No Quality Living when Renting a House for Sale

By Tenant

Okay. You might say that this really one of the worst decisions ever but 6 months ago, we signed a lease agreement with a real estate company. We were told that there will be showings but they will be very minimal so as not to disrupt with our living. We were okay with it since the house fit our requirements at the time – 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and just a 10-minute drive from my husband’s office.

But little did we know that our desire for peace and quiet living would turn into a nightmare. There are showings every day, from morning to after 6pm. We have young children at home and God know what kind of people those agents bring in. This was not part of our initial discussions with the management company. Is it too late for us to break the lease agreement?

So to get answers, I did my own research and also consulted with a few friends in the legal practice. Here’s what I found out:

Technically, the brokers are doing things right because they need to sell the house, they also need to consider my private space. As I’ve said, we have kids – small children – and all these people in the house may scare or influence them. We should have considered this before signing the lease agreement and not just trust on what the agent had to say. They had motives so we should have known better.

To make the long story short, we had to stay until the end of the lease. Things got better after we filed a complaint with the RPA and the management company had to schedule their showings to just a few days in a week and these would be in bulk. This way, we would not be frequently interrupted every day.

Now if you’re planning on renting a home that is for sale, here are some tips that I would like to share based on my experience.

1. Know how long the house has been in the market. This will give you crucial information on the volume of showings that you will be expecting per day. A house that’s been there for quite some time may not attract much attention compared to a newer listing.
2. Know the price of the home. This will help you determine the kind of people that will be coming in and interacting with you and your family.
3. Get a written agreement that says the showings are locked to only specific days and times of the week. The property management company should sign such document.
4. Instead of a year lease, maybe you can convince your property management company to settle for a month to month renewal. This way, if the intrusions are just too much, you can just move out. But if a month to month renewal is not possible, then look at the specific clause in the lease agreement about an early termination of lease. You need to make sure that you understand that part because that might come in handy later  on.
5. Again, if parts of the lease agreement were not fulfilled, you can file a complaint against the property management. I filed a complaint with the RPA and I received a resolution to my problem. I recommend that you do the same. Here’s the link to get you started: http://www.rentalprotectionagency.com/complaint_center.php

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