Perry Beebe
10 Oct 14
For tenants renting a home that is listed for sale, the whole selling process can be quite stressful. This is a situation that needs to be handled with sensitivity, especially if the tenant has been living in the property for some time and has made emotional connections with the home and the area. It is also a situation where the tenant still has the right to privacy, peace and comfort under law.
At All Residential Real Estate, we are always mindful of these rights when we list a tenanted property for sale. We also see it as an opportunity to provide our quality service to all parties involved in the transaction.
The sellers are our clients and we always strive to provide exceptional advice, great communication and deliver the best possible sale price. We believe it is important to provide purchasers with accurate, timely information about our listed properties, and help them get their dream home. The tenants are also our concern as we look for an opportunity to find them another rental that they will enjoy.
The biggest issue faced by agents and tenants is that of access to the property for the purposes of showing it to a prospective buyer. A steady stream of strangers through their house without any advance notice is hardly privacy, peace and comfort. For this reason, issues of access and privacy are dealt with quite clearly by laws binding all parties.
The law states that an authorised person can access the property at any time, but only with the consent of the tenants. To show the property to a prospective buyer, the owner or agent must have the agreement of the tenants, preferably through a written agreement that sets down reasonable times and the frequency of inspections. While the tenants cannot reasonably refuse such inspections when the required notice is given, they are not obliged to consent to any more than two inspections a week.
What exactly is reasonable notice? Before the first showing, the agent must have provided the tenants with 14 days’ written notice of intention to sell. If the tenants have no idea that the property is to be sold, this will be a difficult time for them as they contemplate their future. We try to make this transition period as comfortable as possible for the occupants, while at the same time doing our best to list and display the property.
Further notice periods for showings are as agreed or failing an agreement being reached, a minimum of 48 hours’ notice for the agent to bring someone through the property. Tenants who feel they are being unfairly treated always have the right to complain to the regulatory authority.
The professional staff members at All Residential Real Estate always operate within the law and take care to keep the tenant fully informed when managing the sale of a tenanted property.