Mark Goodge ] said:
On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:10:05 +0100, Yellow put finger to keyboard and
typed:

Mark Goodge ] said:
On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:30:12 +0100, Les Invalides put finger to
keyboard and typed:

What if the dweller is a leaseholder and the person wishing entry the
freeholder? Does it still apply that the freeholder should assume he can
waltz in whenever he likes? If not, why not? What is different in
principle?

It's different in principle because it's different in law. A
leaseholder has an entirely different set of rights to a tenant.

So you are saying the tenant's rights do not not include a ban on the
landlord et all entering his home with out prior agreement (excluding
emergencies of course)?

The landlord may not enter *without* permission, except in emergencies
or where at least 24 hours notice has been given. The landlord may
enter *with* permission at any time.

I do not think anyone is disagreeing with this.

The "24 hour" rule doesn't mean that the landlord must give that
amount of notice before any attempt to enter. It means that the tenant
can refuse to allow access if insufficient notice is given. So if the
landlord knocks on your door one evening, without giving prior notice,
and asks if he can come in to fix something, then you are entitled to
say no if you want to. But, equally, you may choose to permit him to
enter. No law is being broken if you do so, even though he hasn't
given any notice.

I do not think anyone is disagreeing with this.

The issue raised by this particular thread is whether a maintenance
request by the tenant carries with it implied permission to enter in
order to fulfil the request.
Strictly speaking, in legal terms, it probably doesn't.

Exactly. :-)

But, in practical terms, many landlords and tenants
behave as though it does. If the landlord makes that assumption and
the tenant doesn't, then the landlord is, in strict terms, acting
illegally. But it would take more than a simple misunderstanding of
this nature for the landlord to be guilty of harrassment. And, to
answer the specific question posed by the original post, no breach of
contract has occurred because this is an area that is regulated by
law, not by the contract.

If the landlord enters a tenant's home without permission when there is
no emergency (and it is at all hard to define what is, and what is not,
a *real* emergency - and a dripping tap is not one) then they are quite
simply in the wrong.