Letting agent doing viewings without warning us, can i refuse?

missglitter

I was woken up at 8:30am on my day off (work weekends) by the LA wanting to show someone around the day after I had given notice. She apologised when she realised I was still in bed and I informed her that I had told the main LA that I would be home in the mornings so can they call before showing someone around. Next day I go to work and work late, coming home at around 9pm. What do I find but all my lights are on, curtains not drawn, and all and sundry can see whats in my living room including my laptop. The letting agent had just let herself in, turned all the lights on and forgot to turn them off. I was furious and after that they did ring before showing someone around, luckily they let it a few days after

tbs624

As has already been suggested , change the lock barrel, keeping the original to reinstate when you go. Write to the LA, copy to LL, and tell them that you do not consent to the LA letting themselves in to the property. If you are needing a reference from your LL you may want to consider a compromise: offer them a couple of specific slots within each remaing week, say, Weds eves between 6 and 8pm and saturday afternoons between 2 and 4pm. Tell them that they must confirm in advance who will be coming and at what time. If LA continues to "misbehave" tell them all viewings stop.

VfM4meplse

nixxjsteve wrote: »

put a bit of tape or something over the door when you all leave and when you get back you can double check that nobody has been in

Unfortunately this will not prevent access.

LAs are notoriously unprofessional I'm afraid, but do not discount pressure from the LL - I would be interested to see if they understand yor perspective. Their thinking will be that it doesn't matter to you whether the flat is subsequently let or not, but they won't want to lose money on the let. Your privacy / pride in your living arrangements will not be uppermost in their minds.

Good luck with the move!

poppysarah

Setting an alarm or changing the lock might also indicate to the potential future tenant that here is a LA that does not respect tenants rights.

Perhaps a note on the outside of the door at times not agreed?
"To LA:
No permission given for viewings outside of agreed times.
Please respect my rights in law"

niceday999

I would check your contract....mine says I must allow viewings the last month of my contract.....but ideally a time should be agreed ny both landlord and existing tenant.

jjlandlord

niceday999 wrote: »

I would check your contract....mine says I must allow viewings the last month of my contract.....but ideally a time should be agreed ny both landlord and existing tenant.

This does not mean that agent can come in unannounced or despite tenant's refusal.
Even if contract states that tenant's should allow viewing, tenant can still only agree to viewings with reasonable notice and on given time slots.

Contract can only be enforced by a court injunction. As long as tenant acts reasonably (requiring notice and agreeing to visit only 1-2 days a week is reasonable) all is fine.

Oliver_Green

nubsj wrote: »

i am FURUIOUS. we gave notice on our rented house a week or so ago. The letting agent phoned one morning wanting to do viewings that afternoon, we said that was fine and hared around making the place neat and tidy.

we have just realised that for a second time since then the letting agent has been in and done a viewing without giving us any prior warning at all.

we are both at work today, yesterday we had a second birthday party with 20 small children and the house is far from how i would want it to look when people are being shown around. and what's more we have a very timid dog, who if we had known that the LA was doing a viewing we would have made sure was not there at the time

what can we do? i've had a bit of a go at the letting agent, but they are so flakey they just doen't seem to care.

can we refuse further viewings? it's a bit tit for tatt and i don't want to disadvantage our Landlord who has been very good about fixing things and so on

i'm just so cross:(

Hi Nubsj

I can understand that you are cross.

The tenancy agreement is where you will find your answer.

There will be a clause in your agreement which deals with notice for visits. Have a look at that. If your letting agent is managing the property then you should ask them if they are breaching the terms of the tenancy.

If the answer is yes, then you should ask them nicely to sort it out and if they don’t help then raise a complaint with them and if this does not work tell them you will report the matter to the Ombudsman!

Hopefully it won’t come to that as most letting agents will do the job they are contracted to do.

Contacting the ombudsman, should only be a last resort.

Hope this helps, Oliver

Grimbal

Oliver_Green wrote: »

The tenancy agreement is where you will find your answer.

ask them if they are breaching the terms of the tenancy.

If the answer is yes, then you should ask them nicely to sort it out and if they don’t help then raise a complaint with them and if this does not work tell them you will report the matter to the Ombudsman!

Hopefully it won’t come to that as most letting agents will do the job they are contracted to do.

Contacting the ombudsman, should only be a last resort.

Hope this helps, Oliver

really? I would disagree that the contract is the place for the definitive answer

somethingcorporate

Which Ombudsman is that?

Cheapest and quickest (and most effective) is change the barrel in the lock as has been suggested above.

It's your house to enjoy as you wish. I am a LL and would be appalled if the LA treated my existing tennants with such contempt, even if they had given notice.

BitterAndTwisted

Oliver_Green wrote: »

Hi Nubsj

I can understand that you are cross.

The tenancy agreement is where you will find your answer.

There will be a clause in your agreement which deals with notice for visits. Have a look at that. If your letting agent is managing the property then you should ask them if they are breaching the terms of the tenancy.

If the answer is yes, then you should ask them nicely to sort it out and if they don’t help then raise a complaint with them and if this does not work tell them you will report the matter to the Ombudsman!

Hopefully it won’t come to that as most letting agents will do the job they are contracted to do.

Contacting the ombudsman, should only be a last resort.

Hope this helps, Oliver

This is utter twaddle!