To NOT want to clean my house in order to sell it

[NorksAreMessy]

we have been renting since November. We thought it was a long let, but in January, our landlord decided to put the house on the market, having failed to sell it last year. Three months, we had been here, and now who knows what will happen.
There are several problems with the house. The shower has never worked, the front door glass is cracked and could easily be pushed in or shatter, the central heating is rubbish, the under sink pipe is wrongly comnected..loads and loads of other problems NONE of which have been solved, despite phoning the agent LOADS of times.

We now have a letter saying that before we have a viewing, we should clean the windows, clear crumbs off the counters, empty bins, not feed the cat smelly food etc etc etc.

I am a bit pissed off about this, but I thought the MN jury could advise me. Obv. I will clean to a certain level, out of courtesy, but windows? Normal children's nonsense?

They are trying to sell our home out from under us, and want us to help, yet will do nothing to make the house gorgeous for us, or potential buyer.

AIBU?

I was once a student living in a rented house that the landlord was trying to sell. He expected us (me and housemates) to show potential buyers round. We did so, but we pointed out every single thing that was faulty or broken or leaking. We didn't tidy up much either. It didn't sell quickly. At all.

with regard to getting things fixed, i once rented a (very nice) house that needed LOTS of things fixing. the estate agent promised they would all be done before i moved in, which they were not. so after about a week, i wrote them a letter saying that i would be getting in a plumber/electrician/decorator/tiler to fix everything and would subtract it from my 1st month's rent. that did the trick and there were workmen there within the day. (i'll never forget, they left the oven caked in food, had clearly never been cleaned in years, but landlord kindly offered to pay £3 towards the cost of a bottle of oven cleaner and rubber gloves )

If it was me I'd go for the "relatively tidy but very strange smells" approach. You can casually drop in to the conversation "yes, there's a very odd smell, we've never been able to work out what it is (but don't let them look down the backs of the radiators to find the kippers you've stored there)

Get some pet rats and let them loose during viewings.

Love the evil geniuses of MN.

And of course this house is the OP's home.

That's what being a landlord is - accepting payment so other people can make their home in your property.

Not read whole thread yet, but under your tenancy agreement the LL is supposed to fix the things that are broken. If he can break the tenancy agreement, then you can break it by refusing to allow people to look round.

I would definitely only allow people to look round maybe once a week on a specific day - not whenever your LL wants. Don't make it easy for him - and point out all the things that are wrong with the house when someone does come to view.

How old is your DD?

Could you get her to hide in cupboards making scuttling noises?

Nothing like a bunch of mice to make a person want to buy.

It seems to be such a common ploy. Get unsuspecting family in then sell from under them. Have you checked exactly what your legal position is? Cos if you are on a fixed term contract they may not be able to sell from under you. I don't think they can. It costs so much to move when you need a van and have to pay agents rip off fees.

I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to clean and would be honest if the potential buyers ask about any issues.

When I was house hunting I viewed a rental that had someone asleep in one of the bed. Another whoch had a rabbit in a kitchen cupboard.

I would also start looking for a new rental and move at YOUR convenience. He can't keep you there paying rent till it suits him then kick you out on your ear.

Ooooh! you are all fiendishly wicked. Thank you. You have made me feel much happier about the whole thing and even more determined to have a formal attack on the LL

I am, of course, tidying up so that I am not embarrassed, just as I would do with any visitor. But I am NOT going to clean the windows and I am going to try to stop DH from mowing the lawn :o (sentence never before seen on MN)

All further ideas...sneaky, fiendish and plain genius, very gratefully received

OK,

Kipper soup on the hob- tick
DD locked in cupboard making scratching noises-tick
Large boxes in shower-tick
Strange neighbour types to be plied with Stella until they are shouting drunk at 10am- on 'to do' list
Lawn long and luxurient, and it is raining so no chance to mow it-tick
Front door glass panel taped up in a very'safe' way, you can hardly see the glass-tick

I think I am nearly ready to put on my 'worried but sympathetic' face ready to say 'it's such a shame a lovely old house like this needs so much maintenance'

Are your neighbours friendly?

Perhaps they could help you out by playing some very loud dance music. The type with a heavy bass that vibrates through you.

Hmmm.... why deliberately sabotage the sale? Your LL might have very good reasons for needing to sell eg lost his job and can't feed his family. I agree that you have no particular obligation to go out of your way to help, but I assume you normally keep the place tidy enough. Don't maybe do more than you would normally (unless you are a very nice person) but equally don't go out of your way to make it smelly, dirty or unpleasant - your tenancy will still end on the same day but you will have a nasty feeling about your petty behaviour for years. All you will achieve is one more underutilised property in the country as the LL will tidy up once you are gone and still sell, but just a couple of months later after it has been standing empty.

You are presumably not being turfed out before the end of the tenancy that you happily signed - had you wanted a 5 year lease (or whatever), then you could have negotiated one.

LLs are real people too.

Just a word of caution.

I had a tenant who didn't want to co operate when I was selling a rental property.

I knew precisely what he did during and prior to every viewing as the EA and viewers gave me feedback.

So, instead of allowing him to stay there until the house had sold ( and at a reduced rent for the inconvenience of occasionally not being there when viewers came round) I served him notice.

As soon as he had gone, the house sold.
It may be your home but it is not your property or your house and you actually have very little power so I genuinely wouldn't fuck it up. And you won;t get a glowing reference either - my tenant didn't.

And I'm a nice LL with beautiful properties.

Christ, the rental situation in this country is shit isn't it . Don't they have better regulation on the continent? How can people be moved on after 6 months - 1 year, that's not making a home for anyone.

Yes LLs are real people, but it seems to be a bit one sided TBH, I am a real person too, with a broken shower, dodgy pipes etc, that I cannot fix myself (expressly forbidden in tenancy), and yet he won't fix either.
I actually think buyers are not mugs, and they will see the structural things wrong with the house (at least the survey will point them out), and look past any grubby windows and unmowed lawn.
the LL would do better to put the long term things right, not just for our sake, but for the sake of selling the house as well.

I have not really, truly made kipper soup. In fact I have done my normal Saturday housekeeping to make the house nice for us.
But I do object to being asked to do MORE than usual, when the LL has NOT repaired all the things he said he would

smashing if you were my LL and reduced the rent to recompense me for the inconvenience of people coming round, I would hoover the patio and arrange the DCs in alphabetical order. SaDly you are not and I am left with the LL I have.

If you listed all the problems then had them costed, could you then make an offer to the selling agent less the cost of repairs and a letter explaining this?

Have you been given first refusal to buy being the sitting tenant?

We are weak and spineless people.
I can hear DH mowing the lawn and have just realised my hands smell of disinfectant. After all your encouragement MNetters, I seem to have caved.

weak and weedy Norks

Aw Norks - if you were my tenant I'd be a happy LL!!!

In your situation I wouldn't be very cooperative

most landlords do the decent thing and wait til the tenants leave before marketing the property, rather than ruining the tenants 'enjoyment of the property' - it'll be a clause in your tennancy agreement, check it out - by inviting THEIR guests around for viewings. Why don't you see if they will reduce the rent in compensation for the viewings? If they won't, you're entitled to your enjoyment of the property so I'd just refuse to allow the viewers in!

Nceledon
no I am not but I do know a couple of LLs and for what its they are both decent people who who treat their tenants fairly, charge a fair rent, respect their tenants right to quite enjoyment and do repairs immediatly. However should either of them want to sell their properties they should be able to do that without the tenant doing everything in their power to stop them - its theirs they can sell if they want.

However if you buy or rent property there are risks involved.

If you buy theres a risk or losing your job and being unable to pay the mortgage, theres a risk of the Neigbours from hell moving in next door and making your life a misery the list is endless.

If you rent there are also risks involved the OP has stated she has already taken one risk in that she chose to rent a lovely house in a brilliant position knowing that it had some visable faults, rather then presumably renting a house not so lovely in a not so brilliant position but without any problems.

And one of the risks in renting is that one day you will be asked to leave, sadly it looks like the OPs LL had an agenda to sell which is why he is not doing repairs.

However he could have done the opposite, could have done all the repairs, subjected the OP to months of having to deal with workman and mess etc then once it was in pristine nick STILL sell the property.

Sorry OP I can understand you want a lovely home, with everything in working order and you want to live there if not for life for as long as you want and I am sorry but as a tenant thats something you cant always have.

To refuse to do something that you would do in a heartbeat if there was something in it for you just to get back at the LL for having the temacity (sp?) to want to sell to my mind is a tad hypocritical.

Just clear up to the basic minimum (BUT GIVE YOUR POOR CAT WHATEVER IT WANTS FOR ITS SUPPER ) look for another property and get on with your life,

Actually, as a tenant those are all things you should be able to expect.

It is a shit state if affairs that people who rent property can't expect a home in a decent state if repair or have any fixity of tenure.

The British "obsession" with home ownership is frequently cited as a problem for society and the economy. It is often assumed that this obsession is an irrational cultural peculiarity, when in fact it is an entirely rational response to the reality of being a tenant in Britain.

Ok so you've cleaned up but you can still drop some unsubtle comments such as how you wish the ll would fix the glass because he hasn't since you moved in and someone cold easily break in - FACT. Or that it would be nice to get a shower but that's also waiting to be fixed and has been since you moved in - FACT. That way any feedback the LL gets from the viewer will refer directly to the problems he needs to fix!
And I wouldn't be paying full rent if the property is in the state you describe - get some advice from CAB. I would be getting on to the letting agency as well as they said the jobs would be done before you moved in. Your ll isn't allowed to ignore the repairs but some try to get away with it if they have tenants who aren't very forceful.