Landlord breach of tenancy agreement - urgent advice needed

[Guest allie]

Hi All

 

Im hoping that some of you clever people will be able to give me some advice about my rental. We have found out that the landlords have been accessing the property to cut back the high palm trees without giving us any notice. To access the back garden they need to use a key to open the garage door or to actually go through the house. We hope that they have done this while we were out as the thought of them sneaking around the back garden while we were sleeping is a bit frightening!!

 

Under the terms of our lease, they have to give us 48 hours written notice before they can enter. As they didnt do this, am I correct in thinking that they are in breach of the rental agreement? This is the final straw ( they have previously refused to fix things in the house and complained about the grass dying in 40+ degree heat!!) and i no longer feel comfortable in the house. Is this reason enough to terminate the lease?

 

I dont rerally want to go through the hassle of finding another place but I just cant relax knowing that they are coming into the house. We have another 6 months left on the lease and dont want to break it as we will be liabel for rental costs until a new tennant is found. So in a nutshell I would like to know

 

1) Does trepsassing on the property constitute a good enough reason to break the lease due to breach of agreement from the owners?

 

2) What would be the best way to lodge this complaint? The letting agent is far from helpful.

 

3) Will we have to just stick out the lease for 6 months even though we are not able to feel secure in our own home?

 

Any advice would be very gratefully received!

 

Thanks

 

Allie x

[foxychick]

Try contacting the OCBA, they have a tenancies division and are usually very helpful. OCBA - Tenancies

 

Hope it all works out for you

[Guest Guest75]

I'm with Foxy on this,the OCBA are the way to go.

 

I'd document everything that has happened ( or not).

Keep it emotion free no matter how mad and upset you are.

 

I'm not saying the walking in without notice is the last straw but if you have a good list before hand you are well on your way.

 

Do let the agent know about this and that you are contacting the OCBA.

It's amazing what can happen - but remember - at all times keep the emotions in check.!!

[Guest Lisado]

Hi Allie

 

I totally understand ow you feel, having had similar issues. As for the grass being dead -we had it marked on our inspection report that basically we let the grass die as you say it was 40 degrees heat. The grass was dead before we got here which the landlady actually pointed out to us when we signed and stated herself it was due to the heat!

 

It is now green!

 

We have documented everything, taken photos as evidence. They came for a re-inspection back at beginning April and we still havent had the report. They havent come back out to fix a light switch we told them was cracking. So again we have taken photos of that.

 

I am always on tenterhooks and won't rest until we are out of here.

 

Lisa