Notice given letting agent wants to come and inspect

On_Stanley_on

Morning all,

Just a quick one, I have given my notice on the rented property I am in and the letting agent said that they have to come round within 48 hours of the notice being received to inspect the property. I find this very strange has anyone else had this happen?

Normally I wouldn't bother but as I am spending most of my time in the house I have bought decorating, the rented house is a bit of a mess. I feel that 48 hours isn't really sufficient notice to come and inspect what is my house.

thanks

OSO

PasturesNew

Ask them what purpose it serves - I'd explain that "I'm in the middle of packing .... and there's loads of boxes everywhere .... and I'm buying things for my new house .... so it's all a bit of a mess at the moment, so not really convenient for me"

There's no "legal reason" they can have for insisting. Maybe it's some daft service they offer to landlords so they can do a "quick assessment" of whether the place will need a revamp after you go, or is pretty much 'good to go'. Either way - it's not to your benefit.

On_Stanley_on

PasturesNew wrote: »

Ask them what purpose it serves - I'd explain that "I'm in the middle of packing .... and there's loads of boxes everywhere .... and I'm buying things for my new house .... so it's all a bit of a mess at the moment, so not really convenient for me"

There's no "legal reason" they can have for insisting. Maybe it's some daft service they offer to landlords so they can do a "quick assessment" of whether the place will need a revamp after you go, or is pretty much 'good to go'. Either way - it's not to your benefit.

Packing!! I haven't even started that yet. THe house needs knocking down and rebuilding before its re let. Its more a case of general untidiness, I'm hoping that they will finally see that the issues I have reported need looking at as most have just been ignored but 48 hours is daft!

dotdash79

They can come round and look but they can't make you do anything as only at the end of the letting do you have to return the property in the state you obtained it.

You could have turned it into a roller disco with laser quest upstairs nd they can't do anything about it.

jjlandlord

PasturesNew wrote: »

There's no "legal reason" they can have for insisting.

On the contrary, it is their right to access the property for inspection.
Unless it is exercised unreasonably (which it does not seem here) the tenant has no legal reason or right to refuse.

PasturesNew

jjlandlord wrote: »

On the contrary, it is their right to access the property for inspection.
Unless it is exercised unreasonably (which it does not seem here) the tenant has no legal reason or right to refuse.

It's the reasonableness of the request that's a bugg4h here though. They don't NEED to make an inspection, the tenant's leaving. It'd be inconvenient. By the time you've handed your notice in, you've already mentally started moving - and pulling things out of cupboards, piling up stuff for the tip, leaving things out in piles that need to be packed together etc.

There's no emergency ... there's no need. They can wait until the tenant's vacated and had a chance to put it back to how they desire to leave it.

Vampgirl

I've never heard of an agent doing this before, but actually I would welcome the inspection - you can try to get an idea from them what their expectations are - and whether they are realistic ;-)

We will be giving our notice soon and have already told the agency our plans - we'd really appreciate them coming round to have a look to decide what maintenance they'll be doing as it might save us a job. For example, our place is in need of general decoration (we've been here over 5 years and it wasn't freshly decorated when we moved in) - we were planning on painting those rooms where the scuffs are slightly more than wear and tear, but if they are going to be decorating anyway then we'll probably not need to do this.

It does depend on your relationship with the agency/LL though (ours are both fab).

jjlandlord

It is reasonable to inspect once in a while.
It is not reasonable to inspect daily or in the middle of the night.

They want to inspect, they have the right to and the tenant has to let them.

mrginge

48 hours seems entirely reasonable to me.
If you can't make it then suggest an alternative.
Given you are now starting the process of handing the house back to them, why would they not want to do an inspection to ascertain any possible rectification required before re-letting?

I fully expect someone will be on to tell you to change the locks in a while....
You should however consider that the release of your deposit forms part of their exit procedures, so if you delay them unnecessarily at the start of this process, don't complain if you are hanging round waiting for your deposit to come back.

theartfullodger

Simply ask what it is they are inspecting for..

If the place is a mess, so be it - it's the state & condition of the place when you hand it back that matters, not an untidy mess part way through a tenancy: If you want to keep coal in the bath, since piled high with mouldy dishes, curtains drawn, dirty washing strewn about that's fine..

The landlords/agent's right to inspect is to check if the property (your property, not landlord's property..) is in decent repair & fit to live in: So give them a list of repairs they should have done ....

Cheers!

G_M

48 hours written notie is reasonable and what most tenancy agreements stipulate.

A 'pre-departure' inspection can be to the tenant's advantage since it gives both parties an opportunity to agree what need s doing.

The tenant can then mend, replace, or clean anything so that on departure all is to the landlord's satisfaction and there is

a) no dispute
b) no deduction and
c) no expensive contractor work required by the LL (cost of which would be passed to the tenant)

If the precise date/time is inconvenient, propose an alternative date/time.