Rental property - landlord wants to take photos to sell it...

pinklady21

Hello all
I am renting a house on a temporary basis while we do up a house we have bought. We expect to be there for 6 - 9 months, and now about a third of the way through.
Scotland, PRT. Agreement silent on circumstances when property might be put up for sale. Usual eviction grounds apply, one of which would be the landlord wanting to sell the property.

Landlord has now advised that he wants to put the property on the open market. While we have no objection in principle, and have also offered to assist with viewings etc, they now say they want to take photos of the inside.
The interior is packed with our belongings, and they are saying the photographer will have to move our things around.

On the one hand I don't wish to be obstructive, but on the other this seems to be an interruption of our quiet enjoyment.
We have previously suggested that they use photos of the exterior, and we can supply pics of the property while it was empty just before we moved in.

We were rather taken aback to hear that the landlord had shown an estate agent round the house already when we were not there and he had made suggestions of how we could "dress it" using our belongings!

Seems to be a case of wanting his cake and eating it. He is charging us full rent, and yet expects to have full access when it suits.
Would like to try and reach some sort of reasonable compromise.
Thoughts please.

paddedjohn

Change the locks

jbainbridge

paddedjohn wrote: »

Change the locks

I agree ... the landlord should not be entering the property without your knowledge.

The property is yours until the tenancy ends. I assume the contract doesn't allow the landlord to do what he wants?

pinklady21

The agreement is very clear, the landlord only has the right to enter the property for repairs, or with the tenant's permission. There is a specific clause that states:
"the landlord has no right to use retained keys to gain access without the tenant's permission, except in an emergency."

Even at a stretch, this does not cover allowing an Estate Agent to poke round!

Money_maker

So what did he say when you asked him about it?

pinklady21

Money_maker wrote: »

So what did he say when you asked him about it?

We have not raised that specific point as yet, we are trying to find a form of words that is assertive without being rude.

Red-Squirrel_2

pinklady21 wrote: »

We have not raised that specific point as yet, we are trying to find a form of words that is assertive without being rude.

I wouldn’t worry about it, whatever you say won’t be nearly as rude as letting yourself into someone else’s home uninvited.

knightstyle

Don't forget you will need refs from the landlord so perhaps say a specific day/time for the photographer to come? Then you can move stuff and replace it as needed for the pics?

Fosterdog

knightstyle wrote: »

Don't forget you will need refs from the landlord so perhaps say a specific day/time for the photographer to come? Then you can move stuff and replace it as needed for the pics?

They won't need references as they have bought their own house and are only renting while they are renovating their own property.

Owain_Moneysaver

Do you know who the estate agent for the sale is? Is it the same one handling the rental?

I'd make a formal complaint, in writing, to the selling agent that their staff entered your property unlawfully and they are not to do so again.

And photos of it empty sounds perfectly sensible. That's what it'll look like after you've moved out.

pinklady21

Thank you for all the comments, guys and gals. Much appreciated.
We have now written to the landlord suggesting that while we do not have any problem with the property being put up for sale during our tenancy, we are not happy about our belongings being photographed for marketing purposes. We have asked whether they can they consider using external photos, and / or any photos taken before we moved in instead.
I suspect our landlord won't be very happy either.....