To ask how to make rental flat less likely to sell?

[RainingPasta]

My son and his girlfriend have been renting a nice flat for the past couple of years but the LL now wants to sell it. They haven’t officially been given notice yet so it looks like the agent will be conducting viewings while they still live there.

They will still keep it clean and tidy but they are wondering if there is anything else they could do to make it less appealing. I suggested removing all their homely touches like cushions, rugs and pictures so it looks cold and bare but I’m not sure if that is a good idea?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. They want to delay the sale and might even be able to buy it themselves if it goes down enough in price.

The best thing they can do is be sold as tenants in situ so they should just live in their rental property like normal people. Selling a property is one of the allowed reasons for eviction so they can make their own lives hard or they can accept these things happen.

The only thing that slows down a sale is the price and there is nothing they can do about that.

I think rental prices in my area have peaked though, and some more rentals are circulating than usual, I don't think it's the worst it's been.

The to buy market is definitely slow and prices dropping. This could be an opportunity for your son and girlfriend to get on the property ladder, get them to call some mortgage brokers, not move cushions, what a silly way to approach your life.

Sorry, please can you explain what would be behaving badly about removing cushions etc, although I accept that the consensus is that there is no point doing that?

I was referring to refusing viewings more than moving cushions, moving cushions is fiddling whilst Rome burns!

Do you really think that if it doesn’t sell quickly, the landlord will just abandon the idea, and carry on renting to them?

Oh no, you’re wrong, Labour are making things better for renters so that couldn’t possibly be true 😑

God forbid then they should learn any actual real life lessons such as, you can't always get what you want, life is tough, grow up and get on with it- preferably without Mum's skewed suggestions.

For goodness sake, I was asking for advice. The cushions was only my suggestion but it seems that people are more interested in jumping on that than actually trying to understand what I was asking.

I wonder why . . .

You are allowed to refuse viewings, it comes under quiet enjoyment.

And this is why so many people are selling up to avoid tenants like your DS. My tenants allowed viewings but they never cleaned and did nothing to the garden in two years. It took me serving notice 21 twice (I could do that at the time) before I could get them out. They have cost me thousands. I need to sell my house as I need the money. The tenants have made the whole process horrendous and I would never consider renting my house out again (and therefore depriving others of a home to rent).

I'm genuinely surprised you expected any different, to be honest.

When I was house hunting. The majority were rentals.

Some followed me around... Some looked annoyed, one family wouldn't move in the kitchen

I didn't see any I loved enough to make anyone homeless.... My dream house was ex rental but no one living in it

Yep, it is madness to make it so unappealing for LL that they sell up and reduce the number of rentals available even further so pushing up rental prices. What could possibly go wrong?

What a ridiculous post! This is the whole thing about renting - it’s a tenuous was of managing your housing arrangements! Trying to sabotage a sale is pretty despicable.

We once looked at a house that was full of students. There was mess everywhere and this man- looked a bit of a mature student randomly offered my 3 year old a sweet- now I think about it maybe they were being evicted 🤣. That was to rent as well though.
OP until last year I was a renter and bought my first house aged 45 so I get it but you can’t expect this to be ok. If he needs to sell he needs to sell. I would ask if he would sell it to them and I would encourage them not to allow viewings but he will end up evicting them. They need to ensure their deposit is in a protected scheme.

This strikes me as the start of play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I can’t see that this ends well

Ashtray on the coffee table and an open packet of fags and a lighter next to it.
Tins of cat food on the kitchen counter.
Spray the place liberally with air freshener before the viewing to 'mask' the smells.

It is other posters who suggested refusing viewings not me! If people actually read my posts I don’t think I have suggested anything despicable at all.
Ive taken on board the feedback that making the house look cold and bare wouldn’t deter buyers.
There is no need for rudeness about the situation where a young couple are losing their rental flat and will likely find it hard to find another one.

But the same could be said for the landlord.
They can’t always get what they want when they want it.

As young renters looking for our first house to buy (decades ago), we were successfully put off a property by the fact that there was an (enormous) unflushed poo in the loo 💩 On reflection, it would have been a great buy but we just couldn't move in from the poo and the tenants' apparent desperation to stay!

If they refuse viewings, the landlord will evict them so they can sell their property, and maybe give them a bad reference making it even more difficult to find a new place

Karma: facilitate the sales process and help the landlord and it will come good for them. Either buying this or renting something else.

They really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by putting in an offer now.

This makes no sense. They are a young couple trying to survive in a difficult rental market. I thought it was LL who were thought to be the devil incarnate on MN not renters who keep their home clean and tidy.