I rent a room in a shared house from a private landlord.He has put the house on the market without informing us. he is saying it is not yet on the market just testing the market.He is now arranging viewings and asking us to leave our rooms unlocked with only 3 hours notice.My question is how much notice should he give us and if anything goes missing from my room when it is unlocked (we recently had the house broken into) is my contents insurance still valid.
Optional Information: Province/Country relating to question : England Already Tried: nothing as only communication from landlord is by text.
Hi there. Thanks for your question, I will assist you with this.
ok
What you're obliged to do will depend on the contract you've signed, but it's rare to see anything other than a reasonable right to enter for the purpose of marketing etc. That wouldn't mean that you had agreed to leave the door unlocked at all, but rather, that you have to provide access on reasonable notice, which is usually a few business days notice or so. 3 hours would be utterly unreasonable - but if you contractually agreed to this (which I doubt, but anything is possible), then this would bind you.
As for your content insurance, I don't think it would be valid if you leave the doors open deliberately, but again,this depends on the specific wording of your policy, but generally speaking, most insurers would decline any claim made in such circumstances.
Thank you that was what I thought. So can I ask that at least one of us (3 people live in the house) is in the house when people visit?
Absolutely, yes.
I don't think I'd ever allow my landlord to stroll around on his own!
Can he be showing people and saying only testing the market but not intending to sell?
Again, that depends on what the contract says. If he says requires reasonable access for marketing - then yes, he can. If it says reasonable access for marketing for sale purposes - the nit's more arguable as he doesn't appear to intend to sell. If it says, access for reasonable purposes on notice etc. then more likely he can. It all comes down to the wording in the contract that you have.
But, on something like this, its best to assume he can, otherwise, if you're wrong, you give him grounds to claim breach of covenant and seek possession against you.
Okay time to move out I think!
:-) Maybe!
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