Our landlord wants us to leave during the viewings

[olyaro]

Our landlord has put the flat up for sale and viewings are due to start soon. Yesterday we were told that we’re expected to leave the property during the viewings.

This would be quite difficult for us. I work from home in the mornings, and in the afternoons my child is back from nursery, so leaving the flat so regularly would be a big problem for me. This is in addition to getting the place ready for each viewing, which already takes quite a bit of time and effort. And to be honest, I’m also not comfortable with people coming into our home while we’re not there.

We’re happy to cooperate with viewings at reasonable times, but we’d prefer to stay in the flat while they take place. What do you think?

quite right too if they aren't declaring it - wasted effort if they are

So you are not suggesting threatening tenants now. Pleased to hear it. You should probably retract your previous post then.

The landlord needs to wait until you leave to start viewings.

I’m not sure why other posters are telling you that you are within your rights to refuse all viewings. This is simply not true, I am a landlord and in our contract (which is a standard contract that abides by the act) it states that “at all reasonable times the landlord may enter the property to make inspections, repairs and show perspective tenants or buyers around the property upon 24 hours notice”. Of course that means a time and day that suits you but you can’t continue to object as that is essentially breaking the contract.

You don’t have to leave the property at all, so he is wrong to tell you that you need to do this.

What a surprise - a landlord who doesn't know the law. You are just completely wrong. Your tenancy agreement does not and cannot specify access to the property unless for a genuine emergency. It's very, very settled case law. 'Quiet enjoyment' of the property means sovereign decision making over who enters the property and why, unless there is a risk to the structure or safety of the property which represents an immediate risk.

Your contract doesn't take precedence over legislation. Tenants are entitled to quiet enjoyment of their home. If there is a genuine emergency then landlords are entitled to gain entry, but not for anything else. If you wish to inspect the property it has to be a mutually agreed time. You can't just walk in, you can't insist tenants demand viewings of the property. Landlords have been prosecuted for not obeying the legislation.

I’m fully aware you can’t just walk in and rightly so and of course it has to be a mutually agreed time.

But the tenant can say no. They can give you a flat no to any viewings and you cannot insist. That's the bit you aren't getting.

My tenancy agreement DOES specify access to the property as I said in my previous most. The tenant has a right to refuse if it is an inconvenient time. It has to be mutually agreed upon in advance.

So in the instance of property checks, say every 6 or 12 months, your telling me that the tenant has that right to continuously refuse entry even though this is within the tenancy agreement that they signed and agreed to? What happens if the tenant is destroying the property, what then?

But that would be unreasonable refusal and technically a breach of contract, which the landlord would have the right to pursue on legal grounds.

Your tenancy agreement might include that but it's not enforceable
You can ask, but they can say no.
And yes, technically a tenant can refuse annual inspections. You as the landlord can serve notice under section 8 (assuming that's still allowed under the new renter's bill) but you may not be successful.
If tenants are trashing the property then you fix it after they leave.

You are missing the essential point which is that anything you as the landlord put in a tenancy agreement cannot be enforced if it contradicts tenancy law. Adding a clause about allowing viewings isn't enforceable because tenancy law says tenants don't have to allow viewings. So you could try taking them to court but you'd probably lose. Furthermore, under the new renters bill there is no 'last 28 days of tenancy' - only the notice period the tenants have given the landlord or the period after which a landlord has given notice to seek possession for a permissible reason - ie a breach has already happened. So what recourse do you think you as the landlord have here if they won't allow you to conduct viewings? Tell me what you think you can actually do?

statute law trumps contract law.
your comment is simply wrong.
look up "quiet enjoyment"

I think that poster might have looked it up already hence why she hasn't come back!

I hope you didn't pay anyone to help you draw that contract up or give you that advice. You should complain if so.

Your wrong, try reading up on the law, it over rules the nonsense you may put in your contract.

Oh my godfathers.

1. irrespective of contract, the LL cannot force you to let people go round. Your right as T to ‘quiet enjoyment’ trumps all contractual provisions.
2. Accordingly you hold all the cards here. You can state when you are prepared to have people round or when it suits you.
3. you do not need to keep the place in a perfect state.

All of the above applies whether you or the LL gave notice.

I myself will always do someone else a small
favour if it helps them a lot. It seems to me that that is the sensible way to proceed in life. If I were a tenant, I would probably let people come round during pre set timings (so I wasn’t constantly disrupted). If I had children or a baby, I would be especially sure to make timings work for me. I probably would want to be in so I could be sure my possessions were ok.

I say all of the above as a landlord (an excellent one, I hope).

I wanted to sell my rental house and asked the tenants if they would allow viewings, they agreed but they were very restrictive about times, for example setting a date for 3 weeks hence. This was unworkable.

Potential buyers were not prepared to wait that long and invariably bought another house.

I decided to give the tenants notice and take the house off the market until it was vacant. My tenants were understandably not happy.

I eventually sold to another landlord who then had the trouble of finding new tenants. It could have all been very different! Just saying!

Given that it's quite unusual to sell to another landlord then waiting until your tenants vacated was what you should have done in the first place. Nowadays it's ten times harder to find a landlord to sell to and a lot harder to remove tenants so your situation wouldn't be likely to arise.