Dealing With Tenants Who Refuse Access: Legal Tools Every Landlord Should Know

Although Section 21 is often used by landlords for bad reasons, to force tenants to accept unacceptable conditions or high rents, it is also often used by landlords for good and legitimate reasons.

For example, to persuade tenants to allow landlords access to:

• Do the annual gas safety inspection
• Carry out an electrical inspection every five years
• Deal with any disrepair, and
• Keep the property fit for human habitation

These are all legal obligations on landlords.

Landlords have a legal right to enter properties after having given not less than 24 hours’ notice to carry out inspections, and also to do repair work.  However, sometimes tenants will, wrongly, refuse their permission.

A difficult position for landlords

When this happens, it puts the landlord in a difficult position.  They cannot enter against the tenants’ express prohibition.  However, they are also under legal obligations regarding the property.

The most serious of these is the obligation to carry out annual gas safety inspections (presuming the property has gas connected) and then do any necessary repair works.  It is important that gas appliances are safe, as otherwise they can be very dangerous.

Every year or so, you will read in the papers about a serious explosion which has blown apart properties, sometimes injuring or even killing residents.  Nearly always, this will be caused by unsafe gas appliances.

This is what can happen if gas appliances are not maintained properly.  It can put at risk not only the tenants and their family but also neighbours, and indeed anyone nearby at the time of the explosion.

Gas leaks, perhaps caused by damaged pipes, can also kill property occupants, for example, while sleeping.  Not a few tenants have died due to faulty gas appliances, flues and pipework.

This is why annual gas safety inspections are so important.

At the moment, if tenants refuse to let landlords carry out inspections, landlords can threaten tenants with a Section 21 eviction.  This will usually persuade them to allow access. However, once the Renters Rights Bill comes into force, section 21 will be abolished.

What can landlords do then, if tenants refuse access?

Gas Injunctions

Private landlords are not the only landlords to suffer from uncooperative tenants.  Social landlords also have this problem.

The remedy mostly used by them is to apply to the County Court for an injunction ordering the tenant to allow access.  It is rare for tenants to refuse once this has been granted.  These injunctions are very common and are known as ‘gas injunctions’.

Private landlords can also apply for an injunction.  However, unlike social housing landlords, they do not have their own legal teams, and solicitors’ fees are expensive.

Most landlords will be reluctant to incur the costs of getting a court injunction.

Landlord Law to the rescue

For quite a few years, I have had a kit which gives guidance on gaining access to do inspections when tenants are uncooperative.  It was originally drafted in about 2014, and at that time, just applied to gas injunctions.

It was amended in 2020-21 to be a general access kit, at which time it was only available for sale. However, it has now been updated and brought into Landlord Law membership.

It is no longer available for sale, though, so anyone wating to use it will need to join Landlord Law.  But this will be considerably cheaper than using solicitors!

About the Kit

The kit, which is very detailed, is in four parts:

Part 1

This looks at the legal background, discusses landlords and tenants legal rights, and explains in some detail the various reasons why landlords will require access.

Part 2

This gives guidance on various ways to deal with the problem without having to issue legal proceedings. 

Landlords should always try this first.  In most cases, if this guidance is followed, legal action will not be necessary.

Part 3

Parts 3 and 4 are only available for Business Level members.

Part 3 gives detailed guidance on how to obtain a Court Injunction to gain access to carry out a gas safety inspection.  Including links to all the forms with guidance on how to complete them.

Instructions are given for gas injunctions, as this is the type of injunction most likely to succeed. 

Judges will be aware of the dangers of unsafe gas appliances and will not be happy with tenants obstructing landlords from doing what is, after all, only their legal duty as a landlord.

If the injunction is needed for a different purpose, the wording can easily be amended.

Part 4

This section, which is also now linked from the Landlord Law Eviction Guide, gives guidance on how to obtain a Court Order for possession based on ground 12, which is the ground landlords can use when tenants fail to comply with the terms of their tenancy agreement.

Looking to the Renters’ Rights Act

This kit will help landlords who are being prevented by their tenants from carrying out their legal obligations.

At the moment, injunctions to allow gas and electricity inspections are probably the most likely to succeed.  Particularly gas injunctions, where, unless the tenant has already given access, it is almost unheard of for a Judge to refuse the order.

However, once the Renters Rights Bill comes into force, landlords will have new legal obligations to ensure that properties comply with the Decent Homes standards and to rectify hazards within strict time limits.

If they fail to comply, they can be served Civil Penalty Notices by the Council and fined up to £7,000.  So it will become even more important that landlords carry out regular inspection visits so they can ensure that their properties are compliant.

Where tenants refuse them access, injunctions are much more likely to be granted.  Which Landlord Law members can now bring, using our guide.

One more way in which Landlord Law can help members be compliant with the law.