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?

Wow this is an eye opener to me. We terminated our contract once we knew we were expecting twins and knew the house would be too small for all of us. The landlord turned very mean. We could have stayed there for 6 months more but he insisted on viewings straight away as this was the best time to get tenants and they wanted us out. We were made to feel like terrible people for not accommodating viewings from day one. This was the height of Covid and he knew I had miscarried multiple times and was stressed. They always knew they would get unlimited access 5-7 days later (can’t remember exactly) when we went to my home country for 3 weeks. Still pestered us for those few days.
I genuinely felt awful and was made to feel like (by him and the agency) we were being very unreasonable. He then later tried to reclaim the whole deposit but luckily got almost none of it (we got the help from neighbours and handyman that countered his arguments). Still very stressful all around and I’m embarrassed to admit how much I still dislike this man.

Well you can't do that legally now anyway - if you evict your tenant you can't relet it for a year. The law now recognises that it's wrong for landlords to mismanage people's homes the way you're proposing to, by evicting tenants who refuse to allow you to do something you don't have the right to do.
When you sell the house you pay back the service charge and council tax that you owe. That's totally normal and expected when this type of property is sold.

I think you should read the law of landlord and tenant, because quite frankly, I don't think you have and if you haven't, then you should not be a landlord. That's a pretty basic part of letting properties : knowing your responsibilities as a landlord.

A very ignorant response

This is good advice, particularly with the upcoming law changes.

it is your home
you have 100% control over timings and any conditions you wish to impose on the conduct of viewings.

do you "need" the landlord to remain cooperative? If not tell them to jog off.
consider changing the locks so they cannot sneak in (but retain the old lock and refit it before you finally vacate)

Exactly this

yes it obviously does

Legally, it makes no difference at all, as @RoseField1 said, and has also been said by multiple posters on this thread.

It wouldn't bother me at all. I really don't understand all these thing which renters seem to find so difficult to do

No, tenancy law supersedes any clause in a tenancy agreement which is unreasonable.

Are you a renter?

We're currently selling our house and due to being disabled, I can't go out unless my partner is home from work to take me out...so plenty of viewings have taken place when I'm at home. I just keep out their way as they move around!

It's the landlord who's doing that. Not the person paying the landlord their hard earned money.

Why? The landlord is acting unlawfully, and making her life difficult, why should she bend over backwards for him?

He's their landlord, not their priest or their venerable grandfather. They pay him rent. You like people with money and perceived authority, don't you?

Even if your contract says something about this @olyaro you do not have to, that would be an unenforceable term. You have the right to quiet enjoyment of your home. Your landlords rights are very limited and do not include any right to expect you to cooperate in any processes to do with the property being sold. Simply saying "no" is fine - no to viewings altogether (he can arrange viewings after he has evicted you) or just no to leaving during them because you have your life and schedules to deal with, if you are willing for them to happen. You certainly don't need to do any more tidying/cleaning than you normally do. If there's any level of cooperation that you'd be willing to offer, make sure you think through what a reasonable price tag would be to offer that which will leave you financially better off proportionately to the effort/inconvenience you might consider agreeing to. Your landlords is making many thousands of pounds out of this deal and it's reasonable for you to expect a slice if you do him any favour to facilitate it.

But you have suggested that you would be quite happy to be exploitative.
Your tenant sounds very difficult but that doesn't change the law or confer any obligations on OP. It's a shame you're in this difficult situation because it sounds like you really can't afford to own the property but that is not the tenant's fault. You can't admit to how much you need their money and then try to dismiss their rights in the same breath.

The landlords financial position (that none of us know) is irrelevant.
I'm talking about common basic respect for others. Helping out, supporting… just basics of humanity.

Not putting your tenant in a position where they have to worry about their possessions being nicked is common basic respect.

Partypants83; I presume there are different rules for different types of sheltered housing, but when my late Mum bought her flat it was stipulated that it had to be sold back to the housing association on her death or moving out. (BTW, it was hilarious when we took her to see a show flat; the woman taking us round kept saying " and if you move out"; never once mentioning that the occupant might die. Since the flats were for people over 65, this of course was what was running through eveyrone's minds.)

Her landlord is perfectly reasonably wanting to sell the property he/she owns.
yes OP is paying him to live in his/her property, and with a clause that allows visits/inspections and viewings. common respect is to be helpful and supportive of what they are doing.
OP knows she is moving and is also viewing properties so can surely appreciate the challenges of that from the other perspective to.
But hey, karma, she wants to be difficult and awkward for a good landlord, perhaps she will get a terrible landlord next time and she will deserve it but no doubt take zero responsibility. At least she will have something else to moan about on here. that’s obviously her hobby, it’s clearly not a team sport or a family activity is it.

It’s a property viewing!
if she is that concerned then cameras are cheap and easy to install.
how do you think anybody moves (rental or owned) with that attitude? How do you, or OP expect to view properties?

That’s been explained to you the last time that you asked it. If you own a property, it’s in your interest to be inconvenienced by the sale process, because you stand to make a profit/move to where you want to. If you rent, then you don’t have that interest.

yes OP is paying him to live in his/her property, and with a clause that allows visits/inspections and viewings. common respect is to be helpful and supportive of what they are doing

I don’t believe op has mentioned a clause about allowing viewings (as other posters have pointed out, it’s not enforceable even if it exists, but you are stating that it does exist without basis, I believe)

It’s OP’s home and workplace - the landlord is not giving her “common respect”

Properties can be viewed either with vacant possession or with the residents there when people come to see it, did you not know that?