try it again!