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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this comment wasn't needed from agent

30 replies

Fernie3 · 25/02/2011 07:30

We rent our house. Every six months we have a home inspection which involves them wandering around the house and garden making notes of how we are keeping it.
We got the report back yesterday which was fine, we haven't damaged the house, been late one rent or any other problems. But at the bottom he had written "rather untidy but allowances need to be made due to the presence of four small children". Now I know i overeacted but i actually just burst into tears when read it. Mainly because i work so hard to keep it decent here! There is nothing major wrong with it, no dirty dishes, piles of rubbish etc so I was just so upset!
The furniture and all the appliances are all ours so really it would have to be one hell of a mess to affect the actual house anyway.
I know he is just making a report but if allowances need to be made - why write it at all? The way we keep our things in the house has no effect on how we are keeping the house?

OP posts:
Original poster
Fernie3 · 25/02/2011 07:30

On the rent not one.

OP posts:
tuggy · 25/02/2011 07:39

Absolutely out of line. You need to complain. This is none of their business even if you were the messiest person in the world!! As long as you're not causing damage or letting mould grow etc

StewieGriffinsMom · 25/02/2011 07:55

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StewieGriffinsMom · 25/02/2011 07:55

This reply has been deleted

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flumpmouse · 25/02/2011 08:03

You could let this go and just put it down to the agent being short of things to say.

Alternatively you could mention it to them in a polite email when you write to them to acknowledge receipt of the report.

I would have been upset too but you could make "allowances" for his lack of imagination and his need to pad out the report! Wink

sounds like you do an excellent job and he is nit picking.

nomoreheels · 25/02/2011 08:20

I am surprised he was that thorough - when we had inspections for our city centre flat they would whizz around in 30 seconds & say "fine". And I certainly never received a copy of any reports.

Arsey thing to say though. A bit of untidiness is not something you'd lose part of your deposit for!

I'd say something, a lot of agents are rude & need telling sometimes.

wineonafridaynight · 25/02/2011 08:34

Seriously do not let it upset you. Some agents are just like that. Our last agent was like that. The only comments on one report was that there were finger prints on a glass door and we make like to clean it. I was a bit Hmm. The rest of the place was fine. We have no children by the way otherwise it would be messier!

As it happens we now live in a lovely little house and the letting agent is so nice. I was so nervous when we had our first inspection that she commented on it and told me to relax! I was nervous that she would be annoyed that the spare room had become a bit of a storage room and commented on it before hand and she just shrugged and said 'we all have on of those'.

Some letting agents are just arsy and unfriendly!

coccyx · 25/02/2011 08:38

Cheeky sod.
We have a house we rent out, kids mess would not be a big deal and quite understandable

ragged · 25/02/2011 09:46

I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill, tbh.

lesley33 · 25/02/2011 10:19

I think you are over reacting. What does it matter that the agent wrote this?

GiddyPickle · 25/02/2011 10:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mrsscoob · 25/02/2011 10:42

YANBU it is your home and it can't be very nice having a stranger wandering around it at the best of times, let alone making unhelpful comments about it. I would have been upset too.

mrsscoob · 25/02/2011 10:43

and lol @giddypickle, yes he does sound like he would make an excellent MIL!!!

ChippingInNeedsCoffee · 25/02/2011 10:49

Fernie...

Twerp - cheeky bastard

That should have been your one and only thought about his stupid comment, you shouldn't then have given it another thought. However, it made you vry :( so he has obviously triggered something off within you and you need to think about that and see what you can do about it, so you feel better.

What is it that is really getting to you? Tail chasing? No support from anyone? Bored with the grind that can be looking after small kids? PND? Lack of storage/too much 'stuff'?

IMO that is what you need to think about - if everything was OK you would have just thought 'Cheeky fucker' and not given it another thought :(

purpleturtle · 25/02/2011 10:50

I have always had the impression that the home inspections were mainly to make sure all internal walls were still standing.

I usually open the door saying something like, "It won't be the tidiest house you've ever seen, but it won't be the worst either."

I forgot about our latest inspection altogether, and was out on the day, so DH had to show them round a house that was actually messier than I would have liked. (They probably couldn't even get into the kids' rooms Shock). DH said that he was very apologetic, and the inspector kept saying, "But it's not untidy".

I think in your shoes, I might be inclined to ask them to comment on house fabric rather than contents in future.

MumdiddyMum · 25/02/2011 10:50

YANBU its an irrelevent comment and also rather rude. I would be upset too.

purpleturtle · 25/02/2011 10:51

ChippingIn makes excellent points, too.

DirtyMartini · 25/02/2011 10:51

He's a twat.

WriterofDreams · 25/02/2011 10:56

I feel your pain Fernie. Renting is so shit from this point of view. People, agents especially, don't seem to get that even though the property is rented it is your home and having someone comment on it can be very upsetting. A letting agent complained that my friend had "too much furniture" in her rented place - what does that even mean?!! Our place is rented and PILs constantly comment on things wrong with the house - things we are waiting for the landlord to fix - and I think it is incredibly rude. They don't see that this isn't just a house for us, it's our family home and having some nitpick over it, especially when there's nothing we can do about it is very very wearing.

Original poster
Fernie3 · 25/02/2011 14:26

thanks for your comments :)
chippingin - you are right i did over react I dont really know why but perhaps because actually i think I am doing an ok job and things have been so hard the last year with my husbands illness and depression so was sort of patting myself on the back for keeping it all together. It sort of felt like someone going, "no actually its shit".
I will just have to move on i think!

OP posts:
saffy85 · 25/02/2011 14:56

YANBU that agent sounds a condesending arsewipe.

Used to live in a house owned by my inlaws and always made a huge effort to make sure it was spotless for when my anal retentive FIL inspected it. The one time I thought I'd got it sussed and would have happily eaten my dinner off the floor, he bitched about a window sill I'd forgotten to dust at the top the stairs Angry All that effort I'd gone to with a teething baby clinging to me all day beforehand I actually went to cry in my room like a sulky teenager Blush

solooovely · 25/02/2011 14:56

Maybe he thought the children looked messy! Had you not put them away neatly in drawers? Wink

MadamDeathstare · 25/02/2011 15:01

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MadamDeathstare · 25/02/2011 15:04

This reply has been deleted

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FabbyChic · 25/02/2011 15:15

Ive never seen a copy of the inspection report! And I have been renting from the same agents for nearly four years.

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