Landlords, would you consider this if your tenants asked?

I am a landlord and what yours has done is not legal.

You need to get urgent advice from Shelter.

Does the estate agent even know that there are tenants?

I am sure that he would 'snap your hand off'. It would probably take 6 months (or longer) anyway for your LL to sell the house.

You guys also wouldn't have to go through an Estate Agent which would save loads of fees.

I wouldn't offer to pay more for those 6 months of rent though - i would just say that you are interested in buying the property.

I wouldnt be too impressed with the fact that he came into your home that you have clearly been living in very nicely for the past 13 years and brought an estate agent round AND took pictures without giving you the heads up.

It's going to be very difficult for him to sell the property. The listing is incorrect and once they know that, the estate agents will have to remove or amend it to say that the house does not come with vacant possession.
Having a tenant in situ means that the pool of buyers is small: basically other landlords. And they will be driving a hard bargain because they won't be able to renovate it without the vast costs and difficulties of getting vacant possession.
The LL is not only being unethical, he's being really stupid pretending to be selling an empty house.
If you tell the estate agents, they will talk to LL about a more realistic price, which will be lower than it would be with vacant possession.
So basically you are actually in a stronger position than you might think.

You sound like a decent tenant but your landlord sounds like an arse. Imagine not telling you. Imagine taking photos of your possessions without your knowledge. I wouldn't trust him at all.

Haven't read all your posts OP but as a landlord I think that's a bit of a sh*y way to do things when you've been in the property for so many years.

I would definitely speak to him asap, I think he would be silly not to accept your offer if you offer increased rent for the next 6 months. He will likely want to see some sort of proof that you'll manage to be in 6 months though. For all he knows you could just be stalling a sale until you find somewhere better then he would have to put it up for sale again

What a shitbag he is.

He's not a decent landlord if he hasn't even fixed broken windows that can be opened from the outside. That's not safe or secure - how can you sleep at night with children in the house knowing that someone could break in?!

You mention a gas fire that was condemned 4 years ago. Has your landlord been carrying out yearly gas safety checks?

I am a landlord and your LL has not behaved well IMO by not even telling you.

I would most definitely consider your suggestion favourably if I were in that situation. He/She would be mad not to IMO because houses take ages to sell anyway!

@DesperateTenant I am a landlord and sold my first house to my tenants. They had told me shortly after they moved in that if I was ever to sell they wanted to know.
So I told them I was selling, I got 3 valuations and we agreed on the average of the three.

Did a fairly slow sell as they also needed to save slightly more and about 6 months it was all done.

100% ask.

It would save the LL estate agent costs - if LL took it off market now and then sold in 6 months they wouldn't need to pay the estate agent their 1-2% commission, so would save them money too.

Refuse any viewing (as is your right) and offer on the house now. These things take a while any way and it’s quicker long term for your landlord to wait

please give shelter a ring and find out where you stand with this situation.

Of course its scary, but you do have some laws on your side.

I wonder if the estate agents know the property has tenants? Is it worth asking them, give them a ring and ask why the property is being marketed without the information that the house has tenants with a tenant agreement?

I was a landlord when I moved abroad for work and rented out my house in the uk. I needed my house back when I come back, but I gave my tenants a lot of notice. They were actually in the process of buying a place and they needed to stay a bit beyond the move out date. I wasn’t entirely happy about this as it meant staying with family for a few months. But it was also understandable. So in answer to your question, you can ask, but the answer will depend on your landlord’s circumstances. It is also btw, quite difficult to get a tenant to leave and it can also take a while to sell a property. Would you consider buying the house from them?

You wnbu to ask; your landlord would equally not bu to refuse. Everyone has different circumstances however.
For me, if it were a good tenant, I didn’t have concerns about a falling market, or have a mortgage product coming to an end, I’d happily accommodate you, and I wouldn’t take your increased rent offer either, would consider it unnecessary.

These situations make me angry. Your LL didn't even offer you the courtesy of telling you and have failed to carry out necessary repairs during your tenancy. They sound like real assholes. So honestly I think they will agree to this only if there is significant financial gain for them, which may be the case, but I wouldn't expect them to be easy to deal with. Fwiw I'm a landlord and would never in a million years behave like this.

I wish you the very best of luck OP. Let us know how it goes.

What. CHEEKY LITTLE MAN

He sounds awful not fixing things that need to be. You can ask, but I certainly wouldn't pay more. Sneaky bastard.

I advise you to take screenshots of the rightmove listing (including photos taken without your consent) in case they take it down.

my mother is a landlord and she would agree.

How is the landlord going to get viewings when he/she have sitting tenants that do not have to give viewing of the property?

First the LL has to give you notice which could well take over 104 days

Id go and let the landlord know you'd like to put in an offer for the property and see if they accept the offer, and be prepared to negotiate, so go in with a lower offer.

as pp states there needed not be estate agent fees, the LL was daft not coming to you first and will waste a few thousand. Though it could be suggested to the LL that he goes back to his agent and states he/she has found their own buyer and therefore would like to negotiate a reduction in fee?

See "Your right to quiet enjoyment" and "Unwanted visits or access to your home":
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/harassment_by_a_private_landlord/understand_your_tenancy_rights

Do not under any circumstances offer to pay more rent.

Entering your home to take photos of the interior when you are not there is illegal and you could make a complaint about that if you wanted to. If I were you I would contact the landlord or lettings agent to say that you have been made aware the property is on the market, you have seen photos which were taken without your knowledge or consent, and you would like them to confirm that they are not going to try and arrange viewings without first getting your permission. You don't actually have to consent to viewings.

The landlord would have to evict you as no one is seriously going to want to buy the property without vacant possession; not unless they're buying it as an investment and would be happy to continue letting it to you.

The eviction process takes a long time and would probably take longer than 6 months. So IMO you are in a strong position. You could offer to buy the property in 6 months on condition they take it off the market. If they refuse your offer, you can refuse all viewings which means they won't be able to sell it until they evict you months and months down the line.

I'm in a similar long term rental set up to you and have a great relationship with my landlord. I'd be livid if he did this. Im a very private person and would take real issue with the photos.
Firstly play nice and see if he will consider your offer to buy.
If it's a no I'm afraid it would be gloves off for me because of the underhand way he'd approached it. No viewings and I'd not move a muscle until the bailiffs were on the door step, which would be more than 6 months time I'm sure.

Don't offer to pay extra rent. He hasn't been a decent landlord leaving you with insecure windows and now putting house for sale wihtout informing you.

I'd keep very minimal conversation with him. Tell him you can buy in 6 months and make an offer

If you would be in a position to buy in 6 months time, put in an offer now! It can often take 6 months for the conveyancing solicitors to get their act together. The value of the property is low at the moment as it has a sitting tenant (you) - anyone who intends to be an owner-occupier will be put off because it can take months or even over a year to secure an eviction order. BtL landlords moght consider buying and just taking you on as a new tenant. So you could happily put in an offer a bit below asking price. You don't need to offer more rent. Selling to you is incentive enough it will be much less headache all round!

The landlord was an idiot not to talk to you first. They could have saved thousands in agent fees. They probably have a contract with an agent now that means they owe the agent a 2% fee even if they sell to you and the agent does nothing.

Do make sure you get all the searches &surveys done right - there may be issues with the property that never bother you as a tenant but would be expensive to maintain as an owner.

Don't offer extra rent. The landlord might decide to continue renting it out and not sell when they see the rent they can get - which won't help you if you want to buy it. Paying out more will also slow your ability to buy.

You are in a stronger position than you think. An owner occupier can't buy the house with a mortgage while you live there as their mortgage will require vacant possession. So only a landlord or cash buyer can buy while you are a tenant. If people are coming to view relying on you to show them round mention this "hi, yes I'm the tenant - I've not found anywhere to go yet - so I'm not sure how long that will take ...I'm hoping to buy myself but not seen anything I like yet..." It's very off putting for a private buyer to have a tenant in a house they want to buy as they don't know if the person will move out and so they don't know if the sale can go through. If the sale fails the money they have spent on searches and solicitor is wasted and their mortgage offer will expire.

The landlord has not served you notice yet. Don't grumble about this to the landlord, keep your cards close to your chest. When they do serve notice, a minimum of 2 months I believe, it does not end the tenancy. It gives the landlord the right to go to court to end the tenancy (the court fees can be charged to you I believe about £500 - worth seeking advice from Shelter on this). It will probably take some time to get a court date.

If your landlord has done anything wrong in the serving of notice such as not having a valid gas safety certificate or not protecting your deposit they will have to re-serve notice.

I think that you should just continue with your plans to save to buy. The landlord might get more amenable to you buying when they see that they are struggling to sell with you living there. Don't panic if the landlord accepts an offer on the property as the sale cannot go through while you live there unless you remain a tenant of the new owner who would still have to serve notice/go to court if you didn't leave after the notice. You should be fine with your 6 months timescale plus purchase time to leave in your own time. It's best if you can make sure you have exchanged contracts before you give your notice to leave (one month?) so expect a bit or overlap of rent and mortgage there).

Make sure you are looking at the housing market. Don't try to buy your place just because you live there if there are places that are better value for money.