Injunctions: What Landlords Can Do When a Tenant Refuses Entry

If you need access to your leasehold property for mandatory compliance inspections or to undertake repairs, it can be hugely frustrating when your tenant keeps refusing. 

Tenants have the right to refuse entry. Entering without permission can expose you to legal claims. Meanwhile your obligations as landlord carry on.

We act for landlords across England and Wales. If you need access to your leasehold property and your tenant isn’t cooperating, contact our specialist property litigation team. Our property litigation team have decades of experience acting in matters like yours and we’d love to help you.

Key Takeaways

• You may need to force access to your property to carry out repairs or statutory safety checks and inspections.
• Your tenant may have a right to refuse entry when you request it.
• Gaining access can be a long, drawn-out process, so keep records of every contact attempt, including dates and times.
• If you force access, you could be committing the offences of trespass or harassment.
• You can go to court for an injunction to gain entry to your property, but whether the court grant one is at the court’s discretion.

When a Landlord May Need an Access Injunction

If your tenant won’t allow you entry to your property, you may need to go to court for an injunction. Failure to gain access could mean you’re in breach of your statutory obligations.

Some compliance issues are mandatory and include:

• An annual gas safety inspection under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 
• Electrical safety checks under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 

As a landlord, you also have a general duty to keep the property in good repair and respond to problems or more urgent maintenance issues.

Your tenant does have a legal right to refuse entry. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 gives them the right of ‘quiet enjoyment’.

Often, it just means re-arranging your access to a day and time that’s more mutually convenient. However, if you’ve made repeated efforts and your tenant is still uncooperative, then an injunction may be the only option.

The Legal Basis for a Right of Access to Leasehold Property

Access Covenants in the Lease

Many leases and tenancy agreements contain a clause allowing the landlord to enter on notice. The notice period is commonly 24 to 48 hours, though this varies. Always check your agreement and follow its terms exactly. Some agreements only require “reasonable” notice.

Statutory Notice Requirements

Most leases specify a notice period but if your lease doesn’t, you should provide at least 24 hours’ notice of your intended access under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. 

If your tenant is refusing entry despite proper notice, our guide on what to do if a tenant refuses access for inspection sets out your next steps.

Steps to take Before Applying to Court

Serving Notice Under the Lease

Put every access request in writing, by letter, email or text message. State the date, the time window and the reason for the visit. If your tenant refuses verbally, confirm the conversation in writing.

Sending a Letter Before Action

Before you start court proceedings, you would normally send the tenant a formal Letter Before Action. The Civil Procedure Rules expect parties to try to resolve a dispute before going to court. The court will look at whether you did so, although can be more flexible in urgent cases such as an injunction application. 

You’d typically send an LBA before starting legal action if your attempts to gain entry to the property have failed.

The letter must include the basis of your claim, a summary of the facts, what you want from the other side and, if you are claiming money, how the amount is calculated. Some protocols also require the full names and addresses of the parties. Where the Debt Claims Protocol applies, the letter should be sent by post, and if the creditor has the debtor’s personal email address it should also be sent by email. Outside the Debt Protocol, there is no general requirement to send an LBA by post rather than email.

Applying to Court for an Access Injunction

The Grounds the Court Will Consider

An injunction is a discretionary remedy. The court may refuse to grant one if it would be oppressive or disproportionate. You will need evidence that you:

• had a right of access
• gave proper notice
• made repeated, reasonable attempts to arrange entry

Records of different types of contact, such as letters, emails, texts and visits, make your evidence much stronger.

How you behave matters too. Courts expect the party asking for an injunction to act promptly and come with “clean hands”. An interim injunction will usually require you to give a cross-undertaking in damages. This is a promise to compensate the tenant if it later turns out the order should not have been made.

Interim and Final Injunctions

In practice, the court usually issues an interim injunction  requiring the tenant to give access on specified dates rather than allowing forced access. You can serve this on the tenant and then continue to make further attempts to enter the property which must all be documented.

If these fail, you can use an N244 application to ask the court to vary the original injunction and add a forced access clause.

An N244 application is the court form used to vary an existing injunction when a tenant continues to refuse you entry to the property. It should be accompanied by a witness statement detailing your attempts to gain entry after the first injunction, with copies of your notice letters.

The court has jurisdiction because your tenant has breached the existing court order by refusing to allow you access. However, granting forced entry always remains at the court’s discretion.

What Happens If the Tenant Still Refuses Access

A forced access injunction allows you lawful entry using a locksmith or an enforcement officer and ensures you can fulfil your statutory and contractual obligations. 

You must not charge the tenant for forced access, and you must leave the property in a secure state.

Costs and Timescales for an Access Injunction

Costs vary depending on the complexity of the case; a minimum spend would typically run into the thousands of pounds, and could be considerably higher depending on how far the process needs to go.

This is an illustrative guide only and is not a quote or an estimate. Individual costs will depend on individual cases and we need to speak with you to assess those details before there is any commitment, cost or obligation. VAT is chargeable on our fees at the prevailing rate.

There are also court fees associated with obtaining an access injunction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Landlord Get an Injunction to Grant Access to Their Property?

The court can issue you an injunction granting access to your property based on a specific contractual term in the lease. The court is unlikely to award enforced access initially and will expect you to continue requesting entry from the tenant. If this fails, the court may vary the injunction to permit enforced access.

What Grounds Do You Need for an Injunction?

If there is a specific clause in the lease for access for maintenance and repair, then these are sufficient grounds to support an application for an injunction. Legal and compliance obligations including gas inspections and electrical safety checks are also grounds.

Can My Tenants Refuse to Give Me Access?

Your tenants have the right to refuse access even though you own the property. You may just need to change the suggested date and time to something that is mutually convenient. Always check that you have given the right amount of notice too, otherwise a tenant doesn’t have to comply with your request.

What Is an Access Injunction?

An access injunction is a court order that allows you to enter your property to carry out legal safety checks or comply with repair and maintenance requirements detailed in the lease. The court’s power is discretionary. You must follow the correct procedural process and make every effort to contact the tenant, providing evidence of this in your application.

Acting Early on Access Disputes Can Protect a Landlord’s Legal and Commercial Position

We are specialist property litigation solicitors and represent private and commercial landlords in property disputes across England and Wales. Our team has experience dealing with a full range of residential landlord problems, including denied access.

You may find that a solicitor’s letter will be enough to ensure your tenant agrees to allow you entry to the property. If not, we can advise you on the most pragmatic and strategic way forward from a range of potential options based on your tenancy agreement.

If you’re knocking on the door and it’s not being answered, don’t wait, contact our specialist property litigation team. We act nationally and would be happy to help you.