AIO - Pensioner landlord doing my head in
I moved in to a new flat in September 2025
via a letting the Agency and I signed a contract with the lettings agency. I specifically wanted to go through a lettings agency as I have rented direct with landlords before, and it was horrible.
The landlord in question is in his 90s and while I am sympathetic to any health issues and the fact is old I’m becoming increasingly annoyed with him and his behaviour.
I should have known it was bad news from the start. On the day we moved in I noticed three large refuse sacks filled with garden waste, I contacted the estate agents to ask if these could be collected and they said they would arrange this with the landlord no problem. A week later I came home from work with a handwritten letter left on my table from the landlord stating “ I’ve been round and collected the garden ways. I’ve also taken the wicker chairs from garden and will take these to the dump” first of all he did not tell us he was coming round. He did not have permission to come round and he let himself into my flat without my prior knowledge or consent. Secondly, the wicker chairs were mine and not left by a previous tenant. I contacted the estate agents immediately to complain and after three weeks the landlord eventually bought the wicker garden chairs back.
I first reported that the shower stopped working (bath with the mixer taps and shower) the lettings agent told us to liaise with the landlord directly when we liaise of the landlord directly he sends us the number to contractors who seemed to have a little to never have the time or don’t reply. We were without a shower for six weeks On two different period as whatever “fix” they didn’t first time only worked for about a week.
About six months ago, we reported damp. We live in an old Victorian conversion and have two doors that lead out into a garden. The wall surrounding this windows are literally just a single level of brick and let so much water through to the point where the inside of the wall is completely soaked and wet to the touch. The landlord came round, replace the outside drain above the wall. I said, don’t you need to do something like clad the building to prevent water from coming in?(as I don’t believe the drain was the problem we just had two weeks of really heavy rain) he said no. After a few weeks, the wall is still wet and the patch of wet was growing, and since then he keeps telling us to just message his contractor to arrange to fix the outside wall tomorevent the water getting in, we’ve chased us so many times the contractor does not get back to us and and the the wall is still damp and every time it rains the patch of wet gets slightly bigger.
I want to add all the contractors that the landlord sends round seem to be his friends or people he knows at least rather than genuine contractors and the people that he sends around oh also very elderly. (not that age matters but the jobs are not getting done properly or they just don’t get back to us.)
We also have a window that doesn’t lock, like there’s just no way to lock it at all. Which has been reported.
The letting agent every time I complain to them just keep telling me that I need to contact the landlord or they contact the landlord and when they reply, they just reply saying we need to contact the landlords contractor.
My landlord also shows up unannounced. He has shown up on on so many occasions recently unannounced to fix the window. One of these times I was just not at home, another time was when I had food poisoning and was in no way or state to have anyone in my home drilling making noises or generally invading my personal space since I was puking and shitting my myself every 5 mins.
I’ve emailed again asking when can he come over? And he said he’d try Thursday or Friday. I asked for more specific reply and he never confirmed. He’s shown up today while I’m in the middle of a really important meeting that I cannot just step away from. He rang the buzzer and I ignored it, as I was not expecting anyone and like I said I was in the middle of a important meeting at work) after incessantly ringing the buzzer I hear loud knocking at my door (meaning he’s let himself into the building’s main lobby and come and knocked on my door directly) I answered and it was him. It’s saying he’s coming to fix the window. I said you never confirmed a time and now is not a good time and he said bye and slammed the door (in my face)
I haven’t been other times where he has just shown up unannounced because he was “in the area” and several times where he said he was gonna come but has given a multitude of reasons such as a death in the family, the fact he has to go for daily injections, and more recently just because “forgot” or “got distracted” (his words)
I’m sympathetic to his situation, but also think he’s taking the piss a bit, I’m not able to have quite enjoyment of my home because my landlord just shows up unannounced. My home has issues that aren’t getting fixed because he forgets or his contractors just don’t get back to me and the estate agents keep sending me in a loop back to my landlord.
As far as I understand it, this is exactly why I did not want to rent directly with a landlord, and if I understand it, my tenancy agreement is with the estate agent and not the landlord and they should not be abdicating their duties to me to arrange these things and liase directly with the landlord. Surely if I say something needs fixing, they need to be the ones liaising with the landlord to make sure that he’s not taking the piss and taking too long to do things.
I want to add as well that my landlord needs a license from the local council to rent this place, I know this because someone from the council needed to come round for an inspection (they were looking at things like fire alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, et cetera) and then they sent me the full report which included the terms of his license, including fixing repairs without unreasonable delay and having a fully secured premises, including working locks on all external doors and windows.
I really don’t know what to do. I really don’t wanna be that tenant that comes across as difficult. All I’ve ever asked for is that these things be fixed, and that my landlord provides a date and a time before he comes round.
The estate agents just been fobbing me off “he’s just old school” and I’m getting pretty sick boundaries being crossed and repairs just not getting done.
I do not want to liase with the landlord and I want all communication, time and date confirmations for repair costs to be confirmed in advance with me via the estate agency.
wtf do I do in this situation without finding across as difficult? I’m paying so much rent for this flat, I just want it to function like it should and know when my landlord is going to be here so I can plan accordingly?!