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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Time wasting tenants

48 replies

Lifecanonlygetbetter · 02/02/2020 01:34

With an unexpected legacy, and using all our savings, we were able to buy a flat as a second property. We rent it out, the income supports our children at college /uni and will help them get on property ladder. We are good landlords, and when our tenant of 3 years moved to her own place, we refurbished, redecorated, put down new carpets etc. So we are being quite choosy about potential tenants, use a screening checklist, then call to arrange viewing. I spoke to a woman yesterday, she has an 11 year old, currently lives 5 minutes away and wants to keep child in same school. She seemed really nice and very keen. Arranged viewing today at 3pm fitting around her son’s activities, agreed that if there were any problems we would call each other. 2 hours before viewing something came up, I left her a voicemail offering to put back until 4pm or my husband could do the viewing at 3pm. I asked her to call me if she still wanted 3pm. No call so I drove for 45 mins to flat, arrived 3.50 and waited. She didn’t arrive, at 4.20pm I texted her to say that I hoped that she had heard my message, I was at the flat if she was still interested. No response, I didn’t get home until after 5.30 so I wasted 2.5 hours and 2 gallons of petrol. I’m really annoyed, it would have taken her 10 seconds to text me to cancel. I really want to message her and say what I think of her rude and inconsiderate behaviour. AIBU?

OP posts:
Uncooperativefingers · 02/02/2020 01:38

So nobody was at the flat at the time you originally arranged to meet? And you don't know that she actually got the message changing the time?

I'd guess that she didn't get your message, was waiting around for you at 3pm and is now probably annoyed you didn't show. If I was in her shoes, I would have then checked my phone, seen your message and thought "well she said her husband could be here at 3, and she hasn't heard back from me to agree to 4pm, so why isn't her husband here?"

Six of one and half a dozen of the other tbh.

katmandoo · 02/02/2020 01:38

So you arrange 3 as a time she could make?. You found you couldn't make it and rearrange at 1 to meet at 4 but could get hold of her, so left a message?

And she was time wasting...

So she may have turned up at 3 and waited, she may have no credit or as happen to me today no 3 or 4 g coverage.

No she didn't time waste.

BitchyArriver · 02/02/2020 01:39

Wait, are you saying you both initially agreed on 3pm, but then you after your attempt to change the time was unsuccessful you still turned up almost an hour late? In that case YABU.

Maybe her phone was out of service and she’s thinking you wasted HER time as she showed up at 3pm?

MiniGuinness · 02/02/2020 01:43

But this is normal in renting out properties. Have you thought about using an agency? I think if you are being “choosy” then your prospective tenants may also be choosy, and it looks far more professional to use agencies. (I would be put-off by having to deal with LL) Obviously it would be ridiculous to text her about her behaviour, and does make you look a bit unprepared for the realities of being a LL.

Devilsadv0caat · 02/02/2020 01:44

If your husband could do the 3pm appointment why didn’t he? As others have said she could have turned up and left because no one was there to meet her. I think you’re the time waster tbh, and she’s not a tenant either.

Lifecanonlygetbetter · 02/02/2020 01:52

We made the arrangement at short notice as we are going on holiday and I explained that I had a number of things to do today. She wanted to view asap. This is why we agreed that if either of us needed to change the plans we would contact each other. I left her a message clearly stating that she should contact me if 4pm was not convenient. Surely if I wasn’t there at 3pm, she would have texted me to ask where I was? Or at least responded to the text?

OP posts:
GlummyMcGlummerson · 02/02/2020 01:57

Hang on, YOU cancelled the 3pm slot, turned up at 4 despite not hearing back from her and are moaning about the potential tenant? It's not her fault you love so far away and that something came up. YABU

katy1213 · 02/02/2020 01:57

Sounds like you're the time-waster.

Lifecanonlygetbetter · 02/02/2020 01:58

Husband didn’t go at 3pm because I hadn’t heard from her saying that this was what she wanted to do. And we don’t use agents because we’ve used them before and they are largely useless, and every tenant I’ve spoken to doesn’t have a good word to say about them. We have been LL in the past and for 3 years, and by being careful we have never had problems with tenants, other than on the one occasion when we allowed an agent to find them.

OP posts:
MiniGuinness · 02/02/2020 01:59

She changed her mind. You sound a bit flaky, I wouldn’t want to rent your property either.

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:04

You come out much worse than her in this story. You’re the time waster.

If it was arranged around her son’s activities, chances are she had to be somewhere at 4 hence why she left at the time she originally planned to.

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:05

Also unless it was an actual emergency, YOU should have honoured the 3pm slot if you didn’t hear back from her, not just assume she was okay with a 4pm slot. That’s just common courtesy.

lyralalala · 02/02/2020 02:09

Your husband should have been there at 3pm when you didn’t hear from her. For all you know she didn’t receive your message and assumed you’d stood her up

She’s not the time waster in your story

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:11

Also I think this incident has turned her off you as a landlord even if the property is inconvenient. She’s probably anticipating all the shitty landlord tricks (especially a lack of reasonable notice) you’ll pull in the future and just decided to cut ties and move on.

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:11

Inconvenient should be convenient

Lifecanonlygetbetter · 02/02/2020 02:14

I’m not flaky, she was going to be 60 miles away with her son in the morning, if there were problems on the motorway she could have been delayed. Which is why we agreed that if either of us needed to change the time we would contact each other. I take on board what has been said about her not having any signal etc, but would be surprised if she didn’t have any for an afternoon.

OP posts:
lyralalala · 02/02/2020 02:27

I’m not flaky, she was going to be 60 miles away with her son in the morning, if there were problems on the motorway she could have been delayed. Which is why we agreed that if either of us needed to change the time we would contact each other. I take on board what has been said about her not having any signal etc, but would be surprised if she didn’t have any for an afternoon.

If she was going to be 60 miles away then she'd have had at least an hour, longer if there was traffic, where she didn't have access to her phone

She didn't need to have no signal for the whole time - if someone sends me a voicemail when I've no signal it can take hours to come through,, it's as bad as a text sent when I've no signal. Plus it depends on me hearing the beep to say there is a voicemail when it does come through, which if she was driving she may not have done

If you didn't hear from her to say "change it to 4" then someone should have been there at 3

Dommina · 02/02/2020 02:31

I think it's generally polite to wait for an acknowledgement before changing plans. YABU. Anything might have happened. She might have been in a situation where she was unable to text back, (such as being slowed down on road) or unable to retrieve the get message, such as signal loss. Or even forgetting to check their phone which is forgivable. Maybe she read the text as 'my husband will be there at 3 if you can't do that, so don't worry' which is reasonable.
What was supposed to do if she did arrive at 3? And noone was there? And for some reason she couldn't get hold of you? Just wait for almost an hour? She may have other commitments.

Have you made any further attempt to contact her to check she's okay? Obviously not now, v late.

You are being unreasonable.

MiniGuinness · 02/02/2020 02:33

But it is unprofessional for you to change the time. I would think it was an indication of how you conducted yourself as a LL, you know, like changing times of essential work, or being hard to pin down, or just changing arrangements for no real reason (a holiday...?) I would run a mile and go through a well established agency.

Dommina · 02/02/2020 02:34

Are you suggesting that if there was a problem like motorway slowed down, she should have whipped out her phone? Not legal.

I would suggest an apology text from you.

99problemsandthecatis1 · 02/02/2020 02:35

You are the problem in this story.

chatwoo · 02/02/2020 02:41

Would have been pretty logical to get your husband to do the viewing, with a courtesy text/call to the potential tenant to explain the change around of person.

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:46

OP, do you have a career or are you just a full time landlord?

Just because it is literally a societal norm to honour the initial meeting time if you don’t hear bank from the other party regarding last minute rearranging. It’s bad business form to simply not show up at the pre-agreed time without hearing a confirmation from them first. Regardless of it being inconvenient. You’re insinuating that your time is more valuable than hers by assuming that she will be available on a whim to meet you an hour later. It wasn’t an emergency after all.

In fact, these are some of the reasons why landlords generally have a poor reputation so this will have coloured her perception of you.

SnoozyLou · 02/02/2020 02:46

If she's 60 miles away, 2 hours notice isn't really very much.

She might have already left and not received the message, or not been very pleased at being messed around. Not many people are free for 3 hours every afternoon, so she almost certainly had to move things around, all for nothing.

I think you're taking the piss to be perfectly honest.

mnthrowaway202020 · 02/02/2020 02:50

In fact the OP reads like a reverse? How do you have the audacity to call her rude and inconsiderate when that’s how she feels about you?