How long is my landlord entitled to stay?

WychWillow

Just a quick question, my landlord emailed me earlier today saying he wants to do an inspection on Monday. I replied saying that was fine but would need a time and also asked if he would be bringing someone with him. He told me lunchtime and he may or may not be bringing someone with him.

Last time my landlord came for an inspection he came with his mother and they were here for nearly 3 hours. I work from home and this really impeded on my work time, so my question is, how long is he entitled to stay in the property for? do I have to have him here for another 3 hours again or can I ask him/them to leave after he has looked around the house?

Many thanks,
Claire

Arrow in the Knee

3 hours for an inspection that's too long.

MarkAnthony

WT... was he doing for 3 hours? Are you renting a country estate?

jd83

WychWillow wrote: »

Just a quick question, my landlord emailed me earlier today saying he wants to do an inspection on Monday. I replied saying that was fine but would need a time and also asked if he would be bringing someone with him. He told me lunchtime and he may or may not be bringing someone with him.

Last time my landlord came for an inspection he came with his mother and they were here for nearly 3 hours. I work from home and this really impeded on my work time, so my question is, how long is he entitled to stay in the property for? do I have to have him here for another 3 hours again or can I ask him/them to leave after he has looked around the house?

Many thanks,
Claire

3 hours is ridiculous. I would put the foot down and say your willing to facilitate an inspection and run a few dates by them for 30 min to inspect the property until you come to an agreement on a suitable time.

heldel00

Tell him Monday is a bank holiday! You don't need that kind of headache on a day off.

MarkAnthony

That said I do fix things during my initial inspection, perhaps not a full story from the OP?

WychWillow

MarkAnthony wrote: »

That said I do fix things during my initial inspection, perhaps not a full story from the OP?

Nothing at all was fixed, 20-30 minutes was spent doing the actual inspection and question asking and answering about the property/lease. The rest of the time was spent stood in the hallway getting closer to the front door with him and his mother chatting about how we liked the area (we moved from Dublin to the country) and gossiping about the neighbours to us.

Meauldsegosha

WychWillow wrote: »

Nothing at all was fixed, 20-30 minutes was spent doing the actual inspection and question asking and answering about the property/lease. The rest of the time was spent stood in the hallway getting closer to the front door with him and his mother chatting about how we liked the area (we moved from Dublin to the country) and gossiping about the neighbours to us.

So you spent two and a half hours standing in your hallway chatting to him and his mother. Why didn't you open the door and politely say "Sorry I've a busy day. I need to get back to work."

WychWillow

Meauldsegosha wrote: »

So you spent two and a half hours standing in your hallway chatting to him and his mother. Why didn't you open the door and politely say "Sorry I've a busy day. I need to get back to work."

It was the first time we had met him, we had been dealing with his agents for the last two years and we didn't want to appear rude saying that I don't want him here for another 3 hours on Monday!

Dubl07

WychWillow wrote: »

It was the first time we had met him, we had been dealing with his agents for the last two years and we didn't want to appear rude saying that I don't want him here for another 3 hours on Monday!

Arrange with a friend for some 'client calls' every 20 minutes and usher them out after the second one at the latest. That's ridiculous.

salamanca22

How long ago was the last inspection OP?

Also, I would be telling him that you are busy on Monday and if he insists the inspection be done that day that he must come alone and that the inspection must be done in a timely manner. He isn't your friend. He is your landlord. There is no need for 2 and a half hours of pleasantries.

Into The Blue

So he had a 20 min inspection. Seems grand. If you don't want to talk to him for the other 2.5 hrs, don't.

Forget about entitlements etc.. Just say you have to be somewhere after 20 mins!

BettePorter

My issue wouldn't be how long he is entitled to stay. ( in fairness that's easily remedied by saying ur heading out shortly) my issue would be him bringing someone with him. What kinda sap brings his mammy with him to what effectively is a business meeting?

It may be his/her house ..... but its your home.

gipi

BettePorter wrote: »

My issue wouldn't be how long he is entitled to stay. ( in fairness that's easily remedied by saying ur heading out shortly) my issue would be him bringing someone with him. What kinda sap brings his mammy with him to what effectively is a business meeting?

It may be his/her house ..... but its your home.

Is it possible that the landlord didn't want to visit a female tenant on his own, so brought another woman (who happened to be his mother)?

MarkAnthony

TBH does sound like a bit of a sap/nice bloke. I'm not sure what you needed here OP it's just a case of politely ushering him out.

Stheno

Are you op the poster with the menagerie of cats and dogs that did damage and had a dispute with the landlord?

WychWillow

The last inspection was at the beginning of June. I don't live alone I live with my husband who was also present for the meeting so he didn't bring his mother so he wasn't alone with a single female

Also yes Stentho I am the one that had a dispute with my landlord and have pets, althought not too sure what that has to do with this question

Stheno

WychWillow wrote: »

The last inspection was at the beginning of June. I don't live alone I live with my husband who was also present for the meeting so he didn't bring his mother so he wasn't alone with a single female

Also yes Stentho I am the one that had a dispute with my landlord and have pets, althought not too sure what that has to do with this question

It would influence how long I would want to stay as a landlord, if I was wondering if any damage had been done since the last inspection. That's why I asked.

Two inspections within less than 3 months is pretty rigourous. Have you resolved your issues with your landlord?

salamanca22

WychWillow wrote: »

The last inspection was at the beginning of June. I don't live alone I live with my husband who was also present for the meeting so he didn't bring his mother so he wasn't alone with a single female

Also yes Stentho I am the one that had a dispute with my landlord and have pets, althought not too sure what that has to do with this question

There is no way the landlord should be doing another inspection after 2 months. Tell him kindly where to go.

Stheno

salamanca22 wrote: »

There is no way the landlord should be doing another inspection after 2 months. Tell him kindly where to go.

Read the Ops previous thread on the damage done by her pets to the landlords house. I'd imagine they are on the equivalent of work probation

OP did the landlord fix the bathroom etc since the last inspection?

WychWillow

Stheno wrote: »

It would influence how long I would want to stay as a landlord, if I was wondering if any damage had been done since the last inspection. That's why I asked.

Two inspections within less than 3 months is pretty rigourous. Have you resolved your issues with your landlord?

We couldn't resolve them with the landlord, he just kept demanding more and more money from us and wanted us to refit his whole house out practically, even so far as replacing things that weren't damaged. I filed a report with the PRTB, case was heard last Friday and we got the adjudicator determination through this morning hearing in our favour. Then an email from the landlord saying he wants to come and do an inspection. Which again we have no problem with but the first time was 3 hours, the second when we discuss the damages was just over 2 hours but that was understandable, the third again was nearly 2 hours and I don't want a repeat of that this time. So I wanted to know how long he was entitled to stay in the property without me asking him to leave was.

WychWillow

Stheno wrote: »

Read the Ops previous thread on the damage done by her pets to the landlords house. I'd imagine they are on the equivalent of work probation

OP did the landlord fix the bathroom etc since the last inspection?

No work has been fixed since the last inspection or indeed ever. We have had no working bathroom light since February, no hot water since November 2013, kitchen press fallen off, coving in the front room fallen off since October 2014. All of this has been made aware to the agents and to the landlord and none has been repaired.

Stheno

WychWillow wrote: »

No work has been fixed since the last inspection or indeed ever. We have had no working bathroom light since February, no hot water since November 2013, kitchen press fallen off, coving in the front room fallen off since October 2014. All of this has been made aware to the agents and to the landlord and none has been repaired.

So why are you still there? Honestly the entire relationship is broken, there is nothing in law that constrains how long he stays there for an inspection either.

You are entitled to reasonable enjoyment of the property but given the history I'd not be surprised at a thorough inspection of x hours tbh

I can't imagine living somewhere with no hot water for over a year and a half, and with children/teens as you've posted.

WychWillow

Stheno wrote: »

So why are you still there? Honestly the entire relationship is broken, there is nothing in law that constrains how long he stays there for an inspection either.

You are entitled to reasonable enjoyment of the property but given the history I'd not be surprised at a thorough inspection of x hours tbh

I can't imagine living somewhere with no hot water for over a year and a half, and with children/teens as you've posted.

I am still here because I need to be in the area for my children's schooling, my daughter is just going into her final year of school and I don't want to change her school again. There are no other properties to rent in this area, we have been looking every day for the last few months and nothing is available, it is a tiny little town and we don't drive so we have very little options. We cope without the hot water, the showers are power showers, so its only the water from the sinks that we are missing and we boil a kettle to wash faces ect, so its not a major inconvenience

Stheno

WychWillow wrote: »

I am still here because I need to be in the area for my children's schooling, my daughter is just going into her final year of school and I don't want to change her school again. There are no other properties to rent in this area, we have been looking every day for the last few months and nothing is available, it is a tiny little town and we don't drive so we have very little options. We cope without the hot water, the showers are power showers, so its only the water from the sinks that we are missing and we boil a kettle to wash faces ect, so its not a major inconvenience

Well if you are happy to put up with the inconvenience and the locations works I guess that's ok, but do you realise you can report the landlord to the council due to this? It doesn't meet minimum requirements for rental properties?

Did you resolve the last dispute where he was looking for thousands in repairs?

As for the inspection, while there is nothing in law you can use, I'd be saying you are available from 2-3:30pm only and restricting it to that.

WychWillow

Stheno wrote: »

Well if you are happy to put up with the inconvenience and the locations works I guess that's ok, but do you realise you can report the landlord to the council due to this? It doesn't meet minimum requirements for rental properties?

Did you resolve the last dispute where he was looking for thousands in repairs?

As for the inspection, while there is nothing in law you can use, I'd be saying you are available from 2-3:30pm only and restricting it to that.

We have had 3 different carpenters in, from three different firms who have all said that the repairs cost 700-900 euros, we've priced up the materials from the local hardware store to do it ourselves and it comes in at just under 400 euro, depending on which quote you look at, compared to his which started off at 4,300 and then went up to 7,500 over the space of a week from the same carpenter. We have given all of these quotes to the landlords solicitor and the prtb, the solicitor said we aren't entitled to get our own quotes done and the prtb said because the landlord didn't bother to show up to the hearing and he hasn't put a dispute in against us (we told them about the damages and the difference in price and that the landlord was blackmailing us with our lease) they weren't going to rule on the damages and he would have to put a dispute in if he wanted them to decide on them. I emailed him and his solicitor again today in reply to his mail, telling him I wanted to try and remedy the situation regarding getting the repairs done or at least give him the money to cover the repairs but it was ignored, so there's not really a lot we can do with that at the moment.

Stheno

WychWillow wrote: »

We have had 3 different carpenters in, from three different firms who have all said that the repairs cost 700-900 euros, we've priced up the materials from the local hardware store to do it ourselves and it comes in at just under 400 euro, depending on which quote you look at, compared to his which started off at 4,300 and then went up to 7,500 over the space of a week from the same carpenter. We have given all of these quotes to the landlords solicitor and the prtb, the solicitor said we aren't entitled to get our own quotes done and the prtb said because the landlord didn't bother to show up to the hearing and he hasn't put a dispute in against us (we told them about the damages and the difference in price and that the landlord was blackmailing us with our lease) they weren't going to rule on the damages and he would have to put a dispute in if he wanted them to decide on them. I emailed him and his solicitor again today in reply to his mail, telling him I wanted to try and remedy the situation regarding getting the repairs done or at least give him the money to cover the repairs but it was ignored, so there's not really a lot we can do with that at the moment.

So you've a stalemate but now have these two monthly inspections? He sounds like a bit of an ass tbh, I can deal with people who will meet you halfway, but inspecting a house he has wilfully neglected, and left people to live in less than ideal living conditions, and refusing to deal with previous issues is not on

WychWillow

Stheno wrote: »

So you've a stalemate but now have these two monthly inspections? He sounds like a bit of an ass tbh, I can deal with people who will meet you halfway, but inspecting a house he has wilfully neglected, and left people to live in less than ideal living conditions, and refusing to deal with previous issues is not on

Yeah pretty much, I have no problem with the inspections, if it puts his mind at rest that no further damage has been caused then its a plus for everyone, what I do have a problem with is not knowing who is going to be coming with him and him being here for hours on end.

We have done everything we agreed to do with him, the damage was done over a very short time frame last year and we informed both the landlord and the agents who saw it and took photos in each of our quarterly inspections, but there is only so much being reasonable you can do, hence why we had no choice but to go to the prtb

delthedriver

30 mins is ample time to check a property. Unless you are living in some stately Manor.

Sure , be polite and explain that you are under pressure to return a phone call to a client.

Thank him for calling:)

padjo5

By the sounds of it Landlord might just as easily put up a separate post wondering if it is acceptable for a tenant to keep him chatting in the hallway for 90minutes after a routine inspection!!?

Arbiter of Good Taste

It amazes me how people get wound up over "entitlements" and the like when all you need to say is "Listen, it was great to talk to you, but I'd better get back to work before my boss wonders what I'm up to!"

This is not a landlord/tenant issue