UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello to you all,

We own and manage some HMO's (houses of multiple occupation or house shares) 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!

I dont know the answer for a HMO, but to steer clear of any ambiguitiies in the face of harassment laws, if it were me I would give 24 hours notice for any part of the property - unless there was a really good reason why this is not possible.

If you already give the - at least - 24 hours notice for viewings, why not give the 24 hours notice for 'popping around' too?

Surely your maintenance / tool collection activities can be planned to that level of detail? It's just an email or text message or a quick telephone call.

The Tenant is quoting the agreement you (or the Landlord) have given them back at you... learn for the future to tailor this appropriately.

Tell them to stick it where the sun dont shine.

Its your house, and the communal areas you have 100% right to be in, your storage areas more so.

Honestly, do not capitulate.

Silly tenant.