Viewing houses with kids

[Hairydogmummy]

I've got the house on the market since Sunday. We had two viewing last night and both turned up as families with small children. I wouldn't take young kids on a first viewing of an occupied house even in non COVID times but they had hands everywhere and one family said they'd forgotten masks. It was impossible to distance and the kids too young for them to concentrate on the house as they were trying and failing to get them to stop touching stuff. I don't think it was child care problem from what they said but I could be wrong. I think we'll ask the agent to say adults only unless absolutely necessary? I kind of thought that would be a given and was gobsmacked tbh when they all trooped in!

@questionssquestions It’s illegal to leave your kids with someone else, really???

Best go and arrest all those single parent NHS nurses or those where both parents are key workers, like me they’ve been working throughout all of this believe it or not.

@questionssquestions

It's not about paying for babysitters though. You are legally not allowed to leave them with anyone else right now. So unless you are lucky enough to have them in school or nursery, you can't leave them. At all.

Where is that rule?

Or are you in a lockdown area?

So I've just caught up with DH on this and apparently the agent told them that they shouldn't take the kids and they said they would take it in turns but they just got them out and showed up at the door! Some people! They actually had a third child at nursery so the house was too small for them anyway. I agree it's discourteous. Ours were older even when we moved here and we only took them if it was an unoccupied property. Second viewing fine, I get that an older child would want to see it but not sure it would make much difference to me if I'd decided on the house and the child didn't like it anyway??

YANBU

I’m surprised any agents are allowing it.

YANBU. Pre-children I worked for an estate agent and anybody who had an ounce of sense left one adult in the car/outside with the children while the other viewed the property, and then they swapped over. Dragging children round a house viewing is a terrible idea and completely unnecessary. They're a distraction and they touch absolutely everything. And with Covid, it's even worse.

Agents in our area aren't allowing kids. We've recently bought and we had to take it turns to view while the other waited in the car or outside with the kids. Seems perfectly reasonable to me in these times.

[quote Minimumstandard]@CarolVordermansArse. That behaviour sounds totally unacceptable.... Not sure I wouldn't have lost it with the parents.

Tbh, I don't understand why children viewing needs to be an issue. Either children are young enough to be in a sling or carrier or strapped in a buggy where they can't cause any damage or they're old enough to behave, not touch things and do as they're told. But obviously some parents have difficulty with that...[/quote]
Sad thing was, it happened with two house sales. Older children were fine, they just played outside but the little ones were just allowed to run around and wreck things.

I will never forget the family who viewed our house and let their two little girls run riot...they were throwing toys in the playroom and one of them upended a bowl of fruit onto the floor.

They then both ran upstairs like they owned the place and I said "Not upstairs please!" sharply as the parents weren't stopping them...and the Mum looked at me like I'd said "FUCK OFF" or something....the kids still didn't come down so I said "Can you get your children down please?" and she said "Oh they won't do any harm" and I said "Then I will get them down and then you can leave." And I did.

Cheeky cow. I threw them out politely.

OP, I would have taken control of this situation when they turned up on the doorstep.
You say, “I’m afraid you can’t bring your children into the house.”

Offer them the taking in turns solution mentioned by others above, or turn them away.
It’s still your house and you should ultimately manage the viewings.