CONGRATULATIONS – you have a tenant who has signed the lease and paid the deposit and

moved into your property.

Now you can just sit back and forget about it and collect the rent.

Well – you can if you wish, but what about your investment? You have tens of thousands

of pounds tied up in the property – and someone else is looking after it.

You would be wise to have the property inspected on a regular basis, but that said you

cannot just go letting yourself in to have a quick look around either. Not unless you want

to have a chat with the local constabulary.

As a landlord you have a right in law to conduct regular visit of your property – but

what regular is, rather inconveniently, not particularly well defined in law.

A letting agent should have given you advice to build the frequency of your planned

visits into your lease agreement, so both you and your tenant know and understand when

they are likely to occur. And if you have decided to use the ongoing services of a letting

agent, they will do these visits for you and report back to you.

You do have to give the tenant notice of a planned visit – DO NOT just turn up and

let yourself in. It may be your house but it is NOT your home. The tenant has the right

to be there and also for inspections to be at a mutually convenient time. Of course, if

they are happy for you to look around while they are not there, then that is fine – but

that is their call, not yours. Many people – especially single women – find the idea very

uncomfortable.

Tenants also have the right to be able to live a quiet life so going too often can disrupt

this – more than once every three months would seem to be pushing the boundaries by

many people’s standards.

It is also worth remembering what the visit is for – it is to check the condition of your

property. This works two ways – firstly making sure there has been no damage from the

tenants, but secondly ensuring that you are also keeping your property well maintained

yourself. The tenant may be responsible for wallpaper ripped off by their toddler but

you are responsible for fixing any missing roofing tiles that have blown off the house. The

tenant may well use the inspection as a good time to discuss maintenance.

What it is not for, however, is judging how the tenant chooses to live. If they are untidy

slobs who like living surrounded by pizza boxes and unwashed laundry, that is entirely

their choice provided the property is returned to you in good condition at the end of

the tenancy.

One suggestion for longer standing tenants would be to agree regular visits early on in

the tenancy, but once they have proved themselves as reliable and respectful occupiers,

drop the frequency down to longer periods.

For advice speak to our Lettings Team on 01642 927288