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Is my flat mate being reasonable?

PaulStat

PaulStat

PaulStat

Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2003
Posts
5,508
Location
Cotham, Bristol
He moved in at the beginning of December, replacing my old house mate who could no longer afford to live there.

Come the beggining of January my landlord gives me a call and let's me know that his business will be putting the property up for sale. And that it would probably take quite a while to sell so not to worry.

Anyway obviously this means we have to let the estate agents arrange viewings for propective buyers.

Now my house mate being pretty P'd off with this has said Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, that's it!!

We don't want strangers wandering around while we're there.

Obviously the landlord isn't too happy about this.

Now I think a compromise may have to be made! What do you guys think?
 
Since I think my house mate is being a little bit unreasonable, and it's within my best interests to reach a compromise i sent him the following email. I'll chat to him later too

"Hi Mate,

Just had a call from the landlord, he wants us to allow Ocean more time in the evenings and weekends. I think we may have to work out some sort of compromise otherwise he's going to serve us with a 2 month notice to leave, which may be ok for you, but it sure aint for me for a little while yet.

I suggest we allow them an extra 1-1.5hrs in the evenings on weekdays i.e. 9am-6:30pm and on Saturdays allow them the afternoons 12:30-5:00. This could potentially allow them an extra 12 hours a week."
 
Ok my stress levels just went up!!! :(

"None of its ok with me, I've just forked out the best part of £700 to move
in. Not to mention the hassle and expense of moving.
While you were away I was being constantly hassled by an estate agent, which
has really ******* me off.
He is now attempting to divide us.
I usually finish work around 4.30 - 5ish so what your saying is I have to
then find something to do for 2 hours before I go home. And have strangers
walking round the house at the weekend as well. I don't pay £350 a month to
do that.
I don't think he can do that legally.
He has to send a minimum 48hrs written notice for any kind of access. We can
respond and say when is convenient within 24 hrs, the only exception being
if the building is at risk, which it is clearly not
Basically he is blackmailing us which is illegal.
If he would like to put that threat in writing I will check out if he can
legally do that.
As far as I'm concerned this is harassment. He has offered no compensation
or anything.
You are going to have to move anyway so do you want loads of strangers
wandering around in the mean time and maybe an extra month? Personally I
would rather have 2 months peace and quiet.
I'm going to send another email to shelter and find out if he can do this.

I know this is not your fault, but don't pander to him. This behaviour is
totally unprofessional on his part.
The other thing I intend to do is report this to whatever agency governs
property agents.
This is now taking my time up at work.
Maybe we should go and have a pint after work and chat about this, what do
you think?"
 
Skiddley said:
I'm a landlord, a standard AST ensures that the landlord must give at least 24 hours notice before entering the property. This may only be waived in 'Emergencies'. You can also decline any request to enter the property, it is well within your rights - he cannot force entry it would undermine you ability to 'peaceful enjoyment' of the property.

Althought I don't think your flatmate is a 'prat', he needs to consider the relationship you both have with the LL, if you **** him off, it it likely that he won't do you any favours when you are expecting your full deposit back. A little compromise on both sides is all that is required.

Skidd.
Click to expand...

Trouble is housemate seems to think that he is compromising by allowing people access to the home without written notice.

I really don't want to have to go over his head on this, but I will if necessary.
 
I fairly sure he's fully aware that he can be there whilst a viewing is taking place, it's just he doesn't want to be there.

I can see where he's coming from, as when you come home from work you just want to relax and not have strangers poking their noses into your business.

It wouldn't bother me that much as it's hardly a major inconvenience.
 
The LL let me know also that he's more than willing to try and sell an empty property, *hint hint* :(

This is the unproffessional part housemate was refering to, i.e. can't convince one to back off so he's go behind his back.
 
Desmo said:
But who was most unreasonable first? The LL our your housemate?
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The LL should have let me know that there were plans to sell the property when I told him that there would be a change of tenants for a start.

Whilst I was away in NZ it sounded like the estate agents were hassling my housemate daily so he got p'd off with them. Also he got home once to find himself locked out as they had locked the chub lock (we only have one key for this and we never use it), the alarm light was flashing outside, and some of the lights inside the house had been left on.

So he's got some kind of personal vendetta against them now.
 
i know nothing said:
I think you have given ample time for the agents to show prospective buyers around (40 hours per week), I would tell the landlord that and stick to it.

Seems to me that you're between a rock and a hard place, one is your housemate, the other is the landlord. I would stand firm on the offer you have already made regarding access.
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Problem is doing this means that the LL will serve us our two months notice ASAP.

I don't want to move for a good few months yet.
 
After having a word with him last night I suggested we composed a letter to get our agreement in writing to the LL, what you reckon?

Dear Mr Price.

We are writing to you re: our recent conversations over allowing evening viewings of the property. This causes us major inconvenience and we feel like we are paying £700 a month to be made to feel like strangers in our own home.

There has also been no offer of any apology or compensation to either tenant concerning the withholding of information to sell the property prior to the recently agreed change of tenancy. Had Marco been aware of this he would not have taken this tenancy on in the first place! Moving house is a time consuming and costly endeavour. We feel that this is extremely poor customer service.

Despite this however, we are willing to compromise in order to be seen to be being reasonable. The agency may arrange viewings for the following times, Monday + Tuesday 9am – 5pm, Wednesday + Thursday 9am – 7pm, Friday 9am – 5pm. We will not be forfeiting ANY of our time on the weekend as we do not like to be disturbed during our time off from work, we hope that you can understand this as we are sure you would feel the same if the roles were reversed. This will allow the agency over 40 hours a week in which to arrange viewings.

We would also like it agreed that the agency make it perfectly clear to people wishing to view this property, during anti-social hours, will be doing so at the tenant’s inconvenience. We feel that supplying this information will allow prospective buyers to decide whether they should be inconveniencing us or themselves.

Yours Sincerely,



P Statham, M Gregory
 
leaskovski said:
Whats to know that the LL hadn't decided he was going to sell the property until after Marco had moved in? Things change.... The LL may need to get ride of it due to personal issues.
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You don't just suddenly think "Hmmm I know i'll sell my £220k property". Besides he's one of a few people within a business, who own several rental properties across Bristol.

As for the notice, he's required to give us two.
 
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