Can our landlord do this?

[Wednesday23]

A few days ago my landlord decided he was going to sell the house I'm renting. He's already put it up for sale and I had a phonecall from the estate agent saying that they already have a large amount of people ready to view it. So now I have to deal with strangers in and out of my house when I have an 18 month old. Our tenancy isn't up until February so is he still allowed to have people come view the house?

No OP you are able to refuse all viewings until you move out, it doesn't matter if it's in your tenancy agreement as it's un-enforceable, hopefully someone with more experience will come along and expand on that

I am pretty sure he can't. You dont have to let anyone into your home.
What does your contract say?

You have the right to refuse under the "Quiet Enjoyment" clause, you can say no until the end of your tenancy, but that is likely to cause more problems than it is worth. My advice would be to arrange to do viewings on specific points when you will be out, giving them a few windows, rather than letting them book in whenever they want.

I believe that you do not have to allow viewings. You have a right to enjoy your home in peace as you are paying rent. Do you need a reference from the landlord? Where will you go when you leave?

As above,can refuse till you have moved out,is he planning to sell with you the tenant 'in situ' or have you been given notice to vacate at end of tenancy?

We are in a similar position and have refused until we leave. Its enough stress trying to find somewhere to rent in a pandemic without having people traipsing through (and possibly passing Covid on).

No. Assuming you are in England. Just politely inform the agent that you are not allowing any viewings. They will tell you all kinds of crap/put pressure on/say your tenancy says you have to. But it’s all nonsense. This is your home and you have a legal right to simply refuse, nothing the tenancy says can overrule that.

Thank you. I currently don't have anywhere to go, the landlord will sell to whoever so no guarantee of us staying as tenants.

As others have said you have a right to peaceful/quiet enjoyment.

I think if you’ve had a generally good relationship with your landlord it’s a fair compromise to give them a few specific dates to book viewings in for but you’re not obligated to. You’re also not obliged to ‘dress’ the house for viewings. Tidy and generally clean will have to do.

If you wanted to be nice you could give them say one day and they can hold an open house and then at least its over and done with in one go.

Have you been issued with a section 21 yet? If not you have plenty of time to find somewhere.

You don't have to allow any viewings at all. As your contract isn't up until February he has to give you correct notice [ section 21 ] , which will be two months after your contract ends, which will be April.

Check out Shelter which give you all the information you need.

I would usually be reasonable about this but definitely NOT during a pandemic in the winter with a small child. Nope.

Invoke Covid - tell them you absolutely do not want people coming into the house while cases are soaring and they need to do virtual viewings. It will mean letting EA come in to film but that should be a one-off.

No you don’t have to allow it. Especially given the covid situation and a toddler.
You could suggest an open house on a day you are out if you want to be generous

I've been through this twice. First time DD was a baby, second she was a toddler. It's a pain and no, you don't have to allow it. The first time I tried to be helpful and gave days/times we were happy to allow viewings (times I knew I'd be out with baby). LL that time round was a complete arse and kept doing whatever she liked as she didn't understand her responsibilities or our rights. After a few random turn-ups, we said no more viewings until we'd moved out. EAs were on our side actually as the LL had been giving them the wrong information, saying we had agreed to all sorts that we hadn't and they weren't comfortable with that. EAs needed OUR permission to enter, not LLs.

Second time, LLs were much more reasonable and asked what we were happy with. They also gave us a tonne of notice and offered us first refusal. We didn't buy it but agreed any viewing times and the house was sold pretty quickly. We had plenty of time to arrange our next move.

If it's stressful or uncomfortable for you, just say no. And make sure you get all the notice you are due to sort yourself out.

Tell them that you won’t allow strangers into your home until the pandemic is over. They can’t force you and they aren’t legally entitled to make you (no matter what clntract says). As a gesture of goodwill I suggest you offer to provide them with a video of the inside of the house so they can do virtual viewings. I did this and took the video on my phone.

Unless it's sold at auction it'll likely take 4-6 months from agreeing a price to actual sale. But I'd say, unless it's rent regulated or particularly special to you for any reason, just allow viewings when convenient to you ONLY, say they can have block viewings eg on a satyr day between 1 and 4 when you're out and Thursday between 4 and 6, so they have evening and weekend. And look for somewhere else to live. Try to go to council or social housing, if only for the permanency aspect.

I'm a landlord and seldom ask tenants to leave, I consider it their home. But not all landlords do. They have their reasons.

Oh, sorry. If like a poster above, your LL tries to gain entry at any time, leave your key in the lock when you're home. My LL did this to me once.

Also aerate your home by leaving windows open. I let my LL have workmen over to do something that did not benefit us. They promised they'd all wear, masks. I came back to find none for f them doing so. Week later while family had covid. This meant we couldn't stick to our move date. LL said they didn't care about reasons but pay them for the extra days. Horrible money grabbing people. Yuk.

@Thirtytimesround

The pandemic could go on for years so that isn’t helpful as then tenancy is up in feb.

They aren’t able to view without your permission so you can either tell the LL no viewing until you’ve moved out when the tendency ends or give them a few days to do open days so over and done with quickly.