Access to my tool shed – Who Is in the wrong?

Hi John,

It shouldn't be about who is right or wrong, but that is becoming the nature of society these days unfortunately.

Were the tenants made aware of this potential arrangement?
Was there mention in the tenancy agreement?
It is quite hard to rent a whole house and half a garden without special arrangement, but did they view the property before renting and would it have been obvious to them?

100% the best way to instantly solve this would be to go round and have a chat with them and come to an amicable mutually beneficial agreement.

Hi John
Your agent is an idiot, the tenants have no access to your shed in any event so they have no right to it.
I would carry on using my shed and disregard what your agent says

Hi
I have been a landlord for over 15 years.
I rent out one house,where I have kept the shed for my storage and clearly advised the tenants of this and written in the tenancy agreement.
I also have locked the downstairs bathroom,which has a whirlpool bath and steam shower and as this all cost thousands,do not include this in the tenancy!
Again all agreed and written in to tenancy.I also store stuff in that room.
So in answer to any questions over access,out of courtesy I advise them I will be coming over,if I need access,simples!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If it becomes an issue, and why would it if you don't disturb them during your visits, just give the notice that you will be visiting the property to access your shed on a daily basis thus giving a rolling 24 hour notice.

Hang on...there's something about this rings a vague bell...reminds me of something I heard about complications arising from not giving the tenant full access to and enjoyment of all of what constitutes the premises? Was this not raised already? If I was a stroppy tenant I might say I want that area calculated as a percentage of the property and have that percentage of the Poll Tax/Community charge payed by the landlord. Also what if there was an insurance issue? Please forgive me if this is a load of rubbish !

It would be interesting to find out what inspired the agent to issue you with this demand. Has this come about through a complaint by the tenants, or just some inspiration of the agent? It's unlikely the tenant would have complained as the area is entirely separate from the area they rent from you, and has it's own access and privacy from the house and garden curtilage. It seems very much a non-issue. I presume you insure the buildings along with landlords contents and you maintain this area of the garden yourself. The only point I could imagine would be an obligation to contribute towards the CT, but this would be fairly negligible as the bulk of the value is in the house itself. I can imagine there may be some legal implications in other areas as suggested by Joe, it would be interesting to hear if there were, but regards 24hrs notice for access I would say that was a load of twaddle myself...the best advice, may be to have a chat with the tenant and hear what they have to say as Neil suggested.

I think it depends on the wording of the AST, most AST's say simply that the tenant is renting the property "3 road name, Town", this would include everything within the boundary set by the land registry for this property... The exception is if in the tenancy it has exceptions. Just because you put up a fence it technically does not change the boundary of the property so there should be an exception for the fenced of area at the back of the property with an extra note to say something along the lines of The landlord should have unrestricted access to this sectioned area gaining entry only from the street, not accessing any part of the rest of the property and not causing a disturbance to the tenant. Sounds like your letting agent has just used their standard AST as they dont want to get involved in changing it. Im not a solicitor so don't take it as gospel but im pretty sure im correct, im sure someone will come along and say if im not...

If it were me I would check the AST, if there is no amendment that you clearly asked for write to the letting agent telling them you asked for unrestricted access to that section of land and ask them to clarify the situation... Hopefully they will stick their foot in at and acknowledge you had said this in which case you could probably reasonably claim they have breached contract and sack them. Then go find a decent estate agent that knows what they are doing.

I think you should be aware that this fence may have needed planning permission - are you in a conservation area could make it even more of a issue- ? A boundary fence can be up to 1.8 or 2m high before needing permission but this is splitting your garden/subdividing it

whose going to maintain the newly created section with shed? Was it written into the agreement that the area the tenants are responsible for is only to the new fence ( surely the agent put that in!!!) otherwise there are issues with your tenant that should have being set out with them. Hopefully on the access issue you can agree and agree maintenance issues to be excluded but planning is another issue you might want to check

Have a chat with the tenant - I'm sure it will not be an issue.
But it is important that it was made clear by the letting agent what was not being let - if nothing was formally excluded, the the tenant is surely entitled to the use of the property as laid out in the Land Registry, regardless of the position if a fence.