Landlord nightmare

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My landlord just emailed me to say that if I'm not in at a specified time he'll "let himself in". I swear, I could imagine myself impaling him with a spear right through his whole being (I have, as you can imagine, already a sour opinion of landlords... getting as much money as one would have in a normal job simply for having even more money to buy housing and rent it out? If that's not the definition of a parasitic fiend I don't know what is).

Are they able to do that legally, though? I was once in a hostel which had a different kind of renting agreement, which made it able to go in rooms if maintenance was needed, but only for the upkeep of the whole building. But normal tenancies too?

I'm just wondering whether I should consider standing up to this... potentially staying here and physically blocking his access. I just think this is blatant injustice - gets all the money AND still can "let himself in"? I'm sorry, but when you rent something out it's not yours anymore for a period! It's already unfair that he has a copy of the keys - aren't there ever any lawsuits where landlords are accused of stealing or such?

Well I don't have any issues with landlords yet (I'm with a very large company and I fully trust the superintendent). Where I live they have to ask permission to enter and can only do it during the daylight hours EXCEPT if they give written notice (I think a week). I'm sure the laws vary but I do believe they can enter if they have a "reasonable" excuse to where I live.

whirlingmind, is correct as far as I know.

A tenant has to be given 24 hours notice of a visit unless for example there was an emergency that required immediate attention ie a gas leak, the roof had blown off!

Is there anything in your contract?

Keep in mind that the original poster, MooToo, is in the UK, not the US. It is quite possible that a specific practice that would be illegal in any state in the US might be legal in the UK.

I think that in general in the US, a landlord or someone acting as his agent can enter individual apartments for a wide number of reasons with little or no notice. One example would be pest control. Another would be in the case of a gas leak. I also would not be surprised if a landlord could enter an apartment without notice to try to mitigate damages if water or sewage was pouring into the apartment from a broken pipe above the apartment.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Random Discussion]

Thinking back to my days of flat renting, the landlord must give reasonable notice before visiting - he can't just stroll in whenever he feels like it - and I don't think there's any requirement for the tenant to be present. It's sufficient to serve notice of the visit.
I'm pretty sure he can also visit for any non-trivial reason - it's his property after all.

Your contract should definitely make it clear.

As far as I know, the landlord should give normally give two days notice of a visit, unless for an emergency.

http://www.tenancyagreementservice.co.u ... rights.htm

Why specificallyy does he want to enter your apartment?

Repairs?
A legally-obligated evaluation of some kind?
Have there been ( supposedly) complaints that he needs to look into?
Can you ask other tenants if they have received messages like this?

Sylkat