Landlord selling flat and demanding viewings
We have been facing issues with our landlord and lettings agency for the last couple of months. We rented out our property on the 20th of December 2025 and in July of 2026 our landlord informed us that they were going to sell the flat we were living in and asked us to organise photos for the following Monday (it was then Thursday at 9pm) I stated that we both have full time jobs and that preparing the flat for photos on Monday was going to be a bit of a lengthy process as I would need to remove some stuff that cannot be photographed, clean up and also still continue with my weekend plans. My landlord said that I wasn’t being amicable. She was perfectly happy to discuss all of this over the [hone but as soon as we mentioned that we would also be looking for other flats to rent (as we didn’t want to live in a flat that was going to be flooded with strangers every week for viewings and we also wanted to get ahead of the situation of moving out) she got very cagey and said that it was inappropriate to be discussing this without the letting agency in on the call.
The photography went ahead and my partner agreed to manage the viewings schedule as I was the one uncomfortable with people in our house and he also works from home so would be present for the viewings. We discussed with the landlady and she said that her agent would make a group with my partner and myself to organise viewings. And we said that either Mondays or Fridays would be best as he would be home and we wouldn’t have to give up our lives and also potential viewings on our behalf.
A while later we asked if we could have 30 days of notice rather than 2 months as this would mean that we have more certainty over our living arrangements and would also mean that they would have free reign on viewings once we were out. We asked before our rent date was due (with ample time so that if they did give us 30 days we would be able to move out by September) Our landlady took 2 weeks to reply to our email (meaning that our move out date would be 20th November as we had passed the 20th of August) to state that she declined our request and we would have to Give two months of notice.
The first week they asked for viewings was on a bank holiday Friday and we unfortunately couldn’t do these viewings as we had to travel to see my partners parents for a birthday. The letting agent (C) sent a message to my partner which he didnt see asking about other potential dates. Four days later (after the bank holiday) our landlord sent a bit of a threatening email basically stating that we didnt let a viewing happen that previous Friday and that we have taken 4 days to respond to Cs email and that now it would be more likely to be 2 weeks till the next viewing. She also quoted clause 6.2 of our tenancy that states under mutually acceptable times viewings will be allowed with 24hrs of notice.
Following this and knowing that the landlady is a lawyer I decided that it would be best to go through out original lettings agents (P) as we were a bit uncomfortable with how threatening she was being in the emails. I spoke to P on the phone and he said that the best thing we could do is to consent to viewings (which I never really wanted in the first place as I feel as though if I am paying full rent for a property I shouldn’t have to have strangers coming in every week per my quiet enjoyment) and it would become their problem to fill the dates and they couldn’t bully us into arbitrary times and multiple days.
It has been a while now but in this time we have had two booking confirmed for Friday and then cancelled within an hour of the allotted time; meaning my partner has rescheduled meetings to allow them to come in and they have subsequently been cancelled. And we have also been told that our hours are unreasonable and that it is difficult for the sellers to organise viewings as they viewers are restricted by work (which we are as well!)
Last week they asked for a special accommodation be made for one viewer for three days at different hours (as options for us) however my partner had an extremely stressful week at work and was in meetings all day - at home and was unable to make the timings fit in with his schedule.
Following on from this, P has now said that they will give us a time and date with 24hrs notice as we havent been amicable and that the ‘prior mutually agreeable’ part of the clause in our contract will be ignored as we havent bee reasonable or amicable.
We also have the added problem that my partners grandmother has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and his parents have had to leave the country to go see her for three weeks and they have a dog we need to look after. Our contract says we aren’t allowed dogs (however our building is dog friendly) so we have asked if we can have the dog with us in our flat in London however if they say no or take their time to reply(which I think they will do as per previous requests) we will have to stay up north looking after the dog and we wont be present in our flat for at least a month and I have a feeling they will just conduct viewings while we are gone (as they have already requested a viewing for this Friday)
I am also tempted yet again to ask if we can move out early with this in mind (even though packing and moving in flat A when we have to be home in house B for the dog will be incredibly difficult and have financial implications) however I dont think they will accept this either.
I was under the impression that we have right to quiet enjoyment but it seems that our landlord and letting agent are going to just let themselves in even though we have expressed that we do not want people inside our home when we aren’t present. We are thinking of setting up a cat camera pointing at the door so that we know if they are entering the property without our permission.
Do we have any rights? I am too scared to be arguing with a lawyer and it is also now just incredibly stressful waiting for a weekly email that is filled with bullying or harassment about how we aren’t amicable even though we are quite literally trying our best. If we could do viewings after our working hours we would but I dont think the agents will be working at these times.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I am also happy to provide quotes from the emails we have sent and recieved