Tenant refusing entry for showings at reasonable times to sell

[baylor3217]

What is the name of your state? Texas

tenant works shift work. Agreed with realtor to allow showings. Now is saying can only show between 9am and 11am because they are then home and need to sleep.

Lease is up in a month. What is legal here?

don’t really want to force my way in so to speak even if it is letter of the law but daily we are missing out on opportunities as showings have been canceled to accommodate the tenant.

 

[adjusterjack]

What is legal here?

What is legal is that the tenant may limit your showings to reasonable times and dates at his convenience so that you don't disrupt his life with unreasonable demands for showings.

There is no "letter" of the law because the Residential Landlord Tenant statute doesn't happen to address a landlord's right of entry.

Texas Property Code Section 94.004 (2021) - Landlord's Right of Entry :: 2021 Texas Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

However, the mobile home tenancies statute does address the landlord's right of entry in 94.004.

Texas Property Code Section 94.004 (2021) - Landlord's Right of Entry :: 2021 Texas Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

That gives the tenant complete control over when he may consent to the landlord's entry. I'm sure that a judge would be happy to apply that reasonable standard to a residential tenancy. Texas is tenant friendly.

You've been given limited consent by the tenant. Work with it.

You want to take it to court? You'll spend thousands and you won't get a decision until the tenant is out anyway. Meantime, he isn't likely to allow any showings at all while you are suing him. So good luck with that.

Frankly, I think you were foolish putting the home up for sale while tenant occupied. You would be wise to back off and wait until the tenant is out. Then get the place cleaned out and prettied up and you'll have it sold in a heartbeat.

 

[Zigner]

Offer $ to the tenant for the showings. Negotiate something that works. A tenant who usually sleeps in may find that $50 in his pocket sure makes that morning sun look pretty.

 

[adjusterjack]

$50 per showing would make some mighty pretty sunshine.

 

[Zigner]

$50 per showing would make some mighty pretty sunshine.

I was thinking per day, but yeah, per showing even more so!

 

[baylor3217]

What is legal is that the tenant may limit your showings to reasonable times and dates at his convenience so that you don't disrupt his life with unreasonable demands for showings.

There is no "letter" of the law because the Residential Landlord Tenant statute doesn't happen to address a landlord's right of entry.

Texas Property Code Section 94.004 (2021) - Landlord's Right of Entry :: 2021 Texas Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

However, the mobile home tenancies statute does address the landlord's right of entry in 94.004.

Texas Property Code Section 94.004 (2021) - Landlord's Right of Entry :: 2021 Texas Statutes :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

That gives the tenant complete control over when he may consent to the landlord's entry. I'm sure that a judge would be happy to apply that reasonable standard to a residential tenancy. Texas is tenant friendly.

You've been given limited consent by the tenant. Work with it.

You want to take it to court? You'll spend thousands and you won't get a decision until the tenant is out anyway. Meantime, he isn't likely to allow any showings at all while you are suing him. So good luck with that.

Frankly, I think you were foolish putting the home up for sale while tenant occupied. You would be wise to back off and wait until the tenant is out. Then get the place cleaned out and prettied up and you'll have it sold in a heartbeat.

thank you for the response. Interesting perspeftive. Most all houses are sold with people living in them. I appreciate your perspective. Obviously don’t want to take them to court and I am a tenant friendly landlord and also wanted to better understand my rights as well.
Thank you

 

[Zigner]

Most all houses are sold with people living in them.

People - but not necessarily tenants.

 

[FarmerJ]

I work overnight shifts and with commute times I can easily be gone from home 12 to 15 hours at a time and some times refuse to answer the phone even while im trying to sleep. SO im going to guess is that a realtor wont tell you they just showed up and woke the tenant or that they tried to let them self in with out notice if there is a lock box. after they let them self in the tenant woke or discovered them trying to come in ( When i sold the 4 plex I had more than one realtor show up with zero notice to me wanting to show yet I recall being crystal clear in order to show the rented units It had to be a reasonable notice ). I know its a good time of the year to sell but if you want to say do afternoon evening showing I suggest you offer to rent the tenant a hotel room once a week so they can sleep with out being disturbed.

 

[adjusterjack]

wanted to better understand my rights as well.

Your tenants have more rights than you do when it comes to intruding on their lives. It's called "quiet enjoyment." It trumps your desire to sell your property.

"Quiet enjoyment" is not just about noise. By law, it's an implied covenant of all rental agreements. It guarantees the tenant's ability to live peacefully in his unit without interference or disturbance by the landlord.

Your tenant has given you reasonable hours to show the property. It's a good thing you don't want to go to court because you'd lose if you demanded more.

By the way, I have been a landlord. Three houses, 20 years. I waited until my tenants were out before I put the properties on the market. Gave me unfettered access to clean up and make the properties presentable.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Texas

tenant works shift work. Agreed with realtor to allow showings. Now is saying can only show between 9am and 11am because they are then home and need to sleep.

Lease is up in a month. What is legal here?

don’t really want to force my way in so to speak even if it is letter of the law but daily we are missing out on opportunities as showings have been canceled to accommodate the tenant.

Besides all of the good advice you have already received, why don't you put yourself in the tenant's shoes? If you were paying good money to rent a home from someone, how would you feel about them wanting you to change YOUR sleep schedule to accommodate them? I can just about guarantee that you would not like it at all.

On top of that, if someone came here wanting to know if it was a good idea to put an offer in on a home that had a tenant in it (if they wanted to live in the home themselves) we would likely tell them to either move on or refuse to close until the tenant was completely moved out of the home and repairs (if any) were done.

So, your desire to show it while it is occupied is doing you a disservice in two ways. You can't show it as often as you will like and there are people out there who won't put an offer on a home that is occupied by a tenant.

 

[baylor3217]

Thank you for all the thoughts. Certainly appreciate the perspectives (which I already had as well).

them offering 3 non weekend days a week from 9am to 10am seemed unreasonable to me and was looking for a compromise which I’ve achieved with them. I also dropped their rent 40% during covid to help keep a roof over their head etc.

Not all issues are black and white and I pride myself on being very tenant friendly and wanted to make sure I wasn’t violating a law or statute (didnt think so but that’s why I’m here amongst other places) so thank yiu for helping further educate me to ensure I wasn’t over stepping legal bounds by trying to find an amenable compromise.

 

[adjusterjack]

I also dropped their rent 40% during covid to help keep a roof over their head etc.

Should have led with that.

You're still limited legally on what you can "demand."

But that tenant owes you a debt of gratitude that makes an hour 3 times a week rather miserly.

 

[FarmerJ]

If you can just find a way to wait till they are out, you will be able to get in and get it re painted and cleaned up and if needed some inexpensive carpet from a local carpet warehouse that could make a good deal for you since it will be empty and let it show nice so a prospective buyer who wants to live there can feel okay about making a offer.

 

[adjusterjack]

FarmerJ is right. I can tell you from my own experience that people who want to buy a primary residence get turned off by wading through a tenant's belongings. I tried it a couple of times and got investors low balling me. Then I waited until the tenants moved out and did better.

 

[FarmerJ]

Now that ive over slept some the last thing too is what if you really did get a acceptable offer while the place is occupied and the tenant refused to vacate ? Ive had tenants who wouldnt move until they were damn good and ready and one took enough time to leave that I had to take her to court , , so that was the other reason to not bother to show it until its empty.