Can my landlord enter your property without my permission?
As landlord and tenant solicitors we are often asked the question ‘what can I do if my landlord enters without permission?’ In this blog we answer your questions on your landlord‘s right to enter your tenanted property.
Landlord and tenant solicitors
If you need legal advice about your tenancy or if you are experiencing difficulties with your landlord then the landlord and tenant team at OTS Solicitors can help you. Call us on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form.
Whose house is it?
When it comes to the question ‘Can letting agent enter property without permission?’ many tenants think that the answer lies in who is the legal owner of the property but that isn’t entirely correct. That is because whilst your landlord may be the legal owner of the property that you rent, you have legal rights as a tenant. Your rights include a right to occupy the property free of interference from your landlord.
Can my landlord enter my tenanted property without my permission?
As a tenant you have certain legal rights including a legal right to live in your property undisturbed by your landlord or the letting agent.
That means that your landlord and the letting agent cannot enter the tenanted property without your agreement or permission.
However, there are exceptions to this rule as your landlord or the letting agent will need to visit tenanted property to carry out inspections or repairs.
Can I refuse my landlord access to my tenanted property?
In some situations you, as a tenant, are entitled to refuse your landlord access to a tenanted property. For example:
• If your landlord turns up at your tenanted property to carry out a routine inspection without giving you any advance warning or notification
• If your landlord wants to carry out non-urgent work to the property and has not given you any advance notice of the planned work. When must I allow my landlord access to my tenanted property?
You must give your landlord access to your tenanted property to either:
• Inspect the property
• Carry out repairs to the property.
However, your landlord has to:
• Give you at least twenty-four hours’ notice of the planned inspection or work to the property
• Visit the property at a reasonable time of day.
In an emergency situation, your landlord doesn’t need to give twenty-four hours’ notice and they can ask for immediate access to the property. Sometimes landlords and tenants can disagree on what counts as an emergency situation.
If your property has been flooded or there has been fire damage or reports of a gas leak coming from the property then these could all be classed as an emergency as your landlord may need to inspect the property to make an insurance claim or to enter the property to carry out urgent work to prevent further damage to their property or to stop water or gas etc. leaking and damaging your neighbour’s property.
What are the rules on letting agents entering my tenanted property?
If your landlord uses a letting agent then the letting agent has to comply with the same rules about allowing you to live in the property undisturbed and they, like your landlord, can only enter the property with your permission after giving you advance notice, unless it is an emergency situation. Calling round to inspect the property with no notice because they happen to be ‘in the area’ isn’t giving reasonable notice.
What happens if I don’t want to give access to the tenanted property?
If your landlord or their letting agent has contacted you to ask permission to come to the property to carry out a routine inspection or to carry out necessary work and they give you more than twenty four hours advance notice then you can refuse entry if the date is not convenient to you. For example, if the planned date of works or a property inspection is on your child’s birthday or the day before you sit an important examination or you are a shift worker and planned work to the property doesn’t fit with your work and sleep schedule.
If the date of the planned inspection or work isn’t convenient to you then you should let the landlord or the letting agent know and ideally keep a record of the email or text, just in case the refusal to allow access is raised at a later date. Most landlords and letting agents are reasonable about rearranging inspections and work if you promptly reply to say the proposed time isn’t convenient but you agree to access at an alternate time or date.
Can I change the locks on my tenanted property?
If you want to change the locks on your tenanted property then you will need to take legal advice from landlord and tenant solicitors on the terms of your tenancy as your lease may say that:
• You can't change the locks without your landlord’s agreement or
• If you change the locks, you are responsible for the costs of changing the locks at the end of your tenancy.
You can't change the locks to a tenanted property to stop your landlord from requesting access to carry out inspections of the property or work to it. Your landlord is entitled to request access provided they give at least twenty-four hours’ notice.
If you want to change the locks, for example because of burglaries in the area or because you lost a set of keys or your former partner (who wasn’t a tenant on the lease) still has a set of keys, then you should first of all check the tenancy agreement and, depending on what the lease agreement says about changing the locks, have a discussion with your landlord or their letting agent.
Keep things polite
You may find property inspections, intrusive or not, think that planned work to the property is necessary but it is as well to keep things polite and civilised with your landlord or letting agent and explain why the proposed dates aren’t convenient to you and your family. That way, when you do want work doing to the property, your landlord is more likely to be receptive.
When it comes to renting a property there is a balance to be struck between tenant’s rights and those of the landlord and legal owner of the property and that is the case when a landlord asks for access to your tenanted property.
Landlord and tenant solicitors
If you need legal advice about your tenancy agreement or if you are experiencing difficulties with your landlord then the landlord and tenant team at OTS Solicitors can help you. Call us on 0203 959 9123 or complete our online enquiry form.