I am a great renter. I am harasses by realtors

[Sandra Evans]

I have been renting a home through a realty company for 3 years now. I am no longer under a lease, so I’m basically month to month. At Christmas time we were told that owner was going to be listing this home for sale in January. The owner and a bunch of realtors came looking through my home. The realtor came back another day, to bring 7 other realtors through my home, the realtor came back another time for measurements and then he showed our home within a 15 min. Warning. Then phatagrapher came out and had me moving my belongings off counters, fridge, etc. and having my hide them away so they wouldn’t be in pictures! I live here!!!! So it was 7 different times within a week and half I had people strangers all through my home with my belonging in it. This realtor has made my life a living hell as a tenet!!!! He again was here Monday with two different showings at our dinner time which I didn’t get that evening! Then he text and just tells us times he has set up for people to come without asking us! He schedule 2 tomorrow and he has 4 scheduled on Saturday! I also have  big dogs that  are protective and territorial of their home and would bite a stranger. They are Great Danes and huge. I wouldn’t mind the guy showing the home but it should be on our terms which it seems it’s not. He has disrupted my husbands work because he works from home and mine as well because I have to take off work to pack my dogs in the car to ride around neighborhood for hours!! It’s not fair to the tenet to be done this way! What can I do??

[Greg M.]

Originally posted by @Sandra Evans:

We told him we would let him show the home two to 3 days a week at certain times, and he said that won’t work. So now he  just texts us 24hrs in advance telling us his appt times he has at my home, and he has been showing it every single day! It doesn’t stop. I can’t cook a dinner in my home because he is bringing people, I can’t relax on a day off from work because he is bringing people. I just don’t know what else to do.

Look up your local laws. While the 24 hours notice is probably sufficient, some places have laws regarding frequency of visits. Talk to the realtors broker and explain the situation. 

Unless your lease says otherwise, there is no reason why you have to clean up the place for the showings. If the place is extremely dirty and smells (get a can of fart spray) when people come over, too bad. If you put your dogs in the bedrooms and close the door and let the visitors know that they will bite, but you will control them as soon as you have finished your dinner in 30 minutes, too bad. If your husband walks around the place only in his boxers when they are there and tells them they have a purty mouth, too bad. If you have 20 rats traps visible all around the place, too bad. If the TV is blasting when they are there, too bad. If you grab a bible and start damning them to hell for their sins, too bad. If you yell at the people that it's your house and you're not leaving even if the place is sold and they'll need to evict you, too bad. All these things may be extremely off-putting for potential buyers. The realtor may quickly realize that working with you is the best approach to getting the place sold.