To think when you're viewing a property the tenant shouldn't be there

[Vintagejazz]

I am hoping to move shortly and have started house hunting. Last month I viewed a property where the tenant was hanging around, making it very clear that she was resentful of people looking at the place she was renting, and generally making the experience very uncomfortable.

On Saturday I went to look at another rented property that's been put up for sale. The estate agent met us at the door but again, the tenant was there, sitting in the main living area and puffing away on cigarettes. Again it felt really uncomfortable, as if we were invading her privacy by going into bedrooms, opening the door of the airing cupboard and looking at the kitchen cupboards to see how much space there was.

AIBU to think that tenants should go out and stroll around for half an hour or grab a cup of coffee somewhere, or even just sit in their car with the newspaper and let people look around the property in comfort?

Thank you Bitter - I wasn't aware of that.

One theme which has really emerged in the last couple of pages is the cost of having to move twice in a short period - the two sets of lettings fees in only a few months etc, shelling out for one deposit before the second is back, and before you have had time to recover financially from the hit of deductables on the previous one.

I'd suggest a campaign: if a tenant is required by the landlord to leave the property within the first year of moving in, the landlord should have to pay all lettings fees and (subject to massive deliberate damage) transfer the deposit directly to the new property. No deductions for eg carpet cleaning. (This could be relatively easily done - deposits should be held in schemes nowadays, so all that would happen is a change on the landlords details).

Obviously, the above wouldn't resolve the whole hideous mess in this country, but it would lesson the financial misery of having to move twice in a short period through no fault of your own.

Thoughts?

That's not really the answer dancing. What we need is the option of longer tenancies, 1-5 years as agreed by both tenant and landlord. We also need regulation for letting agents and fees to tenants to be either banned as in Scotland or capped at around £100pp.

just landlords/letting agencies knowing the law and sticking to it would be a start.

and again.....longer tenancies are perfectly legal NOW in England.

yes, agency fees should be capped for tenants; banning them in Scotland has put rents up because landlords run businesses.

YABU for all the reasons stated before and, for myself, had it not been for the tenants being honest with me about the neighbours I would have ended renting next to a neighbour from hell. They were upfront about why they were leaving when asked, something the EA didn't like. We had a suspicion, the house was lovely and on for a very low rent.

Oh, FGS. The poor OP admitted she was being unreasonable getting on for a hundred posts ago. Give her a break!

Long tenancies may be legal but they are rarer than hens teeth!

LadyintheRadiator: seriously, £750 in agency fees, and it didn't even include check-in or check-out costs? How many tenants?

Those are the highest fees I've ever heard of, and I rent in London. How on earth did the letting agent explain that cost?

I've let houses, and would be very grateful if a tenant allowed us to show a property while they were still living there.

In fact, I've also recently rented, and we actually showed prospective tenants around the house.

I'm too bloody nice!

And no matter who long they are, they all have that magic two-month get out clause.

YABVU! I rent and have shown people round before (I've actually shown people round without the estate agent even being there). I have always been friendly and answered questions, there's no way I'd leave my home with all my belongings so some strangers could come and have a nosy. It's very intrusive and inconvenient.
If this isn't a wind up then perhaps you should think about how much of an inconvenience you are to the tenant instead of the other way round.

I love these threads.

OP: AIBU?
MNers: Yes!
OP: ok, fair enough
More MNers: YABU because blah blah...

RTFT, she's admitted she's BU!