A question to all you tenants

princeofpounds

Point 1- it is the law.

Point 2- it is the business agreement. If a tenant is paying for a tenancy, they are paying for all the rights and obligations of the tenancy and that is the deal. If you owned a car on lease you wouldn't be happy if the dealer 'just popped over to use it for a quick runaround'

Point 3- the 'hysterical' responses here are almost universally in cases where te landlord or agent have failed to respect the points above. This can be annoying and even threatening. Very few tenants will be unreasonable if they are made aware of the desire for viewings in advance and consideration is made of their convenience.

The reason for the letters and lock changes is because there is no legal penalty for landlords breaching these obligations unless they cause damage. So these are the only routes tenants have to ensure their own security and peace of mind.

Seriously, if you have spent a significant amount of time renting you will realise how common disrespectful amateur landlords are.

If you put yourself in the shoes of a tenant for just one moment and consider the points above what is there not to get?

Point 3-

Milliewilly

No answer to anyone who's accepted a tenancy on a house thats already up for sale.

I see 'Sequence' has a very firm view that it becomes 'their house' if they are renting it.

An Estate Agent has advised that it would mean a £200 reduction in rent if the property is up for sale whilst rented compared to what it would rent for if not on the market. If I was a tenant I would accomodate the fact I was getting a property for £200 a month less because I may be occasionally disturnebd by someone wanting to view and have to keep the place tidy. Obviously the majority here don't share that view

I think I would rather leave it empty.

princessamy86

Milliewilly I would probably advertise it as a short term let, I bet there's plenty of people around who are looking for a short term let so they can break their chain, for example. We've a lot of vendors who would be perfectly willing to go into rented for 2/3 months, maybe a bit longer, just so they could speed up the sale of their own property and then be able to enter a new purchase chain free. With that avenue you also have a possible advantage in that they understand the need for you to sell and may be more amenable to viewings/keeping the place tidy.

Hopejack

Milly - they have no onus on them to keep the place tidy! They can keep it how they want (live in squalor) as long as it doesn't affect the house itself.

Leave it empty if you must and can afford.... just watch out for your home insurance....

Jowo_2

Millywilly,

A landlord is obliged to give notice AND gain the consent for any visit by themselves or their representatives because a tenant is entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property for their own exclusive use.

A tenant is obliged to permit access for repairs, etc, but realistically there isn't anyway to make them cooperate as a landlord cannot only over-ride this in the event of an emergency (and to be honest, an emergency would really require the attendence of the 3 main emergency services, gas or water emergency engineers).

Tenants find it disturbing to have people accessing their home and if they are served notice so the landlord can sell it and have all the usual expense and upheaval of moving, human natures says the majority will resent it.

Human nature (the law of self-interest) also means that many people wouldn't haven't a problem viewing a property for sale or for rent that currently has tenants in it but would not enjoy it if they were tenants in a property subject to viewings...

RobertoMoir

Milliewilly wrote: »

No answer to anyone who's accepted a tenancy on a house thats already up for sale.

Doesn't change their rights. You'd hopefully end up with a tenant who appreciated what was going on and was prepared to work with you, but it doesn't give you any extra rights to show people around the place.

FATBALLZ

You can't have it both ways, you either rent it out and leave the tenants be (it is their HOME), or you leave it empty, don't collect an income from the property but have access to it as and when you want.

This is the problem, many many landlords are greedy control freaks, which to be honest is one of the traits that is required to have an interest in being a landlord in the first place.

abaxas

Being self employed and renting...

I view the tenant/landlord position as a business deal. Ie hold my part of the deal, and I enforce theirs. I would hope the LL does the same.

In terms of notice, I've yet to find a LL who understand how it works, which is always to the tenants advantage. Often I've had to assist them so they deal out notice in a correct manner.

Ie most LLs are stupid as they dont understand the way the system works. Same can be said for tenants.

Milliewilly

FATBALLZ wrote: »

You can't have it both ways, you either rent it out and leave the tenants be (it is their HOME), or you leave it empty, don't collect an income from the property but have access to it as and when you want.

This is the problem, many many landlords are greedy control freaks, which to be honest is one of the traits that is required to have an interest in being a landlord in the first place.

I am talking about a tenant accepting a tenancy on a property already up for sale and it would be a condition of the reduced rent the tenant would enjoy compared to market rent that people will be viewing. I am not a 'greedy landlord' and would rather sell but leaving a property empty also has its problems.

BitterAndTwisted

Milliewilly wrote: »

No answer to anyone who's accepted a tenancy on a house thats already up for sale.

I see 'Sequence' has a very firm view that it becomes 'their house' if they are renting it. No, not "their house" but their HOME. Subtle difference.

An Estate Agent has advised that it would mean a £200 reduction in rent if the property is up for sale whilst rented compared to what it would rent for if not on the market. If I was a tenant I would accomodate the fact I was getting a property for £200 a month less because I may be occasionally disturnebd by someone wanting to view and have to keep the place tidy. Obviously the majority here don't share that view A £200 a month reduction in rent seems entirely reasonable to me BUT that would not ever mean immediate access as and when the landlord felt like popping round. I don't believe that anyone has actually addressed this question mainly because you didn't ask it. Well, not in that way, at least.

I think I would rather leave it empty.

You can do as you wish, obviously.

I believe that a lot of difficulty arises because some people do not understand the distinction between "implicit" and "explicit". You appear to believe that renting a property which is on the market to sell implies that the tenants should expect to make the property available for viewings but it does not.