Sitting tenant home being sold - Landlord Forum thread 359717

Sitting tenant home being sold by Lisa on September 12, 2019 @13:11

Hi,

I am in a quandary. I am a sitting tenant in a home thats about to be put on the market. I am fine with my 60 notice to vacate and complying 100%. I completely understand the reasons for the home sale and wish them success .
My main problem/concern....
I was out of town when given notice to vacate. Unfortunately I still am. After my 3 week job out of town I had to hustle out to another town to care for my ailing Dad and am here for the next 10 days.Following Dad care I have more out of town jobs in the works.
As a tenant in the process of moving I will have few days at home to start the moving process. I was home one day this month and had a friend help sort with packing, etc..My move is a WIP. Piece meal moving with limited number of days to do do so. Chaotic at best! I paid rent this month and am hiring packers while I am gone . I intend on fulfilling my obligation to be out by Oct 15, and leave the home in perfectly clean condition by end of my tenancy.
The kicker is!
Apparently they are hiring stagers to come in soon and stage the home while I am out of town. During this crucial moment of my piece meal move out agenda. Seems ludicrous to me. My stuff as of now is barely contained. Much of it half pulled out, personal items and papers with sensitive info out in the open. Stuff haphazardly spilling out of boxes shoved along walls, etc...Given my situation I have no other option than to start my move now. I feel in no way obligated to work with stagers at this point. In fact I wrote a nice letter to the home owner a few weeks ago suggesting they wait till I am fully out and then stage. The house would be beautiful and they can come and go to their hearts content. The response back was " The agent advises against it "
I hope someone has some suggestions! When I get the 24 hr notice stagers are coming in what should I do? Again, my stuff is all over the place and I am currently out of town. I absolutely do not give them permission to touch or even move my stuff. Thats where my anxiety hits the roof! They plan on staging with:
A sitting tenant who is moving out, chaos and boxes abound.
Packers who will be in the home , packing and moving my things around stagers belongings.
Stagers have movers that can come in and potentially damage/break my things.
My shackles are spiking!
I will be there some days/nights and living among stagers things, trying to pack my own belongings.
Who is liable? Should staging items be broken during my move by my helpers or myself who is responsible?
Why on earth would they want to stage in such a scenario??!
Can any landlord help me with this bizarre situation?

Stressed to the max....

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Re: Sitting tenant home being sold by Garry on September 12, 2019 @21:30	[ Reply ]

It's commendable of you that you are not trying to fight the 60 day notice, and want to 100% comply with it, even though your personal life is in a shambles right now. Remember, you do not have to be out until that 60th day. You are still a paying tenant, who has certain rights. Under most laws in this country, you must allow a landlord access to your property to do repairs, and show the property to prospective tenants or future owners. HOWEVER, I used the word "show". "Showing" a property means only for a few minutes, or maybe set up an occasional open house for a 2-3 hour period. When the showing time is up, everybody leaves. And you have the right to be there at those showings, even if the LL does not want you there, to protect your belongings. "Staging" is an entirely different matter. In that case, the LL is bringing his things into YOUR space, and leaving them there, 24 hours per day, till the property is sold. It's space that you are paying rent on. It forces you to work around "his" items, while not using or damaging them. In your case, the "agent" the LL is using, is TOTALLY wrong. I would suggest you get ahold of an attorney ASAP, tell him/her your story, and have that attorney write a letter to your LL informing him there will be an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed the moment the LL puts 1 piece of furniture inside your place before you are TOTALLY out. He can still "show" your place, just not "stage" it. In that letter, your attorney should tell the LL that you are making a reasonable request that you he give you a written and POSTED notice of 24 hours to show the place, AND that either you, or someone you designate, be there when it's shown, to protect your belongings from being damaged or stolen. Very likely, once the LL gets your letter from your attorney, he will probably just back off of showing or trying to stage it at all, until you are totally out and have given him the keys back. Be sure to take lots of pics of how you left the place, along with having a witness with you. But beware. If you leave the place with damages, or unclean, or fail to get out on time, or don't return keys, or give a forwarding address, the LL may very well have a good case against YOU, and keep all of your deposit. Best thing to do, is schedule a walkthru on the last day, with YOU BEING THERE, and discuss all these things at that time.

Re: Sitting tenant home being sold