To be there for the viewings?

[SachaStark]

My landlord is selling the house we live in, and the estate agent is doing about 10 viewings tomorrow afternoon.

AIBU to be present for the viewings? The LL is totally fine with it, but the estate agent seems quite put out.

My reasonings are that, whilst it might be a property to sell to the estate agent, it’s also our home, and filled with our possessions, and I’d rather be in the house to keep an eye on things. Also, why should I inconvenience myself by making myself scarce for several hours? I’ve got a stack of exercise books to mark as it’s half term week (secondary teacher), and I don’t much relish the thought of dragging all those books out and about with me whilst I try to find an appropriate place to work.

If it were an ordinary day without these viewings, that’s what I would be doing, so should I just be able to carry on as normal?

@SachaStark There you go - no human or cat shit, you've covered basic decency 😂

At the end of the day, either

• tenants don't facilitate viewings going smoothly, landlords end up with vacant periods between tenants, rents rise to cover this

Or

• tenants accept some inconvenience to facilitate prompt re-letting of properties, minimising vacant periods and helping keep rents down

I've only ever viewed a property with occupiers in once and was awful and really off putting. They were renting and had not tidied at all (they were annoyed their landlord was selling) and it was just hard to imagine us living there.

Think of it another way OP. If you can make these viewings good and the property is let to one of them, there's a decent chance you won't have to put up with more viewings.

I've been a landlord and a tenant (AND in the dim and distant past, worked at an estate agent's), and if I were in your position, I would absolutely carry on as normally as I possibly could in your circumstances, @SachaStark.
Has anyone mentioned tenants' right to "quiet enjoyment" of a property they are paying rent for yet? I've only read the OP's posts. As a landlord, there's no way it would occur to me to give bad references to tenants who preferred not to be disturbed whilst living in my property that they'd paid rent for. As a tenant, when given good advance warning, I have let estate agents come in to show the property I'm renting, but have hung around just in case. I wouldn't want to go out when unknowns (including estate agents) were being shown my home.

I think I might prefer not to be breathing around all those people personally irrespective of the legal position and “rights”.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

At the end of the day, either

• tenants don't facilitate viewings going smoothly, landlords end up with vacant periods between tenants, rents rise to cover this

Or

• tenants accept some inconvenience to facilitate prompt re-letting of properties, minimising vacant periods and helping keep rents down

I've only ever viewed a property with occupiers in once and was awful and really off putting. They were renting and had not tidied at all (they were annoyed their landlord was selling) and it was just hard to imagine us living there.

Think of it another way OP. If you can make these viewings good and the property is let to one of them, there's a decent chance you won't have to put up with more viewings.

Why should the tenants incur that cost?

They are ultimately paying for you to own a property. If you go to view a house which has been left empty for three years, would you expect, as a buyer, for you to incur the cost of the council tax etc. needing to be paid by the current owner while it was vacant?

If you advocate for tenants paying the additional costs to landlords for properties being empty, then the same should apply to buyers when houses have been left empty.

When I was a tenant (20 years ago) I stayed in for all the viewings. No one made a fuss.
I'm really surprised at how many people have the Estate Agent take them round a house.
I have bought and sold 5 houses and have shown every prospective buyer around myself and only twice have I been shown around a house by an EA.
(One time I was let in and taken round - much to the surprise of the new owners of the house who had moved in the previous month 😬 )

I can completely appreciate why you want to be there, but is it not against the Covid guidelines that allow viewings - so they won't be able to go ahead if you're home?

We're on the market and have to vacate 5 minutes before any viewings, the estate agent is allowed in with a maximum of two other people and they leave and then we're supposed to wait 5 minutes to come back inside. Everyone has to be masked, nobody can touch anything (we have to leave all doors so the rooms are accessible) and the windows have to be open.

If the viewings are really inconvenient, you could use that to suggest that they can't happen, as you've got nowhere to be and aren't allowed to be home.

Probably depends how much your EA cares, but we've dealt with a few here (viewing to buy, and selling) and they've all been really hot on it.

I see the usual MN jealousy and vitriol towards landlords is alive and well on this thread.

@VodkaSlimline

I see the usual MN jealousy and vitriol towards landlords is alive and well on this thread.

There are landlords on here calling out the attitude of others. Nothing to do with jealousy. It’s to do with not thinking people can be treated like shit.

@VodkaSlimline

I see the usual MN jealousy and vitriol towards landlords is alive and well on this thread.

Only landlords who try to limit the legal rights of their tenants

Yanbu. I know someone who went out for the viewing. When they cane back the tv screen was cracked. The estate agent denied all knowledge and my friend had to buy herself a new tv.

This property is full of your stuff you should be there to keep an eye on it.

How much marking do you think you’re going to do with ten sets of people wandering in and out? And you’ve got an entire week but you choose the exact time the viewings are scheduled. You’re not only unreasonable but you’re being awkward for the sake of it.

@sunshinepunch

I know someone who had large expensive bottles of perfume and aftershave stolen after a viewing. The estate agent didn't care/said she couldn't prove it. She also allowed viewers to take a large amount of fruit from their basket

Hide any easily pilfered expensive items if you can. If the owner doesn't mind then just do it. You can't exactly follow people around however so hiding expensive items or putting them near you may be wise.

Check if the EA is going to cover anything stolen.

Years ago a colleague had her Chanel makeup stolen from her flat being shown!

Unbelievable we thought, but apparently NOT as uncommon as you'd think.

@Blossomtoes

How much marking do you think you’re going to do with ten sets of people wandering in and out? And you’ve got an entire week but you choose the exact time the viewings are scheduled. You’re not only unreasonable but you’re being awkward for the sake of it.

How dare the OP decide which days she’s doing which bits of work. She doesn’t even own her own home FFS. She should defer to her landlord when she can mark her books.

@VodkaSlimline

I see the usual MN jealousy and vitriol towards landlords is alive and well on this thread.

Quite

Sorry, I’ve been working! (Please, do not fall off your seats in shock, I beg of you.)

After reading a few more responses about stuff going missing, getting broken, etc, I think I’m definitely making the right decision in staying put. Also, my DM nipped over to borrow something this morning, and she reckons we’d be mad to leave the place unattended.

To those saying I’m being awkward by choosing to do my marking today, when I have all week... what do you think I was doing on Tuesday and Wednesday? Like I said, I want to get all the marking done by the end of the day today, and then that means that I can write reports tomorrow, and then I’m done in time to visit friends with my husband this weekend. Much easier this way.

In terms of covid guidelines, I haven’t a clue what the current rules are about house viewings, etc. The windows are all open with lovely fresh sea breeze coming in, and I promise not to lick the potential buyers (really, I do promise). Tbh, when you’ve spent the last term in close contact with 120 kids each day, loads unmasked, a few people in my home seems like a drop in the ocean in comparison.

Also, I’ve made sure that all of mine and DH’s pants are out of sight 👍🏻

YANBU to stay at home, I'm sure they can ignore you sat at the table. It reminds me though, I used to work in estate agency, and we were managing several flats in a block. I was taking someone to view one of them and accidentally let myself into the wrong one, coming face to face with a confused tenant stood in his hallway in his pants 🤦‍♀️

@hellcatspangle

YANBU to stay at home, I'm sure they can ignore you sat at the table. It reminds me though, I used to work in estate agency, and we were managing several flats in a block. I was taking someone to view one of them and accidentally let myself into the wrong one, coming face to face with a confused tenant stood in his hallway in his pants 🤦‍♀️

Is that supposed to be a funny story? Because it's horrendous. Take it that's why you don't work in estate agency anymore.

I wouldn't leave the house. When we were renting recently and the landlord was selling, we agreed to go out for a few hours as there were 3 viewings lined up. When we got back the back door had been left wide open and the estate agent had gone off with the only key to it in his pocket.

Well, the viewings are all finished, as is my half term marking! I even had time to sit and read my book for a bit as people were going in and out.

I have to say, it’s been one of the most entertaining afternoons I’ve had for a while 😂 We’ve had a few “characters” come through, as my mother would say.

We allowed viewings for months when our landlord was selling up. The day before we moved they had loads of viewings booked in and we were ‘told off’ like naughty school children because the flat was very messy for the potential buyers.

I’m so sorry our moving is inconveniencing you selling your £550,000 shitty two bed flat. Twats.

@hellcatspangle

YANBU to stay at home, I'm sure they can ignore you sat at the table. It reminds me though, I used to work in estate agency, and we were managing several flats in a block. I was taking someone to view one of them and accidentally let myself into the wrong one, coming face to face with a confused tenant stood in his hallway in his pants 🤦‍♀️

You trespassed into someone's home and burst in on them in their underwear? Absolutely disgusting. You should have been sacked for that, I hope you were.

What a lot of bitching. The position in England is that tenants don't have to allow viewings. Landlord could try enforcing with a trip to court, not happening at the moment. Op does not have to vacate whole viewings happening, estate agent is talking out of their arse.

If the house is bring sold to another landlord, possibly in the ops interest to help. If it is being sold for one occupation, nothing will happen until the op has left - if she doesn't want to, she's perfectly within her rights to stay to the bailiff.

CBA to read through pages of playground talk to find the actual situation.

CBA to read through pages of playground talk to find the actual situation.

@murbblurb - if you just want to read all the OP's posts in one go, you can. In a browser, you will see at the bottom of the original post, something saying "see next" or "see all", so you don't have to read everything in between. There's a way to do the same on the app, I think it's filter to see only the OP's possts.

When I was renting and the landlord decided to sell, I refused to allow viewings when I was not there. It was my home and I wanted to keep an eye on my stuff.