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Original poster

Landlady selling our flat, discussions about cleaning and tidying

119 replies

Summerbreezes · 21/10/2019 21:13

I live in a small flat with my DH. Our landlady has been trying to sell for a few months. We've had several viewings and I've insisted that all estate agents give me notice of viewings. It's a very good flat but no offers so far, because the housing market has slowed right down. The price has been reduced but still no offers. It's the sort of flat that would've been sold within a week if this had happened five years ago. We don't want to move anyway.

Also we renewed our tenancy agreement a couple of months ago. LL wants to keep us on as tenants to get money for as long as possible.

LL phoned me this evening to say she's had feedback from a couple of estate agents to say that our flat apparently isn't very clean or tidy. I'm not sure if this is the agents' view or the viewers' view. I personally believe that agents in general have an unrealistic view of how clean people should keep their homes, plus it's none of their business anyway.

LL has now said she's coming round later this week to inspect our flat. The thing is we already know she's a bit of a hygeine freak and a minimalist and she's already commented on how much stuff we have, even though we have an average amount of stuff with no storage space so it's visible. I already said on the phone that it's not our job to market the flat or make it look perfect. We live here. She's obviously desperate to sell but also wants to keep on good terms with us so that we cooperate but this is getting way too intrusive. We pay our rent every month and we're good tenants, but at the same time I'm not about to start moving my stuff and have a spring clean just so that someone else can sell my home.

We have been more than reasonable with the estate agents and not turned down one single viewing, even though we know we technically don't have to let anyone in at all so we've been very fair and far more cooperative than we need to be.

I know different people have different cleaning standards but this is our home and I don't need to be tidying up for visitors that I don't even want.

OP posts:
SinkGirl · 22/10/2019 10:33

Most I would offer is for agents to arrange an open house and do a proper clean before that and make it as tidy as possible. Buyers probably are put off by the lack of storage but that’s not your problem.

We were selling my mum’s house when I was living there and just had my twins and trying to keep on top of it was a nightmare, but obviously i owned a share of the property so I had motivation to do so. It’s not your problem.

SinkGirl · 22/10/2019 10:34

But honestly I’d say she can’t eat her cake and have it too - either it’s lived in and she gets rent, or it’s staged and she doesn’t.

melmos · 22/10/2019 10:38

Hi there OP - i was you in July! We spoke to landlady and said it would be easier for her to sell if we moved out but we'd need a good reference to do so. If you don't have a reference from your previous landlord/lady most estate agents won't even consider you. It's really unfair but that's just how it is. However moving was the best thing we could have done - new area, bigger place and best of all were allowed to get dogs :) Good luck

Perunatop · 22/10/2019 10:39

I really do not know why people take any notice of feedback viewers give to estate agents. People who are not interested say anything just to keep agent happy. LL has two options, either she accepts you are living there, or you move out - which would she prefer?

Whattodoabout · 22/10/2019 10:42

If she wants to sell and doesn’t want a tenant in situ while she sells then she needs to hand you an eviction notice and deal without your rent money until it sells.

She has no right to inspect the cleanliness of your home, you don’t have to let her do this btw. She also has no right to demand you move your belongings into storage or whatever it is she is suggesting. It’s ludicrous.

Original poster
Summerbreezes · 22/10/2019 10:45

I have literally never been asked to provide a landlord's reference to move in anywhere. I often have to have a reference from my employer, and a financial reference or bank check, but I've never, ever been asked for a previous landlord's reference and I don't know anyone who has. I think it's a bit of a myth

OP posts:
GinUnicorn · 22/10/2019 10:52

OP could you ask your landlord to pay for a weekly cleaner? Seeing as you are being inconvenienced it seems more than reasonable and then she can be reassured it’s perfectly clean.

Sorry you are dealing with this sounds stressful.

AdobeWanKenobi · 22/10/2019 10:53

She's trying to sell a flat in a very unstable market that has tenants in. And she thinks mess is the problem? Hilarious.

I'd suggest the price and the above are the main factors. People don't want to start the buying process on tenanted properties, no guarantee they'll up and leave quietly on exchange.

Original poster
Summerbreezes · 22/10/2019 10:57

I don't want a cleaner. I don't feel comfortable with the idea, and we've had enough strangers coming in and out of our home as it is. I also find it a bit insulting as my home is perfectly clean enough by my standards.

OP posts:
Couchbettato · 22/10/2019 10:58

As @B9ddy has said you've got a right to peaceful enjoyment.

But I would also like to add that clean and tidy can be clean and tidy with material items in the house.

Heck, you could have a sex swing hanging from your bedroom door, and it would still be clean and tidy. It is your home. You have a tenancy agreement and she would have to sell the property with that agreement.

If your rubbish is in the bin, and you're not at risk of contracting any disease, or risk causing fires then she can't really gripe.

Peaceful enjoyment means enjoying your home however you see fit without causing detriment to others, and without being infringed upon.

Pilot12 · 22/10/2019 11:11

If people are viewing the property with a view to renting it out they won't care what state it's in and they may even hope that you would want to stay on as it means they don't have to do a thing.

If they are viewing with the intention of living in it they won't be happy that you're still living there, they'll be worried that you will squat or refuse to leave.

I think the cleanliness is just excuses and she'd be better waiting until you leave and selling it as a vacant property. I don't think anyone will buy with tenants in situ. Maybe she realises this and wants you to get so fed up with it all and ask for an early release!

Candle1000 · 22/10/2019 11:26

I don’t think the landlord can ask you to leave whilst the tenancy is still running and certainly can’t expect you to have the flat looking like a show home . I would just ignore her tbh.

Landlady selling our flat, discussions about cleaning and tidying
Nanny0gg · 22/10/2019 11:30

Only on Mumsnet! I've never heard anyone use the word mortified in real life. In real life, most people's homes don't look like the Ikea catalogue.

I say it...

You don't have to do anything, it's not your flat to sell. But if it was, would you make more effort?
(eg would you really not clean the cooker before viewings?)

However, it may just be that she'll have to give you notice and sell it empty.

FionaOgre · 22/10/2019 11:34

I'm with the majority here. Your LL wants her cake and to eat it. My house is cluttered as fuck. I have a large bedroom but the bottom half of the room is filled with boxes of various crap I've not bothered going through. We've been here 3 years and still use a 1 foot wide gap to get to my side of the room. Mind you, we have finally bought a shed this week so now I'll have no excuse. My storage issue is gone.

I'm not the cleanest and I leave my washing up for a family of five sitting on the side until the next day but if someone's coming round I wash, dry and put it away. I'd be mortified (yes I do use that term often. 'Black affronted' is also acceptable here in Scotland) if someone saw such a mess. I also wipe down my hob after use. It's food splatters. You don't just leave that til next time. All it would do is burn on and make a huge filthy mess for when you do go to clean it. It takes less than a minute.
If ifs things like that and not clutter that's the issue then I can kind of see the EA's point.

mencken · 22/10/2019 11:48

another landlord here.

how you live, how often you wash up, whether the knickers are stacked ceiling high is NO-ONE else's business. Not even that of the landlady unless you are damaging the place.

she can't sell unless to another landlord until you are gone. She can't exchange with you there are you may not leave at the end of any section 21.

tell all concerned to jog on. You will be moving eventually as someone will work out what to do, but right now you hold all the cards.

grandmatakemehomeee · 22/10/2019 11:51

For example one thing she mentioned is that we hadn't cleaned to the stove. We don't clean the stove every day FGS! Just clean it every so often.

I clean mine after using it every time 🥴 but that being said, if she's having a lot a viewings it's unreasonable to expect it to be "show home standard" constantly. You do still have to live.

Maybe give your stove a clean 😂

Bobbyflay · 22/10/2019 12:17

Potential buyers are probably put off because it’s tenanted. Once I was buying a property and we couldn’t exchange because the tenant refused to leave. I had to pull out So I’ve never looked at properties which were rented out since.

The landlady won’t want to believe that’s the issue though. It’s easier to blame the OP.

dimdarkashian · 22/10/2019 13:09

People have different standards.

I have viewed some homes in a right mess...I would be MORTIFIED...if strangers came to my house and it was unclean or untidy.

cstaff · 22/10/2019 14:03

@dimdarkashian
While it may be their home, it is the landlord who owns it and who is trying to sell it. I find it hard to believe that the place is more than just a bit untidy and like someone above said the market is not great for vendors at the moment and the landlord is chosing to blame the tenants for something that is not necessarily their fault.

OP if I were you I would just start making it difficult for her. She is being very unreasonable. Who has their house looking like a showhouse on an ongoing basis? She just needs to wait until your lease is up or give you notice and go without rent while she tries to sell.

StatisticallyChallenged · 22/10/2019 14:27

Everyone I know who has sold recently has ended up half emptying their house first, along with at least partial redecoration in some bland shade of creamy grey. That's what estate agents and viewers seem to be expecting to see, so to them anything that isn't stripped back and show home shiny looks grubby and cluttered.

It's totally reasonable to do that in order to sell your own home.

It's not reasonable to expect someone else to live without a load of their stuff so you can sell faster/at all whilst still expecting them to pay you hundreds of pounds every month and deal with the viewings.

Landlady is being very unreasonable

mrssoap · 22/10/2019 16:01

@melmos I've been renting privately through estate agents for 10 years and never once needed a reference from a previous landlord. Just credit checks. And all my friends rent too and have said the same.

grandmatakemehomeee · 22/10/2019 16:06

I've always needed previous landlord references and I've moved a fair few times in the last 10 years.

batvixen123 · 22/10/2019 16:16

@StatisticallyChallenged - agreed. That's what we did when we sold and it seems to be the norm right now. Nightmare to live like that for any length of time though and totally unreasonable for LL to ask of tenants.

MoreSchnitzelPlease · 22/10/2019 16:35

The estate agents are blaming you for their failure to sell the flat quickly enough. Saying the flat is messy gets them off the hook. As other posters have said, you do not need to allow viewings and I'd seriously reconsider being so accommodating during the selling process.

Original poster
Summerbreezes · 22/10/2019 16:39

I am seriously reconsidering.

OP posts:
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