Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Frustrated with tenants?

462 replies

thankunextex · 25/03/2019 10:13

I’m trying to view a house and the tenants have refused to let me view it both times. Appointments been booked in advance and then they say it’s not a good time an hour before.

I get it if you don’t want to actually leave the property (not sure if that’s the situation or not) but I’m just being messed around now.

OP posts:
53rdWay · 25/03/2019 14:52

They might not want viewings when they’re not at home though. I’d have refused that.

HarrysOwl · 25/03/2019 14:56

They are within their rights to refuse access, as frustrating as it is.

Find out ASAP if they have been given notice (they should be given 2 months' notice to end an AST as long as their fixed term has elapsed) and what date they are expected to leave.

Exchange on vacant possession ONLY.

HarrysOwl · 25/03/2019 14:57

Has your offer been accepted, OP? How far through the conveyance are you? Your solicitor should be advising you really.

safariboot · 25/03/2019 15:06

The current tenants are quite possibly being evicted from their home so it can be sold. You get zero sympathy from me OP.

ColeHawlins · 25/03/2019 15:08

They might not want viewings when they’re not at home though. I’d have refused that.

This.

HarrysOwl · 25/03/2019 15:09

Evicted?! They will have been given 2 months of notice. They're aware the house is for sale.

Unfortunately that's just the territory of renting. Hardly the OP's fault, is it?!

Justaboy · 25/03/2019 15:10

By such logic does anything in the lease then?

Yes. Please do read up on the various acts which cover basic requirements and enforceable clauses of any tenancy act.

So one might therfore reasonably assume that that as these documents are writ by our learned legal fiends, then why do they do that?.

Smells of incompetence!

SaveKevin · 25/03/2019 15:13

It’s fucking shit renting when your house is up for sale, it feels a real invasion if your life. Estate agents dick you around, your landlord dicks you around and your still expected to pay your rent whilst looking for somewhere new and pack up (whilst keeping it clean and tidy for viewings). If you’ve got kids it’s ten times worse having to explain who these people are, keeping the kids occupied and not letting them make a mess / cook their dinner etc etc.

Yes it’s not your fault op. But it’s also not theirs either

Justaboy · 25/03/2019 15:13

I suppose that they should get his nibbs in here to manage them?

And I quote;

"There the two types of tenants, those who agree with me and ex tenants"

Sweetpea55 · 25/03/2019 15:26

DH works away long term so we usually take a tenancy on a flat for 6 months.
Towards the end of the tenancy the flat would go up for rent again. Some EA were crap. They would want to show people around when we were having dinner etc. Expected DH to leave work to show people round or to be there at a weekend for the same.. Er.. Nope. We come home on Fridays and don't get back until mondays.
As other posters have said they would just let themselves in , sometimes while we were lying in bed watching tv
DH refused them entry one evening when they just turned up. We got back one Monday to find the the toilet blocked up with a huge stinking dump

pootyisabadcat · 25/03/2019 15:31

ive booked the viewing always on a weekday at mid morning so as not to inconvenience anyone as chances are most people and children are not at home then.

You have no idea if the EA has even told them. I'd guess not. And they may not want to be out whilst the viewing is happening. And they don't have to allow viewings at all. That's just how it is.

Just find another house to buy or wait till they're out.

mirime · 25/03/2019 15:36

@BarbarianMum

No landlord is "accidental". You dont accidentally rent out a house. If you end up deciding it'd be better for you to rent then sell then you have to play by the rules.

We have an empty house, circumstances changed unexpectedly, we needed to move. Wanted to sell our house but found we had around about £20-25,000 negative equity. Funnily enough we didn't have that sort of money.

A few years later we looked into renting it out, but really couldn't afford that either - what with landlord training and registration, getting the gas and electric sorted out, fixing the mess of a bathroom and the fact that the rent would barely cover the mortgage. Had to think about it again seriously last year when the council tax on empty properties went to 100% rather than a discounted rate and I've spent the last year in fear of it going to 150 or 200% this coming financial year - at that point if we couldn't pay off the negative equity and the bank wouldn't allow us to sell and have a repayment arrangement we'd probably have been forced to try to rent it out.

Luckily the council tax isn't going up to 150 or 200% and we have been able to put the house on the market. But circumstances would only need to be slightly different and we'd have little choice about what to do.

Original poster
thankunextex · 25/03/2019 15:40

Has your offer been accepted, OP? How far through the conveyance are you? Your solicitor should be advising you really.

I’ve never viewed it so haven’t put an offer in.

Also it’s been on the market four months so ...

OP posts:
pootyisabadcat · 25/03/2019 15:50

Just move on, LL obviously needs to wait till it's empty to sell it but either doesn't want to because he wants the rent money or is in the process of evicting the tenants formally and may be in for months and months of court.

(whilst keeping it clean and tidy for viewings). If you’ve got kids it’s ten times worse having to explain who these people are, keeping the kids occupied and not letting them make a mess / cook their dinner etc etc.

You do not have to allow viewings and you certainly don't have to bloody clean and tidy for them. It's not your job to facilitate the sale of the property, it's the LLs and whichever EA he/she has hired. Never bothered to alter my lifestyle to facilitate the sale of a place I was renting, definitely wouldn't with kids in the picture. We allowed viewings but every single time the EAs lied their arses off and didn't respect boundaries, either, so we stopped (also changed the lock barrels as someone else did when we knew they'd be coming in and doing viewings without our permission).

ILoveMaxiBondi · 25/03/2019 15:51

I’ve never viewed it so haven’t put an offer in.

So then you’re certainly nowhere near buying it as you stated upthread.

Seriously, walk away, there are other houses.

thedisorganisedmum · 25/03/2019 15:51

hen had 'trouble' with their pesky tenants (who actually are responsible for paying off your mortgage while you do pretty much fuck all )

give it a rest, will you.

The tenants are very happy to benefit from the transaction, have a set rent to pay every month, call if any problem arises to get them fixed , have complete flexibility and being completely untouched by market crash.

Landlords provide a service, take financial responsibility for all unexpected repairs, will be the one losing out in financial crash, has to fix the property after tenants leave. The landlords take a risk, the tenants don't.

No one is asking you to feel sorry for one or the other, but let's not pretend that tenants are poor victims of evil landlords, it's a business transaction and sometimes one party benefits more than the other.

It's because of bad attitude that landlords are strongly advise to change tenants regularly, to keep the property in good repair and the rent at the market rate, but mainly to avoid any issue!

londonrach · 25/03/2019 15:53

No matter whats written in the contract tentands no not ever have to allow people to view their house. Id wait till vacant or find another house. Their ll is being cf to try and get rent and sell property.

ILoveMaxiBondi · 25/03/2019 15:54

Also it’s been on the market four months so

So either the tenants haven’t been given their two months notice (because the LL would have done that when putting it on the market 4 months ago) and LL is just waiting until it sells to give notice which means at least two months after it’s sold! (if they leave then!) or the tenants have had notice and are refusing to go.

ColeHawlins · 25/03/2019 15:55

If you've never viewed it and you haven't made an offer, it seems silly to pronounce yourself "frustrated with the tenants". Be frustrated with the vendor. Or the agents. Or better still, walk away.

What's so special about this particular house anyway?

ColeHawlins · 25/03/2019 15:57

It's because of bad attitude that landlords are strongly advise to change tenants regularly, to keep the property in good repair and the rent at the market rate, but mainly to avoid any issue!

Who's advising that?

It sounds like a hugely disruptive game of musical houses for very little reason.

thedisorganisedmum · 25/03/2019 15:58

It sounds like a hugely disruptive game of musical houses for very little reason.

not really, it saves from some people starting to think they own the place.

Tomtontom · 25/03/2019 15:59

The landlords take a risk, the tenants don't.

Having to uproot your family every six months sounds like a pretty big risk to me.

Grumpelstilskin · 25/03/2019 15:59

But the tenants do not owe you a single thing! Why the feck should they accomodate you while they still live there and pay rent. You are just a random person to them.

JessicaWakefieldSVH · 25/03/2019 16:00

I’ve never viewed it so haven’t put an offer in

So what are you complaining about the tenants for! It’s nothing to do with you!!

Swipe left for the next trending thread