Should I Contact My Landlord About New Tenants Behaviour?

Sardonicat

Just phone the LL. Had a situation once where a recently moved in tenant arranged for his friends to move in (above board,) who then tried to move in the bfs behind the LL 's back and take over the sitting room as a bedroom. It would have resulted in 7 adults living in a 3 bed, one bath semi. A quick call to the LL and they were given a week to clear off.

GMI101

Sardonicat wrote: »

Just phone the LL. Had a situation once where a recently moved in tenant arranged for his friends to move in (above board,) who then tried to move in the bfs behind the LL 's back and take over the sitting room as a bedroom. It would have resulted in 7 adults living in a 3 bed, one bath semi. A quick call to the LL and they were given a week to clear off.

Thanks. I'll certainly be contacting him. I was a bit apprehensive earlier as I did not want to appear out of line in suggesting this, though this thread has put my mind at ease a little.

Just out of curiosity, were you the landlord or another tenant of the property in your situation?

Sardonicat

GMI101 wrote: »

Thanks. I'll certainly be contacting him. I was a bit apprehensive earlier as I did not want to appear out of line in suggesting this, though this thread has put my mind at ease a little.

Just out of curiosity, were you the landlord or another tenant of the property in your situation?

I was a tenant. It was a rough week in the house before they left, mind. I was shouted at, called names and accused if ruining their lives. They'd obviously planned this out with the tenant already living there before they even arrived. The double room had just been vacated when they arrived on 'holiday' and low and behold they wanted to stay. That was fine but the plan all along was to move the boyfriends in. It was all just so sneaky and disrespectful.

Dav010

Op, you are asking the LL to make a personal decision rather than a business one. The decision could effect their income. If it were me, I would do it via telephone, explain the situation and remind the LL that you have been there for some time. If I were the LL, at a time like this, I wouldn’t want to risk two unhappy long term tenants getting pissed off and moving out.

GMI101

Sardonicat wrote: »

I was a tenant. It was a rough week in the house before they left, mind. I was shouted at, called names and accused if ruining their lives. They'd obviously planned this out with the tenant already living there before they even arrived. The double room had just been vacated when they arrived on 'holiday' and low and behold they wanted to stay. That was fine but the plan all along was to move the boyfriends in. It was all just so sneaky and disrespectful.

Thanks. Yeah, I think we'll have to prepare ourselves for a rough time! I wouldn't mind just a week but according to the RTB website, minimum notice period is now 28 days!! Uggh!

Sardonicat

GMI101 wrote: »

Thanks. Yeah, I think we'll have to prepare ourselves for a rough time! I wouldn't mind just a week but according to the RTB website, minimum notice period is now 28 days!! Uggh!

The bf is not a tenant and can be turfed out without notice. In my case the gf went with him back home. The girl left behind had to moved5 out a month later as she couldn't afford the rent alone.

Thargor

Did you bring your bike back in from the shed or ask them why they thought they could touch it or anything like that? That would seriously annoy me. Although smoking in the house when asked not to is a whole other level of ignorant.

Seth Brundle

In terms of whether to call or email, no harm calling them and talking through. The follow up with an email containing a summary of the call.

GMI101

Thargor wrote: »

Did you bring your bike back in from the shed or ask them why they thought they could touch it or anything like that? That would seriously annoy me. Although smoking in the house when asked not to is a whole other level of ignorant.

Well, I met them after I'd finished work and they were outside. The boyfriend asked me who owned the bike in the hall and I said, I did. Then he says, we were doing a bit of hoovering so moved it out to the shed. So I told him to bring it back in and explained about the robbery.

It annoyed me too but I was more annoyed at the kitchen to be honest. Just having seen all our stuff removed and other things taken off the countertop & put into presses and replaced with her own gear. It was just so brazen - I couldn't imagine doing anything like that on the day I moved into a place.

Though as purple mountain said the smoking and having the boyfriend hanging around is probably more egregious.

juneg

She sounds like a right cheeky little twerp. Get rid of the boyfriend and she will follow

GMI101

juneg wrote: »

She sounds like a right cheeky little twerp. Get rid of the boyfriend and she will follow

Yes - horrible attitude. Hopefully the landlords will act on this and give them their marching orders.

whisky_galore

Nothing worse than house sharing with a couple and all that entails.

GMI101

whisky_galore wrote: »

Nothing worse than house sharing with a couple and all that entails.

I actually don't mind sharing with couples in general - in fact the tenants who just moved out were a couple whom I really got on with, I was really disappointed when they moved out as we became very good friends!!

To clarify - they had legitimely rented out a room each so there was nothing done behind the landlords back.

monkeysnapper

Makes my blood boil reading this as a person that also shared a house years ago .... a lot of this brings back bad memorys.

1st moving your bike from house to shed considering she had just moved in is a disgrace and I'd have been having very angry words with her over this.

2nd Smoking in house after saying they wouldnt is a defo No no ......

3rd moving in boyfriend or letting him stay is a disgrace ....

All this is bull sh1te and I wouldnt be treading carefully . Email and a phone a few hours later to confirm landlord got email ...

OP I have sympathy for you I really do .... I ended up years ago moving out and renting a 1 bedroom flat that wasnt half as nice as house I was renting and it was beautiful. So glad I did it for my own sanity.

GMI101

monkeysnapper wrote: »

Makes my blood boil reading this as a person that also shared a house years ago .... a lot of this brings back bad memorys.

1st moving your bike from house to shed considering she had just moved in is a disgrace and I'd have been having very angry words with her over this.

2nd Smoking in house after saying they wouldnt is a defo No no ......

3rd moving in boyfriend or letting him stay is a disgrace ....

All this is bull sh1te and I wouldnt be treading carefully . Email and a phone a few hours later to confirm landlord got email ...

OP I have sympathy for you I really do .... I ended up years ago moving out and renting a 1 bedroom flat that wasnt half as nice as house I was renting and it was beautiful. So glad I did it for my own sanity.

Thank you, I appreciate this. I had a few previous bad experiences myself in shared accommodation (mostly when I was in college really so I just grinned & beared it knowing I was only gonna be there for the academic year and most of my day was spent studying in the library anyway). But ultimately I'm older now that I don't really want to be putting up with that kind of hassle now.

Funny you should mention that as I had started googling for 1 bed apartments this morning!! I'd much prefer not to move out though as, aside from the obvious reasons, the room I rent is a good size for me - plenty of storage room and good space for working from home (which is much more than can be said for plenty of other places in my budget range).

poker--addict

I would also ask LL for a quick call, and follow it up via email. Call is easier to explain you are genuinely happy in the property but this isn’t going to work.

Also, on those saying smoking not acceptable unless all house mates agree, I’d extent that to include LL!! Any landlord with half a brain isn’t allowing smoking in the property, at least not without a plan to retain full costs of a deep clean from deposit. Stinks!!!

Graces7

GMI101 wrote: »

Not to my knowledge - myself nor my other housemate didn't provide such a list and I'm unaware if our landlord did. Yeah, it's not nice. I'm actually thinking of contacting a lawyer to see what options are available to me.

The sheer fact alone that the boyfriend seems to be living here also would be grounds for action from the landlord I would have presumed.

Thank you. Maybe a list would be less liable to be ignored? Cannot fall on " deaf" ears :eek:

GMI101

So, a bit of an update!

I had a word with herself and the boyfriend about changing everything, the smoking and made the point that myself and my other housemate have lived here for a long time and like things a certain way. To be fair to them - they seemed receptive of that (though I'm keeping in mind wolves in sheeps clothing and that).

They've also done a bit of cleaning between them and bought a few bits for the house (briquettes and wood for the fire) so I'm willing to give them a couple of extra days before I call the landlord to see if they stick to this.

I'm still not exactly happy about the situation (especially the boyfriend living here), but in the interests of a placid household I'm willing to give them a last chance assuming we don't get a repeat of the previous behaviour (they seem to be a bit quieter and I haven't noticed any guests coming over).

Pkiernan

Its crazy to allow the boyfriend to live there.

GMI101

Pkiernan wrote: »

Its crazy to allow the boyfriend to live there.

Oh I agree, and I still intend to contact the landlord about that, but I'm speaking in terms of the other behaviour. Provided it stops now I'm willing to move on and chalk it up to bad first impression/mis-understandings.

Sardonicat

GMI101 wrote: »

Oh I agree, and I still intend to contact the landlord about that, but I'm speaking in terms of the other behaviour. Provided it stops now I'm willing to move on and chalk it up to bad first impression/mis-understandings.

I'd be surprised if the LL will want her staying after she moved an extra person into the place without his knowledge. There is no misunderstanding here. This woman is walking all over you and will continue to do so. You're in a battle now OP, whether you want to be or not. I'd be making it clear to the LL it's me or her. And be prepared to follow through.

GMI101

Sardonicat wrote: »

I'd be surprised if the LL will want her staying after she moved an extra person into the place without his knowledge. There is no misunderstanding here. This woman is walking all over you and will continue to do so. You're in a battle now OP, whether you want to be or not. I'd be making it clear to the LL it's me or her. And be prepared to follow through.

I agree, and as I say I'll certainly be contacting the landlord about the boyfriend, however I'm considering only communicating this matter and omitting the other behaviour.

Edit: Also just to clarify, I also intend on communicating the fact that they are both smokers when the room was advertised for non-smokers. At least it's happening outside now but (as an ex-smoker who went through a rough period quitting) I'd prefer it not happen at all.

SouthWesterly

GMI101 wrote: »

So, a bit of an update!

I had a word with herself and the boyfriend about changing everything, the smoking and made the point that myself and my other housemate have lived here for a long time and like things a certain way. To be fair to them - they seemed receptive of that (though I'm keeping in mind wolves in sheeps clothing and that).

They've also done a bit of cleaning between them and bought a few bits for the house (briquettes and wood for the fire) so I'm willing to give them a couple of extra days before I call the landlord to see if they stick to this.

I'm still not exactly happy about the situation (especially the boyfriend living here), but in the interests of a placid household I'm willing to give them a last chance assuming we don't get a repeat of the previous behaviour (they seem to be a bit quieter and I haven't noticed any guests coming over).

If the boyfriend isn't on the lease then he shouldn't be living there.
Is he paying a quarter of the bills or are you paying for him.?

Chrisam

GMI101 wrote: »

I agree, and as I say I'll certainly be contacting the landlord about the boyfriend, however I'm considering only communicating this matter and omitting the other behaviour.

Having read through the full thread, what's coming through is that you're quite conflict adverse (not a bad thing!), but this woman has given you at least 3 red flags already and you need to nip it in the bud. Guaranteed, if that's what your dealing with in week 1, by 6 months you'll have moved out, rather than trying to fix it! Take a deep breath, ring the LL and save yourself 6 months of stress. Or get your existing flatmate to do it for you. You need this couple out of there.

GMI101

SouthWesterly wrote: »

If the boyfriend isn't on the lease then he shouldn't be living there.
Is he paying a quarter of the bills or are you paying for him.?

Yes, and as I say, I still intend on telling the landlord about the boyfriend and the smoking but (as Purple Mountain previously suggested) I think it's probably best just to focus on these two facets. That alone is, I'm sure, grounds for action by the landlords.

Truthvader

Before contacting Landlord you both need to front up 100% face to face and set out all your objections. Not unreasonable that boyfriend stays the odd night but he cant just move in. Plus she never ever touches your stuff or moves a goddamn thing. Once you go to the Landlord they will see that as a sign of weakness. F*ck her ****e into the garden if it comes to it and let her go to the landlord. Then the new tenant with the boyfriend who shouldn't be there has to complain about the two tenants who are paying rent for ages with no problems.

GMI101

Chrisam wrote: »

Having read through the full thread, what's coming through is that you're quite conflict adverse (not a bad thing!), but this woman has given you at least 3 red flags already and you need to nip it in the bud. Guaranteed, if that's what your dealing with in week 1, by 6 months you'll have moved out, rather than trying to fix it! Take a deep breath, ring the LL and save yourself 6 months of stress. Or get your existing flatmate to do it for you. You need this couple out of there.

Haha! Yeah, I used to be fairly comfortable with conflict but a few years now of working in highly regulated medical industry has trained it all out of me!!!

I agree this needs to be nipped now, I'm just contemplating what I will communicate - i.e. if they've stopped some of the behaviour I talked about (i.e. noisiness, guests, moving belongings, etc) then I'm not sure do I have a strong foothold to complain to the landlord over those things. So as I say, I'm of the opinion now that I should only communicate the boyfriend and the smoking in a non-smoking residence.

Dial Hard

Seriously, OP, you need to stop fannying about and say it to her about the boyfriend. The longer he's there the more difficult it will be to say it - sitting on it for any length of time is basically giving tacit approval.

Porklife

God OP reading your thread brings back memories of many an awful houseshare. I've written about my recent houseshare many times on here. My advice would be to email your landlord asking if he's free at any stage this week for a call regarding the house. I would tell him everything from moving your bike (that would have pissed me off no end, I couldn't care less if he was hoovering, he doesn't even live there officially and should have waited for you to come home and politely ask if you could move your bike while he hoovered) to moving your belongings in the kitchen, the smoking and noise levels.
It is irrelevant that the last, what 2 days, they've been a bit quieter, who's to say they'll keep that up. Inviting people over having just moved in is also very brazen. Usually when I move in somewhere I keep my head down for the first few weeks and assess the atmosphere and groove of the etsblished house. It's so disrespectful the way they have behaved and it's inherent and will not change.
Be very matter of fact with the landlord, don't be emotive in your descriptions. Tell him/her what has happened and your concerns and let him take it on board from there.
In my case, a new guy moved into an apartment where I had been living on my own for almost a year. He immediatley took over the place and I hated it so much. He used to move my things in the living room to make room for his own, play video games whilst loudly playing hip hop and rap music in the living room and was constantly making loud zoom calls. This was during lockdown so we were together 24/7. He used to go into the bathroom we shared with his laptop and be watching episodes of stuff on the toliet laughing loudly. He's stink the toilet up and would often be in there for close to an hour. Oh God!! Flatmates!! That is mild compared to what your flatmate is doing though. ]
As a fellow ex smoker I also would hate someone smoking outside even cos the smell lingers on their clothes, skin, breath etc and it's just digusting. Their room will smell mildly of cigarettes and they won't notice or care as they are smokers.
Please tell your landlord everything OP. You sound so lovely and have been really considerate so far. I know some people who would have punched the guy for touching their bike!!!
The very best of luck, I hope they get turfed out even if they have 28 days to get out, at least the ball will be rolling. Good riddance!!

Murt10

Contact the landlord and have them evicted. They obviously had this planned ie that he would move in before they took the room. The longer you leave it the harder it's going to be to get rid of them.

With the way they're carrying on, it wouldn't surprise me if they were asked to leave their previous place for anti social behavior.

I would also suggest to the landlord that you and your housemate are willing to get the new tenants that will replace this girl. Obviously the landlord have the final say and he'll have to pay for the advertisement. In fact, maybe you or your friend have another friend who's looking for somewhere to stay or is unhappy where they are.

I know it's extra work for you, but after all, the choice of tenant is very important, as you have to live with the new person, while the landlord doesn't. He can give you general guidelines of what he wants in a tenant. He will also be aware that if he doesn't do something quickly he's going to lose two good long term tenants in you and your other flatmate.

If it doesn't work out leave quickly. Life's far too short to be living in a conflict situtation when you don't have to.