Letting Agency doing multiple visits daily

gemignani

Hi all,
My flat 1 year fixed term contract will end in 45 days and since I'm not renewing, the landlord decided to increase the asking price for 10%.
The letting agency is doing multiple visits in the property, around 2 daily. They usually give 4h notice by SMS and this is really bothering us, the viewing are very quick, but as my OH works from home she doesn't really want to be bothered.

Is there anything we could possibly do? I guess tenants turn the property down because it is overcharged...

Cheers,

Char89

You can refuse entry, they should be giving you 24h notice in any case.

Guest101

Tell them to p off next time.

theartfullodger

Does your tenancy agreement specifically permit viewing visits?? If so what is the EXACT wording please?? (If it says e.g. "within 2 months of end of tenancy" it's probably meaningless & unenforceable.)

That the fixed term ends is very interesting, likewise that you are not renewing, but if you stay (as you are legally entitled to) for 1 second beyond the end of the fixed term then an automatic, periodic, tenancy continues on the same terms & same rent: Landlord & agent cannot prevent that: LL can increase rent but only by serving a formal "section 13" notice - unless you simply agree.

Do you have somewhere else to go to anyway that you are happy with??

Me, I'd politely decline visits of any nature but offer a compromise (say every 5th Sunday between 10:34am & 10:43am).

Cheers!

G_M

Write. A letter.

Address it to the landlord and send to the address provided. Send a copy to the agents.

Be polite, and recap the frequency of past viewings with a list, pushow much notice was received.

Then politely insist that viewings must be restricted to... whatever you feel is reasonable, eg 3 days per week, with a single 'time window' for each (they can bring as many people as they like within that window).

If you fear they will ignore, change the lock. Keep the old one and replace it when the tenancy ends.

dgtazzman

It is reasonable to expect at least 24 hours notice and make it clear to them that if a viewing doesn't suit, it won't happen, insist you are present when viewings are done (we've had a few people here that have had items gone missing from their homes during viewings conducted by agents where they were not present). You can also set days/times where you will allow viewings, be reasonable though, allowing 1 afternoon a week etc. would just be silly.

As G_M has said, put all of this into a letter to the LL and LA.

If they don't cooperate after this, refuse all further visits. If they ignore this, change the lock.

Better to try and find an amicable solution, however.

Guest101

dgtazzman wrote: »

It is reasonable to expect at least 24 hours notice and make it clear to them that if a viewing doesn't suit, it won't happen, insist you are present when viewings are done (we've had a few people here that have had items gone missing from their homes during viewings conducted by agents where they were not present). You can also set days/times where you will allow viewings, be reasonable though, allowing 1 afternoon a week etc. would just be silly.

As G_M has said, put all of this into a letter to the LL and LA.

If they don't cooperate after this, refuse all further visits. If they ignore this, change the lock.

Better to try and find an amicable solution, however.

1 afternoon a week is not silly, that's plenty of time.

gemignani

Thank you all for the input, I really appreciate!
My contract is not specific in the viewing clause so I guess they could claim that they are giving notice by SMS anyway.
They are usually very polite with the requests, but I will try to restrict them to 3 viewings a week.

Guest101

gemignani wrote: »

Thank you all for the input, I really appreciate!
My contract is not specific in the viewing clause so I guess they could claim that they are giving notice by SMS anyway.
They are usually very polite with the requests, but I will try to restrict them to 3 viewings a week.

24 hours written notice is the default setting.

The fact it's your home is the other default setting.

Say no one time, see if they're still polite.

jamei305

You can refuse entry and there is nothing they can do about it.

If you allow viewings you are doing them a favour. As a landlord I tend to offer tenants a payment in exchange for allowing viewings, it means the property is nice and tidy and everyone is happy.

jjlandlord

jamei305 wrote: »

If you allow viewings you are doing them a favour.

Without reading the tenancy agreement it is difficult to say.