Accepting holding deposit when other viewings pending

Landlord Discussion
1

Hello some feedback would be welcomed.

I set up some viewings for a property for today and tomorrow. One of the prospective tenants today was really interested and I agreed to let to him. He has placed a holding deposit and I have notified the people who were due to view tomorrow. I have now received a number of angry text messages from those who wanted to view. Have I done anything wrong? I did not see the point in continuing to show others round when the tenant today seemed well suited. One of the complaints was that I should not set up viewings on separate days if I am prepared to consider the first few tenants without seeing the rest but my concern is that if I wait to see a tenant before I make another appointment then I will have to keep making repeated journeys to the property, annoy the existing tenant more and delay the process as a result. Surely it’s better to cancel the viewings than wait to see all potential tenants?

I would point out that I do block viewings (ie several in 20 mins time slots over a few hours) to minimise disruption to the existing tenant and because I generally get a lot of no shows so try to minimise my wasted time.

Any views on how I can deal with this better moving forward other than perhaps let potential tenants know that I may cancel if someone else places a holding deposit before they view (which I would have thought would be obvious!)

Thanks

2

every landlord handles the job in a different way . i never do viewings until the place is empty. I do thru openrent now and never give out my mobile so no irate people.

3

Lisa, you’re fully entitled to cancel viewings if you’ve found a suitable tenant. I’m sure many of those disappointed prospects would be only too willing to view other properties and not turn up to view yours if they found something suitable sooner. I’ve had far more no-shows than disappointed tenants and none of those have phoned to apologise. It’s a tough business sometimes, but it’s better to disappoint right away than to waste everyone’s time and then disapppoint them anyway.

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Hi Lisa, I totally agree with @Tony. If you’ve let the property, then showing it to more tenants is a waste of time for them and you.

They probably sent you those angry messages because your property looked really good and they really wanted to live there, so I’d take it as a compliment :slight_smile:

There is an argument that it makes sense to conduct additional viewings just in case your preferred tenants fall through, but this is totally your call.

Sam

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