To say no to any more viewings?

[toastedcat]

I live in a rented house with my partner and new baby (four months old). We've bought a house and are renovating it; will be moving into it in two weeks time.

We gave the letting agency plenty of notice and arranged with them a day for them to do viewings. We left the house tidy and clean for them to take people round, and they had about seven people booked in.

They've increased the rent by £100 which I think is worth noting -- it's a tiny two bedroom house which definitely isn't ideal for a family. It's clear to see when you come in as we've got too much stuff crammed in.

Nobody signed up after that round, so we gave them access twice more. It's a huge inconvenience each time as I'm on mat leave and my husband wfh, and also it's hard enough keeping the place clean without having the pressure of viewings.

Nobody showed up to view the last two times they were booked in, so it was a wasted effort on cleaning and tidying all my son's baby stuff away.

AIBU to tell them we've had enough and they will have to arrange viewings after we've left?

OP you have the right to “quiet enjoyment” of the property. Just refuse visits.

Did you read my post? I've let them have viewings three times already!

Doesn't matter what your contract says, legally you can refuse viewings as you are entitled to quiet enjoyment. Offer to go to court for breach of contract as you'll be long gone before anything happens.

You are wrong. The law says you do not need to allow viewings regardless of what a contract says.

You absolutely don’t have to let anyone in. Doesn’t matter about rent agreement.

I think you should totally refuse.

I had to let people view a flat when we had a tiny baby (they’d allowed us to break the tenancy early on this condition, that we allowed viewings) and it was a nightmare. Always Co incided with just when baby had gone to sleep and I wanted to sleep too!

When we were renting we viewed loads of flats that clearly weren't tidied beforehand, one memorable viewing we'd made it all round the flat before getting to the bathroom and the guy who lived there was just standing in a towel brushing his teeth! Loads of others with people's pants still hanging to dry/dirty breakfast plates round the kitchen etc. So on that basis I wouldn't worry about tidying too much, it's not like it's you who's trying to sell!

Yes I saw your post. Three viewings isn’t exactly a lot! Be helpful, rather than making barriers

Three block viewing slots for 2.5 hours where I had to leave the house with my baby. That is definitely more than enough!

You don’t have to leave, that is your decision. You seem to want it all ways. Try being reasonable, it works wonders

Landlords are hated on here, posters who rent are strongly encouraged by the same posters to make life as difficult as possible for them, refuse viewings , don’t leave wait to be evicted etc, for some reason it’s perceived it’s the landlords fault they need to rent. They are paying the landlords mortgage, thr landlord is greedy so you should fuck with them hard.

personally if they’ve been a good landlord I’d allow the viewings at times that were convenient to me. I’d not worry about cleaning etc unless the house is minging.

@CocoFifi Lol. Spot the professional landlord.

You are also the only person to have had this opinion, if you read the thread.

I pay £1750 a month to live in my home, and I've been reasonable for them three times. Enough is enough. It was overpriced and they'll have a better chance of renting it when it's empty so people don't notice how cramped it is.

Try being empathetic and compassionate instead of greedy. It works wonders 👍

You are not being unreasonable at all. Tell them NO about Saturday as you will be in the middle of packing. They can wait now.

Tell the mice to do their own packing!!

@toastedcat Have the agents actually asked you to do another open day?

Yeah ok this was just a thread to have a go at landlords wasn’t it. Sigh

I would do exactly that, in fact I did. Two weeks before we were due to leave we refused viewings. Our landlord refused to provide a reference although we had already secured our next place. There wasn't any benefit for us so we refused and there wasn't anything they could do.

Which they cannot enforce.

It doesn't matter what's in a contract. They can't contract out of the law.

It's great you're happy to be wrong, because you are.

Have you ever heard the saying never assume!! Not a landlord. Just live in the real world and probably a bit older and wiser than you. If you are reasonable with people, they are generally reasonable with you. Your landlord will probably have a mortgage to pay. Viewings are all part of the inconvenience of moving. I think you need to grow up and live in the real world!!

I would allow viewings but say you're now packing for your move and the state of the property will reflect that. They can hardly object.

@CocoFifi So how many open days would you suggest I do for them? When does it stop?

I’d just carry on with your lives, do your packing, stack your boxes, don’t tidy the toys away, don’t go out. It might actually put the landlord/agent off showing people round while it looks cluttered!

It stops when you move out. Everyone has to have viewings if they are letting or selling.

We were in a v similar situation a couple of months ago. You can absolutely push back. Similar to you, we got the house viewing ready on 2 separate Saturdays, but then the agents kept calling asking for further ad-hoc viewings. We then politely declined pointing out that we’d be in uproar packing and they’d now have to wait for us to move out. Like us, you’ve already been polite and accommodating - it’s ok to follow up now with asking them to wait. You are well within your rights to do this irrespective of what the tenancy might say - “quiet enjoyment” as a pp stated.

good luck with the move - it’s an all round horror!!

@CocoFifi Yes, everyone has to have viewings. And when they arrive and realise the house has been oversold, they won't rent it. So we are the collateral damage, having to have people traipse through our house which looks nothing like the pictures. (Pictures are what it looks like empty).

They've had three attempts to let it, no one wants it. We're moving out and they can rent it then. I can't believe you really think you'd be ok with having people trudging through your house every few days just so the landlord doesn't have to wait a week to let it when it's empty.