Why do agents block viewings?

[littlemonkeyface]

A few months ago we saw a property we liked on rightmove which we wanted to view alongside some other properties with the same agent, but were told it was difficult to arrange a viewing as the house is tenanted.

None of the properties we viewed were suitable so we asked again whether we could view the tenanted house, but were told again that it would be difficult because of the tenants. We said that we would try to accommodate a viewing time set by the tenants, but never heard back despite chasing numerous times.

Something similar happened to another property we wanted to view (different agent), despite us not being in a chain and having secured finance at the level required to buy the properties in question. Both properties are still for sale on rightmove more than a couple of weeks later.

Any idea why? We are just baffled as we thought an agent's job is to sell property, not discourage proceedable buyers from viewing?!

It will be because they have someone interested in it who is selling their current house through them. So they get double the commission.

It will be because the tenants don't have any legal obligation to accommodate these viewings (despite what a landlord puts into a contract, no one can force their way into your home if you refuse permission unless it is a very serious emergency repair like a gas leak).

They are basically waiting til the tenants are out because they don't want to make the effort of scheduling appts, etc. Most buyers also won't proceed in the sale until the property is vacant.

If the tenants won't allow viewings (as is their right) there isn't much they can do.

A lot of tenants are difficult when it comes to allowing viewings on their home. It's of no benefit to them, just hassle.

Thanks, I thought it may be the tenants being difficult, but I do wonder why the properties are then advertised in the first place

And MyOtherName I also wondered whether the agent had already decided to sell the property to someone else (at least in the second case). Would you just give up or try to persue it further?

It is nothing about the tenants being difficult - they have a legal right to quiet enjoyment of what is their home. The LL takes a risk marketing it while tenants are in.

Exactly right bryony. Tenants who have given notice are perhaps more likely to accommodate viewings. They absolutely do not have to though.

Why don't you ring the branch and ask for the manager and ask directly why you haven't been able to arrange a viewing?

If you suspect they are deliberately blocking you for some reason, then confront them with that.

bryonyelf wowfudge We were actually led to believe that the tenants of the first property wanted to stay and we actually told the agent that this would suit us well (provided that they are 'good' tenants) as we currently live abroad and do not plan to return for another few years (if at all). Would have thought that it would be in the tenants interest for someone like us to buy it.

Well I've had this in a house that was actually empty. The estate agents wouldn't let us view because, they said, there had already been sufficient interest. The house sold for less than we would have been prepared to offer.

Another time (during the same moving process), an arranged second look at a property was cancelled by the estate agents because the vendors had accepted an offer. At the time, we were are cash buyers and would have be prepared to pay the full asking price and we informed the estate agents of both of these facts. They (the estate agents) weren't interested, although 3-4 months later they rang to ask if we were still interested as the purchase had fallen through.

On the whole, I'm not very impressed with estate agents. In my experience, they are a lazy lot who do the bare minimum in return for a lot of money.

I don't understand this mentality - if an agent wouldn't allow me to view, I'd take his name down, ask to speak to the branch manager and let them know I would be getting the owner's details from the land registry and letting them know the agents are not fulfilling their contract, making it void. Then I would point out that would leave me open to negotiate a sale directly with the owner.

If I was the owner of a property and the estate agent hadn't told me about people that were genuine buyers with good intentions because they felt they'd already done enough viewings to their mates who wanted a bargain then I would be furious and make a complaint to their professional body.

I'd be tempted to drop a note into the house and see if it was possible to speak to the tenants to elicit the landlord's details and get a message back to them (or if it was a property that the owners lived in and were selling to get to them directly) so they could see that their estate agents weren't interested in getting them the best price.

I wish I had done this - i.e. contacted the owners to let them know what the estate agent was up to.

OP, I suggest you either drop a note through the door addressed to the owners - or ask to speak to the branch manager and tell him/her you will be contacting the owners directly if you don't get a satisfactory explanation as to why they are making it so difficult for you to view a property.

we currently live abroad and do not plan to return for another few years

Could that be the problem? Would it make the sale more complicated?

There's a big scandal in my region about this at the moment. An agent give preferential treatment to people who use their mortgage services (for a hefty fee), and refuse offers or lie about the amount offered to stop them being accepted by the vendor. There are lots of cases of houses being sold for less because the person offering a lower amount was using the mortgage service and the higher bidder was a cash buyer or was refusing to pay fees for something they could do themselves.

I have to say when we tried to sell our old house our estate agents were horrendous. We actually had people knock on our door who had been trying to get a viewing bur the estate agents were just fobbing them off.

We sold privately in the end

to repeat; the tenants do not have to allow viewings. If they say no, that's it - no viewings. Nothing the agent can do.

the landlord really needs to give notice and remarket the place when the tenants have gone.

Why did you feel the need to repeat that specialsubject?

because some people are saying that there are ways round it. There aren't.

We've also been in a similar situation - saw a crumbling wreck project house that was up for auction advertised online in 2011 but we were yet to find a buyer for our own house. The day after the house failed to sell at auction we accepted an offer on ours - shortish chain and no borrowing required on our part - so we contacted the EA to arrange a viewing. They said no, they weren't accepting any viewings as someone who was interested at the auction but failed to bid was considering offering.....

We walked away and found another project house that we completed on six weeks later. I discovered when browsing RM sold listings that the auction house sold for considerably less than we'd have paid and the sale didn't go through till two months after our sale/purchase completed.

I was gutted.

Regarding the tenanted house, a few years back we bought a house that had been converted to several flats in the 1960s. It had four tenants spread across the various flats, two of whom refused to leave when served notice. We did manage to view the house, but the guy in the ground floor flat refused us and his landlord entry (it was a private sale). Despite this we went ahead with the purchase - we'd previously viewed next door which was identical - but the process dragged on for months whilst the vendor had the two tenants evicted. Ultimately the hassle was worth it as it was an amazing house - or at least it was once we'd cleared the shit (literally) the tenants left behind reconfigured it - but when you've got tenants that don't want to leave the process that ensues isn't for the faint hearted.

special is right of course, it must be very annoying have your privacy invaded every three or four days for half an hour at a time for something that's of no benefit to you and could possibly result in you losing your home.

But if the agents know they can't take viewings on a place they should remove it from sale. There is no excuse for leaving it there and then refusing to take bookings on it.

I am sick to the back teeth of phoning up about properties that are advertised for sale only to find that they have been under offer for months and the agent just refuses to amend the 'available' status on rightmove to 'sold' or 'under offer.'

They do it because when they have low stock it makes it look like they have more for sale than they really do. It keeps the phone ringing so they can get your details and try to persuade you to view something else on their books instead. It pisses me right off as in recent months it has wasted so much of my time.

In the OP's case it could also be that the EA has a personal interest in the property or a friend of his does and he is trying to keep other viewers away until the vendor caves on a low offer already made.

No axe to grind for auctions, but try that route, either for selling or buying, online or Traditional. Estate agents are a slowly dying breed. They are not greatly qualified people, lazy and greedy, and often work against their vendor clients (?).

Tenants not giving access for viewings is common.
They will market them anyway as if the yield is good and the tenants otherwise are good portfolio landlords will and so buy unseen.
If the tenants are leaving they can build a pipeline of slightly artificially bottlenecked interest when they can get in.

@Freya647

No axe to grind for auctions, but try that route, either for selling or buying, online or Traditional. Estate agents are a slowly dying breed. They are not greatly qualified people, lazy and greedy, and often work against their vendor clients (?).

It was 6 years ago I doubt that they are stilll searching for a property.

Someone once told me this can sometimes happen with houses that are good for flipping... some not moral estate agents may have connections to developers, they can sell at lower offer (after telling the sellers there wasn't much interest( and then sell the house again later when it has been redeveloped - making 2 commisions. Who knows of its true!?