[Manny]

Hi all,

We've sold our house last week, it's unconditional since yesterday. Settlement and possession date will be about 4 weeks from now. I would really appreciate your opinions about this because I am not sure if we are unreasonable or not.

Here's the situation:
The buyer of the house bought it as an investment and has already put the house for rent because he obviously doesn't want to waste time paying off his home loan without having a tenant.
Today he asked if he could come and have a look with some potential tenants and rang us again a couple of hours later to ask if he could bring a new bunch of lurkers tomorrow afternoon.
I told him that we were still a happy family living here, that even our children were annoyed having people going through their rooms all the time, that we have the house full of laptops, xboxes, antique furniture and paintings, and that we don't want to end up in an empty house after coming back from our weeks holiday in January.... I asked him if he couldn't wait until we have moved out but the creep told me to understand from his side that he needed a tenant in from the first day after we leave. He even told me that it was okay for us not to be home at the time, they would then just look through the windows!!! :mad: :mad:

To make a long story a short question: do you think we are being unreasonable or is he selfcentered?

Cheers mates for your input!
Manny

[wiki]

The latter!
You shouldn't feel like intruders in your own home. You shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable for someone else's financial benefit.

Tell him that when he has the keys he can do whatever he likes with the place - but until then, he and any future-tenants are trespassing.

If you rent a property and are moving out, there is usually a clause in your lease saying you will allow reasonable access for a short time to allow for future tenants to look - you never signed up to that clause with this house sale!

Tell him you checked with your home insurance, and you would not be covered for any theft or damage from his "showings" and that he will have to stop until the official key handover day.

It's not your fault if he has to pay his own mortgage directly for a time - it's what people who own homes have to do!

[Manny]

Thanks Wiki, that's exactly what we thought. The worst thing for me is that the buyer himself has 2 very good running businesses and a castle of a house for himself and the mrs so I don't think he's gonna starve if he misses out on one week's rent.

[wiki]

Stand your ground and tell him your home is YOUR castle until the legal documents say otherwise. And if he doesn't like it, he can't do a thing because you are unconditional... he'd lose more in deposit and legal fees than he would get for a week's rent.

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi Manny.
We run a very successful rental business and we are governed by regulations connected to the rental agreements we give out. We have to give leaving tenants reasonable notice that we intend to bring people around but you are in a totally different situation because you still own your house and he has no right to insist he brings people around. For a start ,has he properly vetted these people or have they just answered an advert in the paper.I would refuse to allow him to bring anyone on to the property untill the sale has gone through. I am sure your solicitor dealing with your sale would not allow this.Have you exchanged contracts? If you have then he cannot pull out.

Hope it sorts itself out

Dave and Caroline

[jubjub]

Speak to your Sol, that is really taking the mickey... check your rights and stick to them!

[kiwidebs]

Some people just really take the..... Tell him to go away until he has the keys. I'm pretty sure he has no rights by the law to do this.

Merry Xmas

[Smiler]

Manny

Tell him no! Or if you feel you can't handle it, tell him not to bring anyone round until you've contacted your solicitor.

Nah on 2nd thoughts just be firm and say no. You would have said no had he asked prior to going unconditional and the same applies now.

We've just had to go through this in reverse, having open homes while living in a rental and I felt like an intruder in my 'own' home. We refused to leave while the showings were on and it made everyone uncomfortable all round, including the agent because he couldn't speak about the house without the fear we'd put the prospective purchasers off. ;)

As Dave says, you don't know who these people are and it's your home until you move out. End of. :mad:

[Ana&Steve]

I agree with everyone! You gave him such a good answer after his 2nd request; a decent person would have apologized for bothering you and waited for the keys. I hope he doesn't push you anymore.
Ana

[spudulike]

I agree with the others, that is an outrageous request! I would also shut the curtains when out so he cannot let people look through the windows. He is not the owner for another 4 weeks and whether he has tennants or not isn't your problem Moving is stressful enough without being hounded in YOUR home!

All the best,

L :)

[NeilV]

Give him the digitus impudicus and close the curtains... :mad:

ask a neighbour to watch out for tresspassers when you on hol, and to call the police if they see any?

[Manny]

Hi everyone,

First of all Merry Christmas to you all!! I feel a bit sad having to talk about bad things on Christmas Day. That wasn't really what we had in mind before moving to New Zealand.

Thanks so much for all your good advice! The new owner was going to come yesterday afternoon with possible tenants but we didn't stay home for it, we just did what we had planned and closed curtains before we left. He must have been here with those people but we haven't seen or heard from him since yesterday so I hope he really did get our message (however I do think he is rude enough to come back with his request after Christmas)

After reading your comments and thinking more about it I agree that this person has gone way out of line. He could have at least discussed with us first before putting the house for rent. He hasn't treated us with respect so I don't think I owe him some respect.

What I have noticed a couple of times here in New Zealand already is that the people who are successful in life (read: have a lot of power and money), take other people's friendliness for granted. It seems like they have gotten used to the idea of people going on their knees for them all the time. Anyone has the same experience?

Thanks to everyone for your support and great advice!

Manny and family.

[Caroline and Dave]

What I have noticed a couple of times here in New Zealand already is that the people who are successful in life (read: have a lot of power and money), take other people's friendliness for granted. It seems like they have gotten used to the idea of people going on their knees for them all the time. Anyone has the same experience?



Hi Manny,
I agree in part what you are saying but I think a lot of it depends on the individual person .
We run a very successful rental business and I would say the reverse applies.
We treat all our tenants like part of our family. All our properties are fully furnished to the highest standards. We give all our tenants christmas drinks for xmas and put ourselves out for them. Some of them we go out socialy with.This is why we find our places are allways full whereas many others in our area cannot let their property.
However this can backfire when people expect you to attend to them at a drop of a hat. We had one person ring up at midnight and expected me to go and replace a light bulb right away. I politely told him I would be around in the morning and he was not at all happy.This does not happen too often.
I can only say we have got where we are because we look after our tenants
and we have a very good reputation. We believe in treating people the way we would like to be treated and on the whole it works very well.
Put it this way. If you were looking to rent a property and was treated the same way by the person who has bought your house and was also looking at another property where the landlord was pleasant and showed you respect,which one would you choose.

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[Trigirl]

What I have noticed a couple of times here in New Zealand already is that the people who are successful in life (read: have a lot of power and money), take other people's friendliness for granted. It seems like they have gotten used to the idea of people going on their knees for them all the time. Anyone has the same experience?

This was definitely my experience in London but it couldn't be further from my experience so far in NZ. Here everyone just seems to take you for who you are, no undercurrent of money, class, family, status etc. Friendliness seems pretty much universal here.