Advice Needed: Landlord Selling House and Showing Tenants (apartment, lease)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by jmd1513

Lease says explicitly the tenant will not post any signs that will be visible to either visitors or the public outside.

Then you accept your fate, control your sex drive, and make sure you're dressed from 9am to 8pm.

If you have a chain on your door, keep it latched so they are forced to knock when you're home.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Then you accept your fate, control your sex drive, and make sure you're dressed from 9am to 8pm.

Let's not forget to consider exhibitionism as an option.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Let's not forget to consider exhibitionism as an option.

That would certainly inspire the realtor to be more considerate in the future!

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Hopes

That would certainly inspire the realtor to be more considerate in the future!

OP, I think she just implied you're ugly.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

OP, I think she just implied you're ugly.

LMAO! Not at all!

[Retiredcoach]

My suggestion would be that you contact the landlord/owner and negotiate a little "quid pro quo"with them. In exchange for giving you a fully stated/required 24 hour notice of showing in the listing, you will promise to have your unit in "showable" condition for the prospective buyers (laundry away, dishes clean and away, beds made, etc.). A home that is clean and organized will be so much easier to sell, and you would be able to maintain a certain level of privacy. Also, I would make certain that "shown by appointment only" provision is displayed on the for sale sign. This would afford you the opportunity to call the police if strangers attempt to enter the home.

I had a rental about to be vacated, and my wife was in the process of showing the home (in accordance with the lease) a number of years ago. The tenant was not pleased with the idea of the home being shown while they were still residing there. Although we could not prove it, we suspect that the tenants deliberately left the place a filthy mess whenever we wanted to show it (unflushed toilets, dirty laundry scattered everywhere, dirty kitchen dishes, food/trash setting out, etc.). Prospective tenants will not choose to rent a home that they are unable to envision themselves living. Landlord lesson learned: Do not ever risk showing rental property unless ascertained of its cleanliness.

Maybe share my experience with your landlord, and your negotiation might be a little more thought-provoking for your landlord.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by jmd1513

Lease says explicitly the tenant will not post any signs that will be visible to either visitors or the public outside.

I'd ask your landlord if you can put up a "Attention real estate agents: Please knock, crack the door, and yell for jmd before entering" sign. I imagine the clause in the lease was more so you couldn't put up signs for a business or signs that would devalue the property in some way. A regular sized sheet of printer paper seems pretty reasonable and I'd be shocked if your landlord wasn't okay with it.

I have no idea how so many landlords mess up selling tenant occupied property. All they have to do is offer incentive for the place to be in good shape. Offer a month's rent free if the house is kept in good shape, or if it sells within a certain period of time. It's more than worth $500 or $1,000 to the seller to sell quickly, and that amount of money would be a huge motivator for most renters.

Do you have a deadbolt or chain that you could lock while you are actually home? You should still let the potential buyers in, but at least you'd be the one opening the door.

[Copanut]

Tell the ahole landlord that you will trash the place unless you are given a decent schedule to show the place. And charge him each time you show it.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Tell the ahole landlord that you will trash the place unless you are given a decent schedule to show the place.

Don't tell him in writing!

[gg]

That situation is a mess. Goodness. In the real estate biz, we referred to you as the "irate tenant". I feel for that situation. I hated listing multi units, but sometimes it wasn't that horrible. We always gave 24 hour notice though. Just out of respect.