Letting agent annoyed me. AIBU?

I would email the landlord back to say of course you will allow viewings as per your contract with 24hrs written notice, sending a copy to letting agent. That will put the agents in their place.

Gah! H just got home and told me he got a text message today at 1.56pm for a viewing today at 3.30pm!! He was in a meeting at work and didn't see it until after the time of the viewing. Really mad now!

Had sent this:

I'm very surprised to receive this e-mail. We've agreed to four out of five requests for viewings this week, one of which was done on 5 hours notice. On the one occasion we said no, Agent called at 6.30pm wanting to come in at 10am the following morning. H was working that night so would have been in bed when Agent wanted to do the viewing. We informed him of our reason for saying no and reminded him that he's supposed to give us 24 hours notice when he wants to enter; the next time he called he was rather rude and commented sarcastically on our request for notice. I don't consider it unreasonable that we've asked for notice, especially as it's part of the terms of the contract (section 4.3.10) that they give written notice 24 hours in advance and we were only asking for verbal. I also don't consider it unreasonable that we said no to his request on the grounds that we had for doing so. I'm astounded that he's complained to you; we could not have been more accommodating!

After H's revelation, have followed it up with this:

To add to my previous message, H's just got in from work and told me he got a text message (SMS) from Agent at Agency at 1.56pm today (Friday) for a 3.30pm appointment the same afternoon. H was in a meeting and did not see this message until after the time of the viewing. This means they have entered the flat without our permission on less than 2 hours notice, a clear breach of the tenancy agreement.

That is really well put and hopefully it should do the trick. Good luck.

No, I would be annoyed to. Your letter is very clear!

Not unreasonable at all. We had a similar situation with our ex letting agents. They used to send people round without informing me that they were coming. They thought that because I was on maternity leave then it would be ok for people to come round at anytime during the day, including 21.30 when we were all in bed. Luckily we had a very understanding ex landlord who postponed viewings until we moved out. Hope you get it sorted.

NU at all- I like the email you've sent, it's very polite and clear. The agency are obviously making excuses to your landlord and they're being stupid to blame you when you can easily defend yourself.

You aren't being unreasonable at all, that latter is very clear and to the point. Letting agent is taking the pee totally, I'd be furious

You are not BU. They are, clearly.

The email you've sent is perfect, you are being polite and helpful even.

Grr at letting agents in general. Every single time we are due for an inspection, we get a letter with a red heading saying 'Inspection Overdue' even thought that is always the first contact from them regarding the inspection!

WEES. NU at all.

Didn't realise the move was so soon - good luck!

I would be mad too, especially them saying that to your landlord.

Thanks ladies.

Have had a reply from the landlord in which he included the message he got from the agent. It says, "Just wanted to let you know, my colleagues and I, have been trying to arrange viewings for the above mentioned property. But the task of actually arranging any time with the tenant is proving very difficult. Please can you speak to the tenant’s and advise them, legally we only have to give them 24hours notice (as per contract they have signed) before we conduct any viewings." That's all we've asked for!!!! Landlord is completely on our side though, which is good. Has told us we can use the contract as a default if we can't "clear the air" with the agent.

I'm seriously considering making a formal complaint about the agent who's contacted the landlord. His e-mail is complete fabrication and, given that three of the four viewings we agreed to were cancelled by the agent, it smacks of him blaming us for lack of progress on the letting.

Blimey, I'm fuming on your behalf! How dare he write such rubbish. I'd be making a formal complaint to the manager- that's so unprofessional.

I would be livid. I would want to speak to the agent in person - I bet he'd crumble face-to-face.

I agree. What thoroughly disgusting behaviour. I hope you get it sorted.

I'd make a formal complaint to the agent's manager. I cannot stand liars.

WLS. I would be SO annoyed

L
xx

You do know that you can say no to any and all of the appointments if you wish. The rule of 'quiet enjoyment' overrules anything they put in a contract. You are allowed to have quiet enjoyment of your property, and no matter what it says in your contract, it is overruled by the main basic principles of letting. There are often clauses in letting agents contracts that go against what is allowed, if it went to court then these clauses in the contracts would be voided because they are opposite to what your legal rights are.

We had real problems with the same thing and were advised to stick to our guns and only allow appointments if we wanted to as they cannot enforce a contract term if it is unfair. I think that if it went further that they would be in bad standing as they have already broken their own contract too.

If it was me, I'd probably say that they'd pushed me too far and I'm not allowing any more. It's just not on. I'm assuming your still paying full rent, yet you're having to put up with all this.

What are they gonna do if you say no? Kick you out? you're already moving. They cannot withold deposit because you didn't let viewers in.

I'd really get some advice on this because it is completely wrong what they are doing.

I am furious on your behalf at the blatent lies the agent is telling your landlord. I would also ensure you complain to the agents manager as it's not on at all.

We had problems when our landlord was trying to sell our home. We had a week's holiday booked so we told the agency that we were more than happy for viewings that week however we did want to have a text message or message left on our mobile so we would know who was going in and out of the house. We had none whatsoever, and in the middle of the week our friend (who was feeding the fish for us) called to say that someone had been in the house and the back door was left open (half-ajar but locked if that makes sense). I was furious when I found out. It appears they did a viewing, and the guy who was doing it opened the backdoor to show the yard, and (because of the shoddy workmanship for all the doors and windows) couldn't close it again, leaving it half open! He didn't stay and get the agency to get someone in to fix it. Oh no. He just told them and left it that way. Bearing in mind the agency knew we were away, they didn't actually take any steps to fix it immediately (or even let us know!)

I rang them the next day from our holiday to be told that it was 'perfectly safe' and 'closed' and that someone would be round to fix it at the end of the week. (!) Not quite what my friend said. Something along the lines of 'someone determined would have easily broken in'. It didn't take a great deal of effort for her.

My friend managed to close it properly that night which I happily told the agency that if the guy had persevered it would have closed, and also that it might have been prudent of them to arrange someone to fix the door when we reported the issue over 6 months before, with regular reminders.

I also managed to get them to pay for the costs of receiving and making the calls whilst we were abroad. I really hate letting agents and am so glad we were able to buy eventually.

Anna belle is right, it will amount to an unfair contract term and you can refuse all viewings if you really wanted to be awkward. I would be livid if I were you (unreasonably augmented by the spelling and grammar mistakes in the agent's email)!

It took all my will power not to bring that up when I e-mailed and complained!!

Here's what I sent to the agency manager, with copies to the landlord and all three agents who have contacted H this week. (Sorry, it's long!)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am one of the tenants at [address], currently being marketed by yourselves, and I wish to complain about the conduct of your agents.

I was contacted yesterday by the owner of the property, [Landlord], regarding an e-mail he received. This e-mail said: Just wanted to let you know, my colleagues and I, have been trying to arrange viewings for the above mentioned property. But the task of actually arranging any time with the tenant is proving very difficult. Please can you speak to the tenant’s and advise them, legally we only have to give them 24hours notice (as per contract they have signed) before we conduct any viewings.

In this e-mail, your agent has been dishonest with the owner. This week we have been contacted on six occasions regarding viewings. We have only said no to one of these. This was the first request, when [Agent 1] contacted us at approx 6.30pm on Tuesday for a viewing at 10am the next day. As my husband was working overnight on Tuesday and would be in bed at 10am on Wednesday, we said no. We are perfectly within our rights to do so. We told [Agent 1] our reason for saying no and, as he had not given us 24 hours notice for this viewing, we also reminded him that this is a requirement.

Our contract, referred to in the e-mail sent to [Landlord], states that [Agency] must give us 24 hours notice in writing if an agent wishes to enter the property (section 4.3.10). On no occasion have we received this. Indeed, when we asked for 24 hours notice we actually only asked for verbal notice, so we have compromised without being asked to do so by [Agency]. We have also agreed to a number of viewings for which we did not have 24 hours notice (e.g. Wednesday when [Agent 2] called at 1pm to come at 6pm, which we agreed to).

It is also a problem that all your agents seem to be contacting my husband and not making any attempt to contact me. If someone is in the flat during the day it is much more likely to be me than my husband, therefore I should be the first point of contact for the agents.

In addition, yesterday my husband received an SMS text message from [Agent 3], time stamped 1.56pm, for a viewing at 3.30pm the same day. Apart from the fact that this is less than 2 hours notice, we would like to put it on record that SMS text messages are not an acceptable way to contact us regarding viewings. My husband was in a meeting and did not see the message until after the time of the viewing, meaning that your agent has entered the property without our knowledge or permission. It is only because of a family emergency that I was not in when this viewing took place. Had I been in the flat, as was my intention yesterday, [Agent 3] would have walked in on me without me having any idea that he was coming. This is a clear breach of the contract.

We understand that viewings need to take place and have been very accommodating regarding viewings. We have accepted less than 24 hours notice on more than one occasion. However, if [Agency] agents are going to take advantage of us and disregard our right to quiet enjoyment of the property, we will have to insist that they give us 24 hours written notice, as per the terms of the contract. We are still paying rent. This is still our home. We are entitled to some consideration. We have communicated this to [Landlord], who is in full support of us.

I would appreciate a response confirming that your agents will be taking our concerns on board and ensuring that they have acknowledgement from one of us before entering the property.

I've had responses from two of the agents, both apologising. The first one asked for my contact number and the other assured me all agents would follow correct procedure and asked if it would be okay to come on Monday at 5pm. No response as yet from the agent who actually sent the e-mail to the landlord. H thinks the other two may have told him to leave our flat to them in future!

Thanks for your advice ladies! ?

Good letter! I'm glad you got apologies. I'll bet you won't hear from the agent who sent the email again and it probably means he'll lost out on commission which is good news.

I hate letting agents, I would write to the manager of the agency stating that because they have made up so much rubbish and are being unreasonable that in future you will be requiring 24 hours notice in writing, that way you have the proof of what they have been up to. When we were renting last year a bird came down the chimney whilst we were away and basically crapped over the whole house, this happened again on two more occassions, the agent said it was our responsibility to stop the birds coming into the house, but we must not go up on the roof to cover the chimney ?