Landlord showing house a short notice

peeweegirl

Just a small problem with our landlord. We gave her 2 months notice that we are finishing our lease after 1 year. The reason we gave her so much notice was so that she could get someone in asap & woudlnt lose out on much rent - totally backfired on us!! She is showing the house a good bit (which is annoying but grand by us, it has to be done I guess), the problem is she keeps asking us with only a few hours notice. As we both work full time, we cant get home & put away any of our belongings... There's obviously strangers coming in to the house & all our stuff is on show.
We've had a month of this & we are going to be there for another month... and its already annoying me. When we say to her that we want to get home & clear our stuff away, she just says dont worry if its messy, it doesnt matter, she is being pretty pushy in general.
Any advice?

PS Im new to boards so let me know if Im posting this in the wrong place!!

J-blk

You don't have to accept the landlord's requests though if they do not suit you - the place is still your home. Most leases I've had say something along the lines of the landlord providing reasonable notice before calling over for any reason. Most people would probably consider 24 hours reasonable but that's up for debate. If however the landlord calling over with people to view does not suit you, then you can simply refuse and propose a more suitable time. In fact, most fixed term leases also specify that you only have to accommodate viewings in the last month and even then, you must be given reasonable notice.

RentDayBlues

Unless its stated in your lease agreement that you must allow her to show the apartment, you are well within your rights to refuse her access, especially with such short notice

I'd kindly tell her that you require at least 24 hours notice, or set aside one evening per week to show the place

peeweegirl

OK, well we didnt actually sign a lease but maybe that was where our mistake was!
Anyway, good to know that Im not being completely unreasonable in asking for more notice. This is our first time renting... Live and learn I suppose!

Thanks a mill for the comments!

D3PO

OP it could be a case of the landlord/lady not realisng that this is an inconvience for you.

Sounds to me like he/she is very easy going and hasnt twigged you have a problem but were more concerned with that the place wasnt tidy.

Id just ring them and explain that you would prefer for viewings to happen once a week in a block. Im sure they will be ok with it.

peeweegirl

D3PO wrote: »

OP it could be a case of the landlord/lady not realisng that this is an inconvience for you.

Well maybe! But I doubt it!!

Im going to just say to her next time she asks that she needs to give me a days notice so I can make sure we can accommodate.

Reckon I just needed the confidence to say that to her!

Cathmandooo

Sounds very unfair alright! Do stand your ground, I do agree that she mightn't realise it's annoying you, particularly when she says it doesnt matter if the place is messy.

Put your foot down though definitely!

djimi

I would consider 24 hours notice to be the absolute minimum tbh. When I was moving out of my old place the letting agent asked a couple of times could she show the apartment that day, was very apologetic of the short notice, and both times I had to say no as it did not suit me.

At the end of the day it is still your apartment until you hand over the keys, so while it is expected that you will allow the landlord to show the place to new potential tenants, its up to them to work around you, not the other way around. The next time the landlord asks to show the place at short notice tell them that you will not be available and that you need more notice.

Also if they are showing it to a lot of people then it would be worth asking that they arrange viewing times to show it to a group of people at once, rather than just here and there as they call. At least that way you can plan for them showing the place to 5 people between 6 and 8 one evening, rather than to one lot of people 5 evenings in a row. I dont think thats an unreasonable request; personally I would not be pleased if I had to spend every other evening allowing the landlord show people around my property, after all you are still living there and paying rent and should expect to be able to do so in relative piece and quiet and not being constantly bothered by your landlord.

echosound

They should really be giving you 24 hrs notice. We had this years ago when a house we were living in went up for sale, a new auctioneer took over the showing of the property to buyers (we were renting via a different auctioneer).

I got an irate phonecall at 9.30pm (!!) from the new auctioneer ranting about how we must have put new locks on the door as he couldn't get in to show buyers around and how dare we etc etc. I was in town, had not changed the locks (but there was a key in the lock on the inside, meaning he couldn't turn his key to open it from the outside. I had used a different door going out).

He was demanding we return immediately to let him in. I told him I would let him in the following evening as he hadn't even bothered giving any notice he would be showing anyone around at all, he backed right down when I mentioned he needed to give 24hrs notice and was meek as anything on the times he rang subsequently.

convert

I'd mention to your landlady that you'd prefer if you were given more notice (at least 24 hours) so that you could put your things away and have the house in a more presentable condition. It would also be worthwhile asking if she could arrange viewings for one evening a week to minimise disruption.

the_syco

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but whilst they pay rent, isn't it their home, and thus unless the landlady gets your permission to show clients around, that she's trespassing.

Also, if you lose something (eg: a gold ring), you won't know if you lost it, or if someone stole it. If you can, have a friend come as a prospective client, to see how much freedom she gives them.

peeweegirl

I managed to come straight out with it & just asked her to give us min 24 hours notice in advance and she was totally agreeable to it. Hopefully they will get some one in quick so I can stop loitering around Dunnes in the evenings!!

djimi

Youre perfectly entitled to stay in the house when it is being shown to a prospective new tenant. Personally I wouldnt let anyone, landlord or tenant, be in my apartment without me being there.

BostonB

I think it would be reasonable to set a certain day, and reasonable hours. Like 9 to 6 on a Saturday or 6 to 8 on a weekday.