fairl1ght Posted November 16, 2014 Report Share Posted November 16, 2014 Hello to you all, We own and manage some HMO's and often require access into the common shared areas to clean vacant rooms, carry out viewings, change towels and bath mats, carry out repairs etc . The property in question is a particularly large house share. We also store some DIY tools in the cellar and at times use the lounge area to gain access to the cellar to collect ladders/tools sometimes for unrelated properties. A tenant in this house share has challenged us by stating that we must give all tenants 24 hrs notice before entering the property for any reason, even to conduct viewings or to collect tools from the cellar, to carry out repairs etc. He's speaking of the public shared areas, not his private bedroom. We have a 6 month ast with him from the nla which states on the front page that he is renting a particular room number within the house with shared use of public areas. He has quoted a particular clause from the agreement: 1.37 To permit the Landlord or the Agent or other persons authorised by them: at all reasonable times after giving the Tenant at least twenty-four hours written notice (except in an emergency): He has also quoted a clause from the office of fair trading doc 356: 3.32 We would object to a provision giving the landlord an excessive right to enter the rented property. Under any kind of lease or tenancy, a landlord is required by common law to allow his tenants ‘exclusive possession’ and ‘quiet enjoyment’ of the premises during the tenancy. In other words, tenants must be free from unwarranted intrusion by anyone, including the landlord. Landlords are unfairly disregarding that basic obligation if they reserve a right to enter the property without giving reasonable notice or getting the tenant’s consent, except for good reason. My understanding is that as the agreement states that he is renting his room along with the use of SHARED areas, this means that the shared areas are just that - shared and not exclusively for his own private use. Meaning use of those areas can be shared with ourselves as landlords? We do of course always give at least 24 hrs notice before requesting entry into tenants private rooms unless it's within the last two months of the tenancy when viewings take place. We still always give as much notice as we can during this time. My apologies that this has been a bit long winded. I had imagined that there is a simple answer to his challenge. Are there any clauses we can quote according to landlord Law to explain to tenants that landlords are not required to give tenants notice before entering shared areas or vacant rooms? I'd very much like to give him some clear guidance as to what our rights are because I don't feel that the tenancy agreement we have from the NLA is a clear on this as it should be which may have partly led to this problem. Any advice or help with this would be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted November 16, 2014 Report Share Posted November 16, 2014 Surely as members of the NLA you have access to their legal department for help & advice ? Why can't you ask them ? Whilst you are free to ask anyone on any forum for advice......something as important as this shouldn't be acted on when neither the source or the accuracy of the answer is likely to be known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 I would suspect (though no expert on HMO's) you do have to give 24 hours written notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted November 17, 2014 Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 In an HMO you are renting the tenant the room and access to common parts not the whole house. Does your HMO have a licence? In which case is should state that you have certain duties to perform to the common parts as the building manager. The tenant is WRONG. If he is going to be a disruptive element issue a Section 21 notice. Have you protected his deposit and issued PI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairl1ght Posted November 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 Surely as members of the NLA you have access to their legal department for help & advice ? Why can't you ask them ? Whilst you are free to ask anyone on any forum for advice......something as important as this shouldn't be acted on when neither the source or the accuracy of the answer is likely to be known. You are quite right. The incident occurred on Saturday and as the NLA advise line is only open monday to Friday I was eager to get advice from other sources, possibly other landlords with more experience of managing HMO's and Landlord law where possible. Again, you are correct in advising me as regards acting on the situation before the accuracy of the answer is known. I hope to gather as much information as I can before taking any action. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairl1ght Posted November 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2014 In an HMO you are renting the tenant the room and access to common parts not the whole house. Does your HMO have a licence? In which case is should state that you have certain duties to perform to the common parts as the building manager. The tenant is WRONG. If he is going to be a disruptive element issue a Section 21 notice. Have you protected his deposit and issued PI? Thanks Mortitia, This is how I always understood it to be. It's useful for us to know that other landlords are in agreement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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