Quiet Enjoyment Landlord requests flowerpots to be removed...?

[cjdenver]

Hi there,

I am renting a flat and my landlord now (after two years) asks me to remove the flowerpots I have on my windowsills (outside). They are unable to fall down or hurt in any other case and do not cause any damage, and I'm not sure if she can just ask me to do so? Does anyone know whether I can deny it, and on what reasons? My contract gives me the right to "take quiet enjoyment of the property" and I am unsure whether the flowerpots fall under this

Not to get me wrong, I don't care too much about the pots, it's more of a general thing whether she can just require me to do whatever she wants, without prior notice, and especially since it was done for a long period before without any problems... this can't be right, can it?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

"Quiet enjoyment" means that you have the right to receive adequate notification if the landlord wishes to enter the property; they can't simply barge in unless there is an emergency.

Flower pots aren't covered in quiet enjoyment.

Landlords typically worry about being sued over things that their tenants might do; for example, someone sneaks in a big dog, the dog bites someone and the landlord ends up getting sued.

You say the pots that are in window sills can fall down and hurt someone or cause damage. Are they attached to the sill?

Gail

 

[cjdenver]

Hi Gail,

Thanks for shedding some light on that. I understand the reasoning for some issues that might trigger court action, but for a couple of flower pots?

You say the pots that are in window sills can fall down and hurt someone or cause damage. Are they attached to the sill?

They are not attached to the sill (which would probably have damaged it), but instead the window sill is more like a little concrete balcony about 30cm wide and with a little rail which prevents the pots from moving or falling down. I was wondering whether them falling down might have been the reason for the request but this is clearly out of scope in this case.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[army judge]

If you don't care about the pots, why not acquiesce?
This isn't worth a fight, whether its legal or not.
Do her a favor, she'll do you one.
You never know when you might need her to bend a bit.

 

[cjdenver]

Do her a favor, she'll do you one.

That's exactly the point, and it would go without saying that I would take them off, only that we had quite a lot of problems in the past as well, all about little things that you should not fight about at all, but apparently the landlord (or better its management company) is somewhat trying hard to give us a bad time - and now it reached the point where I do NOT want to bend anymore...

That's why it would be quite important to know what our legal position is.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[army judge]

Things that fail to bend, are often broken. The mighty oak grows because it bends, therefore it isn't broken.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cjdenver]

Things that fail to bend, are often broken. The mighty oak grows because it bends, therefore it isn't broken.

True, but physics tell you that you can just bend to a certain point, after which comes break And we've done our fair share of bending, now it's o-v-e-r...

Have a nice weekend,

Chris