The joys of being a renter in this market!

[CA renter]

Wow. Some LLs have a lot of nerve.

We have some friends who went through the exact same thing. They tried to be the good guys by allowing the LL to set all the terms but ended up living in a very stressful situation for months, and the LL actually got an attitude whenever they asked him to work with their (the renter’s) schedule. After all was said and done, I don’t think they benefitted at all from being cooperative with their loser landlord (stuck flipper/realtor, BTW).

Here’s what I would recommend:

1. Inform your LL in writing that you will not allow the house to be shown until 30 days before your lease expires.

2. In this same letter, state that if the LL wants to negotiate terms, you might be willing to work with them, and ask for (demand!) the following:

-25% off rent (or more)
-showings only during certain days and hours (your discretion!)
-Bi-monthly cleaning service, as you will not perform any extra cleaning services so that they can sell the house.

——————–

Explain to them that their financial mismanagement has caused you severe stress, and that you are very disappointed that they didn’t disclose their financial circumstances when you signed the lease, as you would not have rented from them if you had known they would be inconveniencing you with a sale during your tennancy.

Plese let us know how it goes.

Good luck!

(BTW, very funny story, TG!) 🙂

[svelte]

a couple of years ago, we called about a house in the hills.

The realtor said it was vacant, just go look on our own, gate was unlocked.

The gate had a chain around it, we undid the chain, drove in, house looked empty, great view of the surrounding hills. As my wife walked around cupping her hands to the windows to see in, she found a couple doing it in one of the bedrooms. They didn’t even stop to acknowledge her presence. I “verified” she saw what she thought she saw and we beat a hasty retreat.

We brought a video camera next time we toured. 🙂

[svelte]

a couple of years ago, we called about a house in the hills.

The realtor said it was vacant, just go look on our own, gate was unlocked.

The gate had a chain around it, we undid the chain, drove in, house looked empty, great view of the surrounding hills. As my wife walked around cupping her hands to the windows to see in, she found a couple doing it in one of the bedrooms. They didn’t even stop to acknowledge her presence. I “verified” she saw what she thought she saw and we beat a hasty retreat.

We brought a video camera next time we toured. 🙂

[svelte]

a couple of years ago, we called about a house in the hills.

The realtor said it was vacant, just go look on our own, gate was unlocked.

The gate had a chain around it, we undid the chain, drove in, house looked empty, great view of the surrounding hills. As my wife walked around cupping her hands to the windows to see in, she found a couple doing it in one of the bedrooms. They didn’t even stop to acknowledge her presence. I “verified” she saw what she thought she saw and we beat a hasty retreat.

We brought a video camera next time we toured. 🙂

[svelte]

a couple of years ago, we called about a house in the hills.

The realtor said it was vacant, just go look on our own, gate was unlocked.

The gate had a chain around it, we undid the chain, drove in, house looked empty, great view of the surrounding hills. As my wife walked around cupping her hands to the windows to see in, she found a couple doing it in one of the bedrooms. They didn’t even stop to acknowledge her presence. I “verified” she saw what she thought she saw and we beat a hasty retreat.

We brought a video camera next time we toured. 🙂

[svelte]

a couple of years ago, we called about a house in the hills.

The realtor said it was vacant, just go look on our own, gate was unlocked.

The gate had a chain around it, we undid the chain, drove in, house looked empty, great view of the surrounding hills. As my wife walked around cupping her hands to the windows to see in, she found a couple doing it in one of the bedrooms. They didn’t even stop to acknowledge her presence. I “verified” she saw what she thought she saw and we beat a hasty retreat.

We brought a video camera next time we toured. 🙂

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

doublewise – What would you do in the landlord’s situation ?

I do think four consecutive weekends of open house is excessive. But, I wouldn’t go out of my way to make life miserable for the landlord. Why not ask for a discount in rent in exchange for allowing a limited number of showings with at least 24 hours notice. e.g. – showings only after an accepted offer. This is quite common for tenant-occupied property.

If I were the owner I would let you out of your lease.

I would try to work with them after they realize they can’t bully you around.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

doublewise – What would you do in the landlord’s situation ?

I do think four consecutive weekends of open house is excessive. But, I wouldn’t go out of my way to make life miserable for the landlord. Why not ask for a discount in rent in exchange for allowing a limited number of showings with at least 24 hours notice. e.g. – showings only after an accepted offer. This is quite common for tenant-occupied property.

If I were the owner I would let you out of your lease.

I would try to work with them after they realize they can’t bully you around.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

doublewise – What would you do in the landlord’s situation ?

I do think four consecutive weekends of open house is excessive. But, I wouldn’t go out of my way to make life miserable for the landlord. Why not ask for a discount in rent in exchange for allowing a limited number of showings with at least 24 hours notice. e.g. – showings only after an accepted offer. This is quite common for tenant-occupied property.

If I were the owner I would let you out of your lease.

I would try to work with them after they realize they can’t bully you around.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

doublewise – What would you do in the landlord’s situation ?

I do think four consecutive weekends of open house is excessive. But, I wouldn’t go out of my way to make life miserable for the landlord. Why not ask for a discount in rent in exchange for allowing a limited number of showings with at least 24 hours notice. e.g. – showings only after an accepted offer. This is quite common for tenant-occupied property.

If I were the owner I would let you out of your lease.

I would try to work with them after they realize they can’t bully you around.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

doublewise – What would you do in the landlord’s situation ?

I do think four consecutive weekends of open house is excessive. But, I wouldn’t go out of my way to make life miserable for the landlord. Why not ask for a discount in rent in exchange for allowing a limited number of showings with at least 24 hours notice. e.g. – showings only after an accepted offer. This is quite common for tenant-occupied property.

If I were the owner I would let you out of your lease.

I would try to work with them after they realize they can’t bully you around.

[blahblahblah]

This is one of the big reasons that I recently bought a home even knowing that prices are probably still headed down for several years to come. We couldn’t stay in our rental because it no longer suited our needs, so we would have to find another. There are so many of these landlords in trouble and there’s a good chance that you might get stuck with one after choosing a rental. Now you have to deal with realtors or maybe the sheriff in an extreme situation and have to move on short notice. No thanks. I’ll pay the ownership penalty for a house where at least I can stay put in peace without worrying about the landlord or whether I am going to have to move at any moment. Plus I HATE moving. It is time-consuming and expensive. Going into another rental would have guaranteed that we’d be moving at least one extra time. So we bought a house and I don’t care if it’s worth less 5 years from now because I’m staying put.

[blahblahblah]

This is one of the big reasons that I recently bought a home even knowing that prices are probably still headed down for several years to come. We couldn’t stay in our rental because it no longer suited our needs, so we would have to find another. There are so many of these landlords in trouble and there’s a good chance that you might get stuck with one after choosing a rental. Now you have to deal with realtors or maybe the sheriff in an extreme situation and have to move on short notice. No thanks. I’ll pay the ownership penalty for a house where at least I can stay put in peace without worrying about the landlord or whether I am going to have to move at any moment. Plus I HATE moving. It is time-consuming and expensive. Going into another rental would have guaranteed that we’d be moving at least one extra time. So we bought a house and I don’t care if it’s worth less 5 years from now because I’m staying put.

[blahblahblah]

This is one of the big reasons that I recently bought a home even knowing that prices are probably still headed down for several years to come. We couldn’t stay in our rental because it no longer suited our needs, so we would have to find another. There are so many of these landlords in trouble and there’s a good chance that you might get stuck with one after choosing a rental. Now you have to deal with realtors or maybe the sheriff in an extreme situation and have to move on short notice. No thanks. I’ll pay the ownership penalty for a house where at least I can stay put in peace without worrying about the landlord or whether I am going to have to move at any moment. Plus I HATE moving. It is time-consuming and expensive. Going into another rental would have guaranteed that we’d be moving at least one extra time. So we bought a house and I don’t care if it’s worth less 5 years from now because I’m staying put.

[blahblahblah]

This is one of the big reasons that I recently bought a home even knowing that prices are probably still headed down for several years to come. We couldn’t stay in our rental because it no longer suited our needs, so we would have to find another. There are so many of these landlords in trouble and there’s a good chance that you might get stuck with one after choosing a rental. Now you have to deal with realtors or maybe the sheriff in an extreme situation and have to move on short notice. No thanks. I’ll pay the ownership penalty for a house where at least I can stay put in peace without worrying about the landlord or whether I am going to have to move at any moment. Plus I HATE moving. It is time-consuming and expensive. Going into another rental would have guaranteed that we’d be moving at least one extra time. So we bought a house and I don’t care if it’s worth less 5 years from now because I’m staying put.

[Author]

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