Tenants, especially those new to the private rental sector, may wonder what their rights are regarding a landlord’s or letting agent’s rights to access their rental property.
The Association of Residential Letting Agents’ (ARLA) Operations Manager, Ian Potter, discusses the issue: “Your landlord or his agent can only come into your property after they have given you notice that they intend to do so. They cannot just allow themselves access to the property.
“Normally, access would be gained by giving written notice that would be a minimum of 24 hours. That is, unless there is an emergency situation.
“If the tenant doesn’t give access, or doesn’t allow access, then they cannot come in.”
Potter advises renters: “However, that does nothing to foster good landlord-tenant relationships and it’s far more important to bear in mind that you should be looking at something that is mutually convenient, to build up that relationship going forward.”1
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9O4NLriLMM&noredirect=1