URGENT: Does a tenant have to allow a survey?

[Pricklypear12]

I'm a tenant and my LL has sold the house. She had 20-25 viewings over a period of about 6 weeks which I agreed to and facilitated. I even helped the EA take photos for Rightmove etc.

She only told us she was selling the house straight after we had signed a contract for another 6 months at the property (ends 1st Sep). At the time we asked if we could leave the contract early if we find elsewhere to live and the answer was a "yes but I might change my mind". If she hadn't sold the house we would've stayed long term. We always got on fine with LL and paid on time and keep property clean and tidy etc.

Fast forward to now and LL is refusing to let us leave the contract early and insists on us paying full rent until the very end. I'm obviously annoyed by this as I've essentially facilitated her house sale and now I'm effectively being forced to stay or pay 2 lots of rent. I appreciate that we signed a contract so not much we can do.

Now her buyers are wanting to do a survey on the property. Am I allowed to say no? I've put up with so many viewings and I'm fed up by the LL unreasonable behaviour and wish to be left alone for the last couple of months of my tenancy. My contract states I must allow viewings in the last 2 months of my tenancy (that starts 1st July - 1st Sep) but doesn't mention surveys. I've been going around in circles trying to get legal advice about this. Please help!

I've attached a screenshot of the part of the contract that states I have to allow viewings in the last 2 months of tenancy.

Sorry just realised how bad quality that image is. Attached again, hopefully legible

Someone more knowledgeable will come along but as far as I am aware, you don’t have to allow access for anything at all except emergency repairs. Those contract terms are not in line with the law which gives you quiet enjoyment of the property, the landlord cannot supersede actual law by adding their own terms.

'... acting on behalf of prospective purchaser...' unfortunately I think you have to let them in. Sorry 😞

I understood that clauses forcing you to allow viewings aren’t enforceable, and I would imagine that a survey is the same.

If the LL isn’t prepared to compromise then I wouldn’t either. They are being greedy by wanting you in situ throughout the sale so that they keep their income, and I’m afraid that I am petty enough to put the boot in and say no to any visits at all on the basis that I’m entitled to quiet enjoyment of the home.

Of course if they want to compromise on letting you leave early…

I can understand how you feel. Your landlord is not being professional. At this stage though, what will you gain by not allowing the survey? You would make life difficult not just for the landlord, but also the buyers. Plus, if you don't allow the survey, LL may prove obstructive when it comes to returning your deposit.

It's not satisfactory, but it may be a case of picking your battles.

It's my understanding that regardless of what a contract might say, legally you don't have to grant access for anything other than emergencies.

If your deposit is protected they can't get awkward over that because you refused non emergency access.

If they're not going to be reasonable then why should you?

@FlowerArranger this is what I've been thinking about too. Given the sheer greed, I'm already worried about the deposit regardless of this survey issue. I think she will try to claim what she can despite her having already sold. I've already voiced these concerns to the lettings agent

@WrongWayApricot that's what I was thinking too but I've not found a clear answer yet. I did allow all viewings that came through

Shelter have a webchat on their website for help and advice. Why don’t you see what they say?

@Pricklypear12
Photograph and video each room, floor to ceiling before you leave. the Front of the property and the rear too. Make sure you try and capture everything if you can, that way there can be no come back if the LL does try and dispute anything. Deposits are held separately not so i would doubt the LL would be successful in claiming anything, providing you havent damaged or broken anything in the property.

Others are right though you dont have to let people in other than in an emergency. If the LL said you could leave early and now says you cant, i would decline access. It will hold the sale up and be down to the LL to come back to you with a compromise. I can be a little spiteful so perhaps thats just me but if the LL is being a dick, be a dick back to the LL. They have far more to lose than you do!

That clause about needing to allow access is unenforceable.

I would view this as a simple barter - "I will allow access for the surveyor if you allow me to leave the tenancy agreement early".

And get it in writing.

When does your new tenancy start? How soon can you move?

PP's are correct that your statutory right to quiet enjoyment overrides the terms of the contract as law takes precedence over contractual terms. The landlord can't force you to allow access. On the other hand, you have signed a contract so I'm not sure if she could sue you for breach of contract and any financial losses resulting from that if the buyers pull out or the sale is delayed etc. Do you have legal cover with you house contents insurance? If not, you can join the Which? legal advice service for not much more than a tenner.

How can the LL sue for a breach of an unenforceable item in the contract? Contracts do not, and cannot, override legal rights.

Personally, I'd tell the LL to do one.

There have been a few threads lately where Landlords try to rely on a tenants possible lack of knowledge and push for surveys etc when the tenant has every right to deny access. Pulling the 'you're so mean even though I'm shitting on you'

And I'd also change the locks, keeping the old one to re-instate when you are leaving, so they can't sneak in whilst your'e out

Your landlord is a cow. Legally you don’t have to allow the survey, and you’re actually in a strong position—you can force them to evict at end of tenancy and crash their sale. So it’s either they allow you to leave now or you leave when is convenient for you, which may or may not align with dates that work for them.

I would email the landlord and tell them that you are happy to leave your contract early to facilitate their sale, please can they confirm that they are happy to allow this. Otherwise you will be enjoying use of your property, and upon the expiry of your lease will move out as and when is convenient to you.

That’s great that you have a lettings agent—call them and make them very very aware of the fact you know your rights. Either the landlord follows through on letting you move within minimum fuss, or the sale will be delayed

You don't have to allow the survey, and under the circumstances I wouldn't. She is going to try and claim your deposit anyway.

If she is using a LA ignore the owner completely and go through them. I rent a property out, and honestly you have more control that her. If the LA come back to you offering to release you from the contact if you allow they survey then get it all in writing.

It's a common misunderstanding that whatever is written in a tenancy agreement is the same thing as what the law states. It's not. If your LL wrote that you'll run naked around your house every Tuesday into your contract, would you comply?

The law provides for you to have quiet enjoyment of your property while a tenancy agreement is in place. The law does not state that you must allow access in the last two months of your tenancy to help your LL sell their property.

We’ve given notice, and you have been far more flexible to the landlord than we have with regards to viewings, I’m only allowing 1 hour a week.

I think you can blame coronavirus and keeping people to a minimal within your home. Just tell the letting agent it’s not on and flexibility goes both ways....

Your tenancy agreement should reference the legislation on which it is based, so you can always check that legislation on gov.uk

You have all the cards here. You don’t have to leave at the end of your term presuming that you haven’t already given notice. At the moment your landlord would have to give you four months notice to leave and that only gives them the right to apply to a court to end your tenancy. So you could stay put, refuse access until a court tells you otherwise and there wouldn’t be a lot the landlord could do about it.

I would suggest a conversation where you point this out to the landlord and let them realise that you could royally fuck with their sale (by doing no more than asserting your rights) if they are insistent on refusing an early surrender at no cost to you.

Thank you for all of your replies. I also put this is in Legal which has a fair few responses if anyone is interested. Just to clarify, the lettings agent haven't been hassling me. The LL has chosen a different agent to sell the house with. It's them that have contacted me and given a survey company my contact details without my permission. The lettings agent are fine and have pretty much been on my side throughout

I also stopped having any contact with the LL after she became rude and unreasonable and now only will have communication via lettings agent but they're not the ones arranging surveys or passing my details around iyswim

I’d threaten to report the selling estate agent for a GDPR breach they can’t give your phone number out without your permission. I’d still be saying no to the survey.

Hi all,

All updates are here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_matters/4283576-URGENT-Does-a-tenant-have-to-allow-a-survey?watched=1&msgid=109133082#109133082