Potential buyers viewing apartment...should we have to pay full rent?

ibarelycare

Our apartment is in receivership at the moment. We have known this for a good few months and have been waiting for an estate agent to be appointed. I got a call from one this morning and he is coming to take pictures and measurements next weekend, and it will be going up on the market after that. He said they will be arranging as many viewings as possible, and they will work around our schedule.

My question is, should we argue with the receiver that we want a discount on our rent while the house is being viewed? This is obviously going to be quite an upheaval to us. We will have strangers in our personal space and around our belongings.

Alternatively we tell them that we're going to move out, so then they will be missing out on who knows how many month's rent. But I'm not sure if the receiver will even care about that, any opinions? Not sure if it's relevant but the apartment is in NAMA.

djimi

There is no legal obligation on you to allow anyone access to the property for any reason other than a periodic inspection (to be carried out by the landlord/agent at a predetermined time that suits you), or for essential maintenance. You do not have to allow an estate agent access to take pictures and you certainly have no obligation to allow any viewings, period. Do not allow yourself to be dictated to; the agent should not be telling you to expect them or their customers over at any time.

What kind of lease do you have? If you have an active fixed term lease and you have been paying rent to the receiver then they are your landlord and you are good to stay in the property for the duration of the lease. In this time you can expect quite enjoyment of the property (ie no sales viewings etc). If you are on a part 4 tenancy then the landlord can issue notice if they intend to sell the property, but again until this notice has expired you are entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property.

My advice would be to sit down with the agent, explain to them that you are aware of your rights (get Threshold to help you here if you want someone to back you up) and that you do not expect that they will be making demands to allow photographs to be taken, viewings etc. Its up to you how much you wish to accomodate, but it would not be unreasonable to have maybe two one hour slots during the week in which time you will accomodate viewings, and for this I would expect something in return (ie a slight reduction in rent).

Im being harsh on this because that is the law. Obvsiouly its up to you how you want to play this; you are free to be more accomodating if you like. I would suggest that the agent would want to seriously change their attitude and tone though before Id start dealing with them.

ibarelycare

There is no lease, and we've been paying rent to the receiver since October. We've been there 22 months so are currently entitled to 42 days notice. If we're there until April we're entitled to 56 days.

The agent wasn't exactly dictatorial, he did say he would do things as they suited us.

The thing is, we knew that we were going to have to move, but we are hoping to stay there as long as possible. We are both planning on moving home to our parents' houses when we leave the apartment, and look for somewhere new to live then because it will be far easier. So we would love to hang on right to the end. If this sale takes 4 months we'd be delighted. But we're worried that if we start making demands, they might just give us our 42 days' notice now.

odds_on

ibarelycare wrote: »

There is no lease, and we've been paying rent to the receiver since October. We've been there 22 months so are currently entitled to 42 days notice. If we're there until April we're entitled to 56 days.

The agent wasn't exactly dictatorial, he did say he would do things as they suited us.

The thing is, we knew that we were going to have to move, but we are hoping to stay there as long as possible. We are both planning on moving home to our parents' houses when we leave the apartment, and look for somewhere new to live then because it will be far easier. So we would love to hang on right to the end. If this sale takes 4 months we'd be delighted. But we're worried that if we start making demands, they might just give us our 42 days' notice now.

Djimi has put everything in a nutshell.

However, if you start making demands, yes, you may find yourself with a Notice of Termination. You may also find yourself without a reference which you may need in the future. And a reference which states that you have been in a property for nearly 2 years and that you have facilitated viewings, would IMHO, be very good - reliable, long term tenant and accommodating.

However, it is your call as to how you want to handle the situation.

Muahahaha

Perhaps reach a compromise with the agent where you agree to a single open viewing day lasting 3-4 hours. He can then go advertise it as such and hopefully find a buyer with just a few hours of viewings.

As others have said try not to burn your bridges. There might be a possibility that the new owner is an investor, if so the estate agent selling it to him is in prime position to pitch for his business to manage the let. So you never know but a new buyer might prefer see ye stay there as it would be less hassle for all involved. You may not want that but it'd be good to have the option open to you and it could be the agent who helps make it happen.

ibarelycare

If an investor does buy the apartment, it's highly unlikely that we will be able to afford to stay there. We have been incredibly lucky, we're currently paying €300p/m below what other apartments in the complex are going for!

Thanks for all the advice so far though I'll talk to my housemate later and see what she thinks, and I might give Threshold a call next week.

matrim

I had this a couple of years ago, The arrangement we came to at the time was that they were allowed to show the apartment every Tuesday (but still had to notify us the day before if there was to be a viewing) and we received a discount on our rent. I think it was around 100 a month but can't remember exactly.