Written notice of an inspection visit, built in minutes

You want to look at the property. The tenant needs telling in writing, with a date, a time and a reason, and you need a copy of what you sent. That is all this document is, and it takes about a minute.

What this notice is

A short letter giving formal notice that you wish to visit the property. It carries who it is from with your email and phone, who it is to, the property address, the date you wrote it, and then a small table with the date of the visit, the time and the reason.

Underneath that it sets out the tenant's rights in four lines, adds your access instructions if you gave any, and closes by inviting the tenant to say if the date or time does not suit so an alternative can be arranged. It is signed and dated.

It is a notice in the ordinary sense of the word, not a statutory form. Nobody prescribes its layout. What matters is that it is in writing, it says when and why, and you sent it far enough in advance.

Build yours in minutes

Pick the date and the time. Pick the reason from the list: a routine periodic inspection, a gas safety check, an electrical safety check, repairs or maintenance, a pre-checkout inspection, or type your own. Add access instructions if there is something the tenant needs to know, such as who will be attending or whether a contractor is coming with you. That is the whole form.

The property, the tenant names and your contact details come from the property record if you have one. If you do not, you type them in and the letter still builds. There is no sign-up wall, so a visitor with no account can fill this in and see the finished letter.

Previews are free and unlimited. £9 buys this document type at this property permanently, with free regeneration, and Pro is £9.99 a month or £89 a year for every document at every property.

How much notice to give

The letter states the position itself, and it states a different one depending on where the property is.

For an English property it says the landlord must give at least 24 hours' written notice before visiting, citing Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

For a Scottish property it says the landlord must give reasonable notice before visiting, and that at least 48 hours' notice is recommended as good practice. That wording is deliberate. Scotland does not set a minimum number of hours in statute for a private residential tenancy; it requires reasonable notice, and 48 hours is the practice that is recommended rather than a figure the law fixes.

In both versions the letter also says visits must be at a reasonable time of day, that the tenant has the right to be present, and that the tenant is not obliged to allow access where insufficient notice has been given, except in an emergency.

What to put in the notice

Five things, and the form asks for all of them.

The date of the visit. The time, which the letter prints in a readable format rather than as a bare 24-hour clock. The reason, chosen from the list or written in your own words. Who is attending, which belongs in the access instructions if it is anyone other than you. And how the tenant can ask for a different time, which the letter supplies at the end along with your email and phone number.

Two habits are worth building. Send it early enough that the tenant could reasonably rearrange, not exactly at the minimum. And keep the copy. A letter you can produce later is the difference between saying you gave notice and showing it.

This is a multi-instance document, which means each visit gets its own letter rather than overwriting the last one. Every letter is saved with its own date and reason, and once the document type is bought for that property you can build as many as you need at no further cost.

England and Scotland

The same document covers both, and it picks the right rights paragraph from the property's jurisdiction. The difference is real rather than cosmetic: England has a statutory written-notice period, Scotland has a reasonableness test with a recommended figure.

Alongside this one, the inventory and schedule of condition is what a routine inspection is usually compared against, and the smoke and CO alarm statement is the record you will want if the visit is the one where you test the alarms. See all 47 templates for everything else.

England: 24 hours' written notice. The letter states that the landlord must give at least 24 hours' written notice before visiting the property, and cites Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for it.

Scotland: reasonable notice, and 48 hours is the recommendation. This is the point most templates get wrong. Scotland does not fix a minimum number of hours in statute for a private residential tenancy. The requirement is reasonable notice, and at least 48 hours is recommended as good practice rather than being a legal minimum. The Scottish version of this letter says exactly that, and does not dress a recommendation up as a rule.

What both versions say. The tenant has the right to be present during any visit. Visits must be arranged at a reasonable time of day. The tenant is not obliged to allow access where insufficient notice has been given, except in an emergency. And if the proposed slot does not suit, the tenant should say so and an alternative will be arranged.

One letter per visit. This is a multi-instance document, so each notice is stored as its own letter with its own date rather than replacing the one before it. That matters when somebody later asks how often you visited and what notice you gave each time.