Landlord wants to show around new tenants.

Gorgeous_George

I haven't seen anything in writing that suggests taht a tenant can refuse reasonable access to the LL's property.

I wish that, if people must reference 'rights' and 'law' that they would include an official source for the information.



GG

Phil_rich

Wow, got quite a few different responses. The main point I was asking about was the LL letting himself in when I am not there.

I have no problems showing the prospective tennants around but I do have a problem with being told it will be sometime after 12 o'clock. This just means I have to stay in until they turn up and waste my saturday or go out as normal and let them wander around my house without me being there. I know it is very unlikely anything would happen or anything would go missing but it is a concern that something might.

Also on the subject of deposits, as it was brought up. Is there an allowance for 'wear and tear' on the property and what would this cover? As far as I am concerned we have not done any damage or anything untoward to the property, but the LL did say I will review the property when you leave and expect it to be exactly as it was when you got it and as it was brand new then thats how it should all be now. She also said I would have to wait for 3 weeks after they recieved the keys before I got the deposit back, is this normal?

Thanks

Phil

Barcode

I think the LL has a 10% tax free allowance to cover wear and tear. It's only reasonable that there may be a few scratches etc. If I were you, I would take photos of absolutely everything. I don't know about the three weeks thing though.

Innys

I too have never witheld 100% of the deposit. I can say that with a clear conscience. They are many times when the tenants have damaged the proprty and I have deducted much less than I should have from the deposit.

I think most of the points have already been made. However, from a LL's perspective, if the relationship during the tenancy has proceeded well, they can expect to have reasonable access to the property for the purposes of finding other tenants.

If a tenant was deliberately obstructive in allowing such access, I think most landlords would consider withholding the deposit. While this is an extreme measure, why should the landlord have to suffer a period with no rent just because the tenant has got the hump? The mortgage stilll needs to be paid!

silvercar

Do tenants expect to view a property before moving in? Yes.

So obviously they need to allow prospective tenants to view a property they are moving out of.

barnaby-bear

silvercar wrote:

Do tenants expect to view a property before moving in? Yes.

So obviously they need to allow prospective tenants to view a property they are moving out of.

Tenants would reasonably expect a gap between tenancies for repairs and cleaning to occur and therefore viewings could be done then, the number of times cleaning /repairs haven't been done because LL wants back-to-back tenancies is annoying.

barnaby-bear

Innys wrote:

I too have never witheld 100% of the deposit. I can say that with a clear conscience. They are many times when the tenants have damaged the proprty and I have deducted much less than I should have from the deposit.

I think most of the points have already been made. However, from a LL's perspective, if the relationship during the tenancy has proceeded well, they can expect to have reasonable access to the property for the purposes of finding other tenants.

If a tenant was deliberately obstructive in allowing such access, I think most landlords would consider withholding the deposit. While this is an extreme measure, why should the landlord have to suffer a period with no rent just because the tenant has got the hump? The mortgage stilll needs to be paid!

It would be illegal to withold bond on such grounds.
Would my terms of reasonable access be agreeable, you sign for liability for theft/damage by anyone shown round, only 2 nights a week when I'm there and I want viewers to produce passport and address with bill on. Only then would I let potential nutters in my home.

amboy

silvercar wrote:

Do tenants expect to view a property before moving in? Yes.

So obviously they need to allow prospective tenants to view a property they are moving out of.

At last a post that is to the point and just seems so reasonable to expect the above.

As for the OP, he has stated that he does not mind showing the property to prospective tenants, (so please stop the dont let them in advice) The OP is quite right to expect a time for people to come and view after all it is not reasonable for him to have to tie up the whole day for someone coming round, indeed the potential tenant will also have a time slot to view as they are probably viewing more than one place, so i would just ask the LL that you really need a time slot of say 1 hour when they should view, if this cannot be adhered to then nicely tell them it is not a good time for you but will be happy to make an aletrnative time.

My guess is that the first time you do this the LL will ensure he does everything to make sure timings are accurate.

As for deposits -

I stipulate that 28 days is allowed for me to return deposits, thi sis also seen to be fair by my LA, however I do explain to my tenants that I aim to have deposits returned by 2 weeks.

The 10% allowance is for tax purposes, I think the relevant aspect is that you should both decide what state the said item was in before you moved in, try and get teh LL to have a look at the items before you move out, as they could say anything after you have gone, also taking pictures is adviseable.

HTH

jamesd

nej wrote:

It's fine saying the landlord should factor in the void between it going empty and being re-let. Should we also factor in the potential costs of non-paying tenants? If all these were factored in, the rent would increase dramatically. And then nobody would rent the place.

Yes, you should factor in the cost of voids and non-paying tenants. I suggest that you allow for the 3-5% cost of rent guarantee insurance, which is intended to protect you from these risks. Since a typical BTL mortgage will require a 30% excess of rent over mortgage you clearly have room for this level of cost. Or you can choose to self-insure, if you want to accept that risk yourself.

I don't consider 3-5% of rent to be a dramatic increase.

nej

Phil_rich wrote:

Wow, got quite a few different responses. The main point I was asking about was the LL letting himself in when I am not there.

I have no problems showing the prospective tennants around but I do have a problem with being told it will be sometime after 12 o'clock. This just means I have to stay in until they turn up and waste my saturday or go out as normal and let them wander around my house without me being there. I know it is very unlikely anything would happen or anything would go missing but it is a concern that something might.

Also on the subject of deposits, as it was brought up. Is there an allowance for 'wear and tear' on the property and what would this cover? As far as I am concerned we have not done any damage or anything untoward to the property, but the LL did say I will review the property when you leave and expect it to be exactly as it was when you got it and as it was brand new then thats how it should all be now. She also said I would have to wait for 3 weeks after they recieved the keys before I got the deposit back, is this normal?

Thanks

Phil

One point to remember is that it is not your property. Arranging viewing times is complicated, but it's not unreasonable to ask to do it when you aren't there. I've always asked tenants if they mind this, being fully prepared to go along with them if they said they do mind. To date, nobody has minded. I can see why you may be uncomfortable, though. I actually prefer to do it with the tenant there, not least because they can answer questions that I can't remember the answers too, and because a place looks a lot more "homely" when it's inhabited.

There certainly should be an allowance for wear and tear. If the place was brand new when you moved in, there's no way it can be brand new now, as it's a year old. Fine, if you've scratched the furniture to pieces and broken the sofa then that should be paid for. Normal wear and tear should be expected. I tend to do a quick review a week or so before they go to assess the general state of the property, and on the leaving date I'll sign off the inventory with them and get the keys back. The deposit would be returned within a couple of days. 3 weeks sounds a bit long to me.