PZ - I'm with Trish. We are landlords too, and we cut out the agent and I deal with the tenants myself. Landlords can be nice people. Just want to get things fixed. I do it all by email!!

We also deal direct with our landlord here and if he needs to come over, we just make a time we mutually agree on. That's all you'd have to say. If your landlord is reasonable, then they'll understand and plan another time. Sometimes having an agent in the middle is more trouble than it's worth and if you can build a rapport direct with your landlord, any problems will probably be sorted a LOT sooner