jimf

Any one know the legal situation on this?

Rental property in the UK where the rental agreement requires tenant to permit viewings for potential buyers in the last two months. Tenant been given notice to end tenancy and house for sale.

Offer accepted and buyer needs to do a survey. 2 weeks from the end of the tenancy tenancy refuses to permit survey to be undertaken. Have they any legal basis to refuse this access. What can the landlord do? Is it possible or worthwhile to get a court order to get access?

Aviator

Contact your solicitor. You cannot force entry without a court order. If the tenant refuses to leave you need an eviction order. Are you selling with vacant possession?

jimf

There is no question of forcing entry without a court order. Contacting the solicitor would be the next step I just wondered if anyone here had gone down this route before. The estate agent who manages the tenancy and is on commission for the sale haven't got much idea on anything.

No suggestion that the tenant won't be vacating at the end of the tenancy so that isn't an issue. They have been moving stuff out.

Contracts wouldn't be exchanged until after the tenant has vacated.

The tenant has already been awkward over viewings and refused to let the agent do viewings when they were away on holiday. They are just playing games. I would like to issue a court order simply so the tenant has this on the record when it comes to a reference.

gryphea

I suspect the contract only allows viewings and they are within their legal rights to refuse survey.

What does your letting agent say? or are they the same as the estate agent.

I would consider sweetening the deal rather than paying out for a solicitor. Contact them, thank them for their cooperation and offer to reimburse some expenses if they let the survey be done

Aviator

Landlord responsibilities and tenant rights. Landlord law | HomeLet

Pulaski

Getting any sort of court order will just create stress, aggravation, and expense for you, and there is nothing much you can do to stop the tenant causing irritating and potentially expensive damage if you aggravate them - damage that might not be immediately obvious, such as partially blocking the drains, removing screws from doors, loosening plumbing fittings, etc.

Honestly, I'd just live with it, and wait until they move out.

Shard

Agree with this, especially as just a fortnight remains. If it were two full months it might be worthwhile enforcing your rights. You could always try calling the tenant personally, sometimes estate agents get people's backs up.

HGerchikov

I would consider offering them something too, it has worked for me. I had a tenant that didn't want to go out for showings. Her reason was that it was hot out, she had no car and nowhere to go. I noticed there was a coffee shop across the road, so I gave her a gift card for the store and she agreed to go over there and get a coffee on me for every showing. House sold quickly, it cost me $20, tenant was happy, landlord was delighted. Even if you offer them 100 quid it's got to be cheaper than a court order.