How often can a landlord inspect a property, and what notice is needed?

There is no statutory maximum number of inspections, which surprises people on both sides. What the law gives the tenant is the right to quiet enjoyment and the right to notice, and those two together set the practical limit.

The notice rule

For an assured shorthold tenancy in England and Wales, the landlord must give at least 24 hours' notice in writing and visit at a reasonable time of day. Most tenancy agreements repeat this and many require more, so read the agreement: where it gives the tenant more protection than the statute, the agreement wins.

Written means written. A text message or an email is fine and is far better than a phone call, because the point of the notice is that it can be evidenced later.

Notice is not the same as consent

This is where landlords get into genuine trouble. Serving notice does not create a right to enter if the tenant objects. A tenant can refuse or ask to rearrange, and a landlord who enters anyway risks a harassment or unlawful eviction allegation, quite apart from destroying the relationship.

The right response to repeated refusal is to keep records: the dates you offered, the notice you gave, and the refusals. That record is worth far more later than one forced entry.

The sensible interval

• Every three months for a new tenancy, a student let, an HMO, or a property with any history.
• Every six months for a long-running, settled tenancy with a good record.
• Whatever the insurer says, if the policy sets a condition. Many landlord policies do.
• Whatever the lender says, if a buy-to-let mortgage sets a requirement.
• Monthly or more often is generally excessive for a settled tenancy and starts to look like harassment.

What a landlord may and may not do during a visit

• May: look at the fabric, fixtures and fittings, test alarms, photograph condition, note maintenance issues.
• May: record signs of unauthorised occupants, pets or subletting where the agreement forbids them.
• May not: open the tenant's cupboards, drawers or personal possessions.
• May not: photograph the tenant's belongings gratuitously, or the tenant, without consent.
• May not: use the visit as an opportunity to show the property to prospective tenants without separate agreement.

Why the interval is worth keeping to

The problem a visit at month four would have caught arrives as a bill at month eighteen. A dripping tap becomes a stained bath and a rotten floor. A blocked extractor becomes a mould claim. And a check-out with nothing recorded in between is a check-out where every change has to be argued from scratch.

This is what a mid-term inspection is, and for agents with a managed list it is normally run as a round rather than booked one property at a time.