Unreasonable Landlords?

lemontree

My Partner rents out a house in the North West where rents are quite low.
His Tenant of 5 years moved out as they were buying a house.
Countrywide asked us to be at the house as a family were going to view.
They arrived with a Springer Spaniel (We had told Countrywide to exclude pets as a previous dog had caused considerable damage!)
The family with 3 well behaved children walked in and the dog promptly urinated all over the hall carpet ("because it was excited")
We had to clean up the mess as they did not offer.
As they left the Husband announced that they would take the house if we changed the dark blue stairs carpet to a neutral colour as they did not like it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although we agree that there are bad Landlords, there are many bad Tenants! (And bad Agents)

tbs624

So why exactly did you/your partner show them round the property if you did not want to let to pet owners?

nick_

lemontree wrote: »

Countrywide asked us to be at the house as a family were going to view.
They arrived with a Springer Spaniel (We had told Countrywide to exclude pets as a previous dog had caused considerable damage!)

TBS - Does that not answer your question? Countrywide aren't very good....at anything. I don't think it was the OP's fault.

CrazyAngel_3

Lol, you are not being unreasonable at all. I currently have a house up to let and have turned down

1. A single mum on benefits
2. A family with a dog

This is after I specifially asked for pets / benefits to be excluded. The agent showed them round, let them fall in love wih the place only for me to promptly say no! The agents wasted everyones time, but as I said to my agent I would rather have the place empty then have a tenant that I consider unsuitable. (Im very fussy, only after previously being too lenient and getting burnt).

lemontree

tbs We relied on Countrywide to follow our instructions and we did not know the family had a a dog until they arrived.
Too late to refuse a viewing when they had been invited by Countrywide!

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, I'd turned the bighters away at the door and let these prosepective tenants take it up with Countrywide for wasting their time. And then get on the phone and give them an earful for wasting yours.

Time to find a better letting-agent, I think. One who can listen to specific instructions and act upon them

sandsni

You're lucky at least that they brought the dog so you knew before things went any further. It would have been worse if they'd got to the move-in stage before they told you! But you're not being unreasonable, you made it clear to the agent from the start that you didn't want dogs so it's their problem if they didn't make it clear to potential tenants.

Also, the tenant could say "oh, it's only one (or two) family pets and they're very well trained", but once they've moved in the property becomes a dog-sitting service for all their friends and relatives because "it's ok, the LL said we could have dogs"...

lemontree

We are with Countrywide because the Local Agent retired and sold to them. We have found to our cost how poor they are!
They even rang our Tenant to point out they were in arrears when they had married and changed the name on the Direct Debit. This only took 10 days to change and they had never missed a payment before!
Even though they explained, Countrywide followed up with a letter!
Are there any penalties for leaving Countrywide?
Thanks.

dodger1

Before the viewing started I would have pointed out to the prospective tenants that pets were excluded.

Lovelyjoolz

I'm with B&T here - I wouldn't have let them in. Even without the dog, they sound obnoxious anyway. No great loss.

You need to check your contract with Countrywide regarding ending your contract with them. I suspect that, as the property is not currently let, you are not actually obliged to continue to work with them. My contract with my agent runs parallel with the current tenancy agreement (6 months) and is renewed only by mutal agreement at the end.

missile

sandsni wrote: »

You're lucky at least that they brought the dog so you knew before things went any further. It would have been worse if they'd got to the move-in stage before they told you! But you're not being unreasonable, you made it clear to the agent from the start that you didn't want dogs so it's their problem if they didn't make it clear to potential tenants.

Also, the tenant could say "oh, it's only one (or two) family pets and they're very well trained", but once they've moved in the property becomes a dog-sitting service for all their friends and relatives because "it's ok, the LL said we could have dogs"...

I agree, you had a very lucky escape. I know of a tenant who started up a business dog sitting business. :eek: The owner had to evict her.

I would not have let them view. I would certainly have showed them the door when their dog urinated. A waste of their time and yours. Maybe next time you will not be so accommodating? :A