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?

I Doubt anyone doing so is having their home sold out from under them.

The landlord owns the house but Op owns the tenancy, she's the only person who has a legal right to be there.

Are you a landlord? Of course it's their home!

Well… she’s only calling out a dickhead who has no clue about the law. @Tortephant

tenants do not EVER need to grant access to their home if they don’t want to.

IF @olyaro wanted to be kind, they could OFFER a day/slot per week where they could allow viewings

they can choose to stay, it’s their home.

if they wanted to be generous they could arrange to be elsewhere.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE everyone doubting this, with kindness, you’re wrong. Tenant has the cards on this. They don’t need to allow anyone in- with or without notice

Landlords need to work with their tenants on this and respect the privacy that the rent entitles them to.

that's literally not your home

Of course it is! The tenants will be the ones using language like "I'm just heading home now" or "can you pick up some milk on the way home?" about the place where they life. The landlord, who does not currently live there, will not.

It's not remotely weird. It's the norm.

I became an accidental landlord when my mum died, leaving a buy to let that had to be sold to cover her debts. I did my research and realised that it would be best to wait for the tenants to leave before marketing the place. I issued an S21, gave the tenants a couple of extensions, then after they left, got it cleared, cleaned and on the market.

It was very clear in the legislation that I couldn't ask the tenants to allow viewings.

I haven't read all the posts but let's screw the landlord because they are a bastard, yes?
Well, a bit of thought goes a long way.
I've been trying to sell my mums sheltered flat since she died 3 years ago. You can't keep it vacant and for sale for long because you have to pay service charges and council tax while it's vacant. In mums case, £700 p/month. Who on earth has that spare?
So you rent it and in the tenancy agreement, it says the tenant agrees to allow viewings for the last 3 months of the tenancy.
The tenant did allow viewings (painfully few) but either told the prospective buyer loudly there were mice (there aren't) or reclined as if dying, groaning, in the front room. The agents suggested she stepped outside for the viewing but no.
Job done, the tenant resumed their lives and the buyer retreated but fed back they didn't feel comfortable with buying from a dying person.
Sometimes in the future, this might seem amusing. Not now. I'm still left with my lovely mum's flat like a noose around my neck (she would be horrified with all this), tenants I don't want and a flat I can't sell.
Btw, I don't blame the tenant, she didn't want to lose her home but the fatuous anti landlord comments on here are infuriating. There are exploitative landlords and those who aren't.

It’s news that in all the years I was renting I was actually homeless. I’m glad that didn’t occur to me at the time, it would have been bloody depressing.

I wouldn't like my security to be put at risk by not being present whilst strangers were walking around all my belongings. What if something got stolen?

No. They can think again.

Yes they did. They were lovely tenants.

What do you mean their own house? They chose to let it out to tenants. Legal ownership expectations are set aside in many aspects when a tenancy agreement is in place. Presumably nobody put a gun to their head and forced them to take tenants' money in exchange for letting them live in the house...

No but it literally is. That's what the contract of landlord and tenant means. Nobody is forced to be a landlord...

Oh you are ridiculous 😆

You should evict your tenant and then market the flat. It's not that complicated. But you didn't want any vacant months right? You wanted to take the tenant's rent and market it at the same time. That's ALL on you.

She's not being unkind or weird!

I'm a landlord and I'll be selling my property later this year. I'll wait until my tenant has moved out of her home before I put it on the market. The costs of it being empty between her moving out and it being sold are my costs to bear as a landlord.

sorry I have not read all the posts but we have rented for years and had to leave last two rentals due to landlords wanting to sell.

key note - whatever the law says overrides whatever is in your lease. Ie if your lease says you have to allow viewings, the law which says you don’t have to allow viewings overides that.

decide what works for you re viewings and tell real estate agent - a good real estate agent knows and tells you your rights. I would say our cleaner comes X day, it’s best to do viewings 2-4pm after cleaner has been although we would consider other times in the afternoon / early evening. You work from home in the mornings so I would say no viewings while you are working.

our last landlord emailed us and told us we were not allowed to have packing boxes visible during the viewings he wanted - and he wanted us to move our early (but still pay him to our lease end date) so he could do building works.

don’t worry if your landlord will not provide a reference - our landlord said he would not provide a reference until we agreed to pay for building and cleaning works which were not related to our use (we had photos) before he put house on market and we refused. The real estate agent for our next place said it happens all the time and they just used a rent checker to access our bank accounts (with our permission) to check we had always paid on time.

if in doubt of your rights look at citizens advice bureau info

You’ve been given lots of solid advice already but just go say that the people saying you’re not obligated to allow viewings when it doesn’t suit are correct.

I’m an ex landlord, we sold up last year as we live to far away having moved to do the standard of job we wanted to. We sold it once it was empty.

The property is your home. You pay for it as your home. The landlord can only make demands of you in very specific circumstances and them wanting to have viewings “just so” is not one of them.

I am astounded by all the people saying that the owner is cheeky for wanting to sell his property. It is perfectly reasonable and the way some people are reacting is a prime reason why many no longer want to rent out properties.

You give notice and leave
If you can not be accomodating then move on.
It will be time to move soon enough.
I let people view my rental for sale once..gave me the best reference. How about being considerate.

How about landlords behaving according to the legislation? Is that too much to ask?

Bloody hell. Your landlord has got a cheek. You absolutely do not “have to” allow viewings at all, and the landlord should be on bended knee begging your permission in the first place.
Also, strangers in your home (and it is YOUR home) is nothing less than an intrusion.
Of course you should be there during viewings to make sure nothing is stolen, or touched when it should not be touched.
The agent should be encouraging your presence to avoid liability on this.
(Speak to Shelter to make yourself feel confident).
I hope the landlord is making an adjustment to the rent to compensate for the inconvenience caused?
Some landlords really are clueless.

The landlord wanting to sell the property is not the reason people think he's cheeky.

Who has said that? Are you able to quote all these posts?

Wow.
I’m a landlord and there is no way that I would intrude on my tenants like that if I was selling.
But if for some reason I absolutely needed to do this, I’d negotiate with the tenant offering to waive the rent for the duration of the viewings.
In the thirty years I have been renting out property I have never once been asked for a personal reference for a former tenant. Most landlords are interested in evidence of the rent being paid as per the contract. It’s all I’d be interested in.
It would be entirely immoral and likely illegal to penalise a tenant by threatening them with a bad reference for simply adhering to the terms of their letting agreement.

Absolutely right.
The expenses that are incurred can be offset against the profit from the sale of the flat.
If Ctax know the flat is on the market they are not going to take action anyway.